Are You Over 40 and Have a Dream of Travelling Around the World but Have No Idea Where to Start?
Have no fear, I will teach you
Do you have a dream of travelling for an indefinite length of time?
Are you over forty?
If you answered yes to these two questions, then this article is for you.
Earlier this year, I went for a job interview at an English language center in Lisbon, Portugal. As I am a freelance teacher, the interview was informal.
The interviewer was a Portuguese woman in her mid-forties and the owner of the school.
I was keen to have our meeting as I wanted to tell her about my teaching skills and what I could offer the school.
But she seemed to be asking me unusual questions, unrelated to the purpose of our meeting.
She wanted to know why I decided to travel to Vietnam. I gave a brief answer, relating it to my work experience in S.E. Asia, but she wasn’t satisfied and proceeded to ask more questions.
I didn’t want to sidetrack as I am a purpose-driven person and I had a goal in mind for our meeting.
Finally, she said, “I’m sorry I’m asking you so many questions, it's just that I wanted to travel, but I had children.”
I hear this a lot and I wonder why having children would stop anyone from travelling. There are many people travelling around the world with children. It’s not impossible.
And children are more adaptable than adults anyway, so it’s better not to blame them. And besides, you can also go when they are older.
I don’t know if she ever went traveling as my schedule did not fit with hers and any time she called me, I was busy.
I know how life changes when we get past thirty-five. It’s like we enter a new world where all the fun and adventure comes to an end and we are expected to be real serious about life.
I’ve been there too. I did my best to live that way — to trade in my dreams for security.
I won’t go into my story here as I’ve written about it in other places, but the changes I made happened gradually.
If you want to make a radical change in your life, it is best to do it in stages.
When you are taking a big risk in life, it can be difficult, so I am going to show you how to make the changes with as much ease as possible.
If you don’t know me, I’ve been working and traveling for 5 years now, and even though it has many challenges, I‘m not ready to give it up as my vision is expanding and I am gaining more confidence and skills.
Before I share my secrets though, I would like to make it clear that I understand that many people do not wish to travel and they are satisfied being settled. We are all different.
I am not writing to people like that, I am writing to those of you who are 40 or over and have a desire to get up and go!
You want to travel, but you’re afraid, or you’re not afraid, but don’t know where to start.
Have no fear, I am going to show you how it’s done…
- Imagine you had no fear — what would you do?
- Imagine if money was no object, where would you go?
- What’s your why? — meaning, what is it in you that is restless, curious, longing, needing, wanting? What is your reason for wanting to go?
- What’s your goal? — if you know what you want, write it down.
- Is it realistic? — do you have money, skills, freedom? What would you have to change to make this dream a reality?
- What are your options? — maybe you have a house, car, or even a business. What will you do about them? Sell them, rent them? What about your relationships — family commitments, etc?
- Making it happen — once you know why you want to go, where you want to go, how you are going to do it, and who you have to consult, it’s time to put it into action.
- Buy your air-ticket— once you do that, you have no choice but to get going on the rest.
Travelling itself is not the problem because once you're up and running, it sort of takes on a life of its own.
Travelling is the fun part, it's all the preparation that makes it difficult and the loosening of ties.
If you decide to make this lifestyle change, then there will be a lot of work to do.
Most of the work is mental work. It requires a shift in your mindset.
The world has programmed us to be good little citizens and to follow the system.
So, to take off in your forties or older, you are going to face a lot of opposition.
This is why your WHY is so important. You need to be looking for something, desiring something, wanting more.
It takes place in your spirit, so start there. The mind and body will catch up later.
I wish you happy travels!
If you have any questions, you can always ask me in the comments below.
