As I mentioned earlier, I recently decided to take some time off to travel long term. I have been breaking the news to family and friends over the past few months, and even though the response has been overwhelmingly positive, I figured I would take the time to explain why I am doing this and how I am able to make it happen.
I am a big fan of the idea that we have the ability to make things happen for ourselves, within reason. I never wanted to be President or a rock star or a Kardashian, but I always knew that I wanted to live in London. After lot of planning and research I was able to make that happen, at least for a summer. Think back to every major decision you have made since you became an adult.What would you change and why? When I think back to the decisions I made starting around age 22, many were in pursuit of this goal: being able to travel long term for a spell. But what made me decide that now is the time? I could give you a list of reasons, but the most compelling ended up being the simplest...
I may never be able to do this again
I
know a lot of people who say that they will travel when they're older and
retired, which is fine. But I don't want to wait--partly because I'm
impatient and partly because I don't know what the future holds. I agree
that traveling in my sunset years sounds great, but I could also be
dead or sick or bogged down by responsibilities that I currently don't have. I don't mean that in a pessimistic way, it's just reality. Right
now I'm lucky enough to have my health and a moderate amount of financial and personal freedom, which hasn't been the case over the past few years.
I have no children and no significant debts. In the future I expect
that to change. I want a house, I want a more settled life, but it can
wait a year or two. So...
I made travel a priority
For you, it might be something else. Maybe you want to own a house by age 30, start a family, have a big wedding, or drive a luxury car. At some point we all choose our choices and those choices reflect what we value. I
chose travel because I think it makes me a better person, a more confident person, a more
understanding person and it inspires me in ways nothing else does. Am I giving up other things in the process? Definitely. Is it a fair trade off? To me, it is. But besides that...
Grand Canyon, 2011
I am lucky
But, I mean, if you are reading this then so are you. We're all lucky to some degree, comparatively speaking. I may be lucky, or rather privileged enough to be able to do this for a number of circumstantial reasons. However, I am not lucky enough to be a trust fund kid nor have I had any financial windfalls that are paying for this trip. Furthermore, my career doesn't pay especially well, but again, that was a choice I made. But by simply attributing this to me being 'lucky' you are taking power away from yourself to make your own dreams happen. The opportunity to take this trip hasn't just fallen into my lap. It is happening because of long term planning and because...
Hemingway House, 2012
I am frugal
This is probably the single biggest reason for why I am able to do this. I drive a 1995 Jetta that I bought seven years ago. I have never had a smart phone (though that will change thanks to T-Mobile's new business model). I rarely buy anything that isn't on sale and ever since I moved back to Connecticut a couple of years ago I have made a concerted effort to cut down on the amount of 'stuff' I own. Obviously, living in Connecticut is cheaper than living in a city like New York or Boston or L.A. But even
when I lived in Boston, the most I ever paid for rent was $575, which
also included utilities. Ok, so maybe one of my walls may have actually been a closet
door, but hey. It was cheap and safe and on the T. But that's not to say that all of these decisions have been easy or ones I've been particularly happy about. I gave up a certain kind of lifestyle when I left Boston and I miss it everyday. But sometimes you meet a guy, fall in love, and end up living 15 minutes from the place where you grew up. It felt a lot like this:
But on the plus side...
My financial house is in order
As I mentioned earlier, I have no significant debt. If this wasn't the case, I highly doubt I would be doing this trip. I realize this is not true for many Americans for a variety of reasons, some avoidable, some not. I have some student loans, mostly from grad school, but it is a very manageable amount. This is huge, especially if you've attended college at any point over the last ten years. But again, this was mainly due to making some difficult decisions that, at the time, I was hardly excited about. I lived at home for two years during undergrad, so I did not have the typical "college experience" and at 17 I definitely felt like I was missing out on something important. I had always expected to go away to college but when the time came I couldn't make it happen. Of course, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I don't envy anyone who has had to navigate paying for college over the past decade, but an unpopular choice like going to a community college for a couple of years or living off campus can really make a difference in your post-college life. Besides my lack of debt, I also took an active role in my financial future once I started making my own money by doing a few simple things: I opened a Roth IRA when I was 22, I always contribute the max amount to my work's retirement plan, I never spend more than I earn, and I have no credit card debt. My excellent credit has also allowed me to engage in travel hacking, which has cut down on some of the larger costs associated with travel, like plane tickets. I'll get into the nitty gritty of that more in the future...
I guess at some point over the past year I decided to stop waiting for things to happen that are out of my control. This is my way of taking back my own life and making it what I want, fate or destiny be damned.
As I mentioned earlier, I have no significant debt. If this wasn't the case, I highly doubt I would be doing this trip. I realize this is not true for many Americans for a variety of reasons, some avoidable, some not. I have some student loans, mostly from grad school, but it is a very manageable amount. This is huge, especially if you've attended college at any point over the last ten years. But again, this was mainly due to making some difficult decisions that, at the time, I was hardly excited about. I lived at home for two years during undergrad, so I did not have the typical "college experience" and at 17 I definitely felt like I was missing out on something important. I had always expected to go away to college but when the time came I couldn't make it happen. Of course, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I don't envy anyone who has had to navigate paying for college over the past decade, but an unpopular choice like going to a community college for a couple of years or living off campus can really make a difference in your post-college life. Besides my lack of debt, I also took an active role in my financial future once I started making my own money by doing a few simple things: I opened a Roth IRA when I was 22, I always contribute the max amount to my work's retirement plan, I never spend more than I earn, and I have no credit card debt. My excellent credit has also allowed me to engage in travel hacking, which has cut down on some of the larger costs associated with travel, like plane tickets. I'll get into the nitty gritty of that more in the future...
I guess at some point over the past year I decided to stop waiting for things to happen that are out of my control. This is my way of taking back my own life and making it what I want, fate or destiny be damned.
