Why You Can’t Travel The World, But I Can

Decided you want to travel? Well, I have some bad news for you.

It’s not fair. I get it.

It’s not fair that I get to travel and you don’t. Your friends are in Europe. Your boomer parents are on the beach. Why not you? Here’s the truth. It’s not about hard work. It’s about circumstance. Millions of people are working three jobs, eating a can of beans for dinner, and are barely saving a dime. It’s not fair. I get it.

You open Youtube and see, $10,000 a Night Hotel Room, Here’s How You Can Do It Too! Guess what? You can’t do it too. It’s a fluke. It’s luck. It’s circumstance. It won’t happen to everyone. It won’t happen to you.

Well, maybe.

I’m proud of my friends who are buying houses, starting businesses, or having kids. But their parents paid for their college tuition. It’s easy to win the race when you start 10 meters ahead of everyone. I don’t blame them. It’s just circumstance.

My circumstance was leading me in a direction that would make traveling the world impossible. My parents couldn’t pay for it. The job I had would never allow me to save enough. So I decided to do it the only way I knew how. By completely fucking over any normal life I could have ever had. Not everyone can do it. Some will try. Some will fail. And that’s okay.

If you’re ready to throw away “normal life” and become a traveling outcast, here’s how I did it.

I save more money than you.

I went to college to become a writer. As if “being a writer” was a job you could apply for. Then I found the golden opportunity, teaching English abroad. So I focused my life on that goal. I changed my circumstances. I teach in Korea. I make $30,000 a year. I bank around $1000 a month. My living expenses are low. I pay less than 10% tax. I don’t pay rent. Accounting for a yearly pension and severance, I save $20,000 annually. I don’t tell people this. I’ve lost friends over this. I could quit today, travel, and get a job tomorrow. There is always a demand for English teachers.

The risk paid off, and all it cost me was my homeland. If you’re willing to commit to a similar career, then traveling the world is within your grasp.

I compromise more than you’re willing to.

I spent a week in Rome on $30 a day. I flew there from Kathmandu on less than $500. How? You won’t like the answer. I compromise, a lot more than you do. My Airbnb was technically in Rome, but it required a 45-minute train ride to reach the inner-city. Not for you? For food, I spent $10 a day on only one meal. Do you like being semi-hungry all day? That’s what it takes. It’s not a vacation. It’s world travel. When I wanted to see a landmark, I looked at it. I didn’t go inside, that’s too expensive. I only spent money for the Vatican Museum. And I spent 9 hours there to get my money’s worth. The flight from Nepal was 10 hours long. Well, not mine. Mine was 23 hours. With two layovers.

If you’re prepared to spend hours looking for shitholes, begging for discounts, and choosing 20 hour-long bus rides over two-hour flights. Then world travel is the thing for you. If you compromise, you can leave today. If you want more luxury, you have to save more, wait more, and probably won’t even go.

I’m risking it all without a safety net.

Do you want a career? A savings? A pension? Yeah, not if you’re going to travel the world! No company is going to let you leave for a year. I’d quit today to travel the world again tomorrow. Is that the right decision? Heck no! But that’s what it takes to travel longterm. It’s reckless. It’s stupid. It’s also the best time of your life. Don’t save money. Go broke! See the world! Just don’t forget that when shit hits the fan, you don’t have a safety net.

If you’re the type of person with a ten-year plan for your career, travel is not for you. Do you know what hurts more than being unemployed? Regret. Think you’re going to be regretting that missed job opportunity on your death bed? Not likely! You’re going to regret having not seen the world. If you’re nodding your head, you might be ready to ruin your life and travel the globe.

Family is not a priority.

Homesick. I don’t get it. Traveling takes you thousands of miles away from your family. If that makes you uncomfortable, turn back now. My family is a call once-a-month kind of people. I’m busy. They’re busy. When I travel the world, they worry, they call, they wonder. But my life is my own. Someone gets sick? There’s a death in the family? Why does that require me to sprint home to embrace them? What happens when my parents get too old to take care of themselves anymore? Who knows, it’s not my priority right now. Traveling is.

Home is where the heart is? Nope. Home is where your backpack is.

I actively avoid responsibilities.

I would rather jump off a cliff than take on responsibility. Start a business? Too stressful. Get a car? (See “Family is not a priority”). Mortgage? HA! Longterm travel and responsibilities don’t mix. Responsibilities tether you to tedium. If you’re not careful, you’ll get tied down forever. “Let’s paint the cupboards green for spring. Christmas Eve with my family or yours? Time to put the winter tires on.” — Shoot me.

Everyone is having babies, buying houses, renting summer cottages. We‘re not. We’re the black sheep of the family. Frequently unemployed. Potentially homeless, penniless, couch surfers. No wonder my extended family always thinks I’m dead. Responsibilities require time and effort. So does world travel.

You get to choose one.

Do you know why you can’t travel the world, but I can? You’re probably a better person. You plan, you save for retirement, you calculate your risks. When people ask how you’re doing, you know. The people who travel the world are weird, impulsive, and risky. When talking about their future, the phrase “van life” comes up a lot. Circumstances don’t define them. They won’t let them.

Tell people you’re traveling for a year and it’s all smiles. Tell them you’re going to travel forever and be prepared to soak in that sweet, sweet disappointment. Go to college, get married, have 2.5 kids, then retire, die, repeat? No thanks! No grandkids for you, mom! I have a world to see.

And if that doesn’t make sense to you, stay home!

If you made it this far and don’t hate my guts yet:

And follow my travels on Youtube: Farewell Alarms