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I saw the videos from this couple traveling the world and thought this was such a fun thing to do, to take an extended sabbatical and travel. I actually did something like this in 2010-11 and was the best experience of my life. I know a lot of people do this in Europe and Australia but quite uncommon for Americans to take gap years and travel. I think it's really an enriching experience to learn more about the world.
Hard for Americans because
1, they are mostly living paycheck to paycheck, how can you expect them to not work for ONE YEAR?
2, if they had the money, they need to BUY stuff and keep redoing their HOUSEs for whatever reason.
3, they are less interested in the "world" ("our states are like different countries") or afraid of it ("Paris is dangerous" "Do people speak English in Japan"?)
4, Work culture is different that it is almost possible to take an extended sabbatical. 3 weeks is considered an "extended" vacation almost imaginable in most work places in America (unless you are a teacher or something).
However, in reality, the most travelled people tend to be Americans. Unfortunately it is very few and the vast majority belongs to the people I described above.
I'm considering a 'round the world trip starting next summer/fall. I spent the last 2 summers backpacking through Europe and it was the most amazing experience. I've never felt more free or alive. Both times when the summer was over and I had to get back to work, I went into a depression for some months.
Hard for Americans because
1, they are mostly living paycheck to paycheck, how can you expect them to not work for ONE YEAR?
2, if they had the money, they need to BUY stuff and keep redoing their HOUSEs for whatever reason.
3, they are less interested in the "world" ("our states are like different countries") or afraid of it ("Paris is dangerous" "Do people speak English in Japan"?)
4, Work culture is different that it is almost possible to take an extended sabbatical. 3 weeks is considered an "extended" vacation almost imaginable in most work places in America (unless you are a teacher or something).
However, in reality, the most travelled people tend to be Americans. Unfortunately it is very few and the vast majority belongs to the people I described above.
It also depends on the comfort that people tolerates. Roughing it in hostel and backpacking may not be ideal. Frankly, it is terrifying to be in another country without enough money. That is why I only travel when I save enough money and afford a comfortable journey.
It also depends on the comfort that people tolerates. Roughing it in hostel and backpacking may not be ideal. Frankly, it is terrifying to be in another country without enough money. That is why I only travel when I save enough money and afford a comfortable journey.
of course. We should NEVER travel on borrowed money. That would be stupid.
But like the previous poster said, traveling can be cheaper than living the US, which actually is quite expensive.
Hotels are indeed expensive, at least in rich countries. Nowadays airbnb offers a lot of option. We always assume traveling is expensive, but it is because we choose the expensive way. But for many people, traveling necessarily means 4 star hotels, dining out every day and a lot of taxis (even in cities with good public transit).
In addition, if you travel to less rich countries such as much of Asia, East Europe, it can be amazing cheap. The world is not just about a dozen country that is West Europe.
of course. We should NEVER travel on borrowed money. That would be stupid.
But like the previous poster said, traveling can be cheaper than living the US, which actually is quite expensive.
Hotels are indeed expensive, at least in rich countries. Nowadays airbnb offers a lot of option. We always assume traveling is expensive, but it is because we choose the expensive way. But for many people, traveling necessarily means 4 star hotels, dining out every day and a lot of taxis (even in cities with good public transit).
In addition, if you travel to less rich countries such as much of Asia, East Europe, it can be amazing cheap. The world is not just about a dozen country that is West Europe.
Seems a little silly to compare the cost of travel with living cost - I guess if you rent you can give up your apt. and put everything in storage? Otherwise you still have to pay rent and many times can't sub it out...if you have a home, you must pay the mortgage and taxes on it. It's easy to say "rent it out" but if you live in the middle of nowhere no one will want to do that and you might end up with your home trashed!
So, you have to keep up your home (and have someone look in on it at least) as well as fund your travel. Once you're out of your 20's few want to live in hostels and backpack and you still at least have airfare to get where you're going to start with even if you use cheaper trains or buses once there. So yeah...it IS hard. Expense-wise and job-wise. I could never keep my job and do extended travel and I would NOT enjoy travel knowing I'd have to look for a job when finished and possibly be unemployed for months...get real.
I would give almost anything to be able to do this. We could easily afford it and would be able to pay outright for it with no credit involved, but we are both state employees and even a two week vacation is very much frowned upon, even though we get tons of leave given to us by state law. I have over 1200 hours of accumulated leave on the books (and that's even with having had three major surgeries and taking off 2-3 weeks each time in the past 6 years) but it's not easy to be able to take more than a day off. To ask for a sabbatical of a year, and still come home to a job, isn't even feasible. We could quit our jobs, of course, but then finding something equivalent upon return would be impossible because we both have very specialized careers of 20+ years.
in the meantime, we fight for those 2-3 weeklong vacations and ones about a week in between, and travel the world. I only have three continents to go (one is Antarctica, which will be for my 50th birthday in 3 years) so we are doing pretty well for now.
So, it will have to wait until retirement in a few years. Luckily, our careers afford us retirement in our 50s-60s, so we won't be too old to do something like this.
The only way I could see myself doing this at my age is if I had a job where all I needed was a wifi connection to work (I'm thinking web design or something similar). But the couple's videos are definitely a blast to watch!
Seems a little silly to compare the cost of travel with living cost - I guess if you rent you can give up your apt. and put everything in storage? Otherwise you still have to pay rent and many times can't sub it out...if you have a home, you must pay the mortgage and taxes on it. It's easy to say "rent it out" but if you live in the middle of nowhere no one will want to do that and you might end up with your home trashed!
So, you have to keep up your home (and have someone look in on it at least) as well as fund your travel. Once you're out of your 20's few want to live in hostels and backpack and you still at least have airfare to get where you're going to start with even if you use cheaper trains or buses once there. So yeah...it IS hard. Expense-wise and job-wise. I could never keep my job and do extended travel and I would NOT enjoy travel knowing I'd have to look for a job when finished and possibly be unemployed for months...get real.
Different strokes for different folks
I live my life around travel instead of traveling around work and a domicile.
I live my life around travel instead of traveling around work and a domicile.
Good for you....as long as you can handle the depression after a trip...
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