I'm about to do something insanely stupid, and I need your help.

In My Humble Opinion
1

(TL;DR below)

For years I’ve been posting various threads on the Dope asking for advice with traveling and expatriating. I think I’m about ready to pull the proverbial trigger.

I just turned 34. I recently got out of a 3-year relationship, then dated another person for 4 months. Now I’m single again for the first time in a while. I have no kids. I have practically no debt. I absolutely love to travel.

I have been stuck in a stagnant but secure job for 5 years now. The pay is enough for me to live comfortably at present, but boozing on the weekends and buying the occasional video game is not really living life to the fullest. There is really no avenue for straight promotion for me, as my supervisor has had 30 years in the business and isn’t going anywhere soon.

I worked very hard at college the past 7 years while going to school full-time, and I’m burned out. My director is no longer willing to let me augment my work hours to go to school, which makes my employer’s tuition assistance program virtually useless to me. And the way things are nowadays, I refuse to let myself get saddled with five- or six-figure debt for a piece of paper that has little extra value in today’s struggling job market.

My plan all this time has been to get my degree, sell everything I have, and pick a country on the globe to move to. That’s not working out and I’m not getting any younger.

So now my thinking is that this’ll be the last time in my life before I (hopefully) have a family and kids that I’ll have complete freedom to go where I want when I want. I’m thinking of saying “screw it”, quitting my job, selling everything I own except for a few irreplaceable items, and buying a one-way ticket. Bringing only a backpack and a laptop, I would travel over the course of one year, west to east, starting in Ireland and ending in Japan. I can use Couchsurfing.com and hostels to sleep where I need to. I could work whatever odd jobs I need (secured ahead of time) just to eat and move to my next country. I have a modest sum saved up for retirement; that would be my emergency funds. And if I completely and utterly fail, my parents would buy me a plane ticket back. Over the course of the year, I would love to write a book, alternating chapters between my autobiography and my experiences on this trip.

I spoke to some very close friends about this last night and they were extremely supportive. They’re both well-educated, degreed people who admit that having their degrees haven’t really given them any advantages. They both constantly struggle to make ends meet on top of their crushing school debt.

What do I intend to gain from this: Self-discipline and self-reliance. Restarting at zero with a clean slate. Learning a new language or two. Coming back a new man. And in the best possible outcome, maybe I’ll find a country I love so much, I’ll just apply to stay there.

So some questions:

  • Am I crazy for giving up a secure job in this economy and selling everything I’ve worked for for the past 15 years?

  • How would I formulate a plan what I would do over there? Should I have a clear itinerary or just pick the next place and move on when the feeling strikes me?

  • Should I buy a cheap vehicle or just take public transit everywhere? (A car would give me a place to lock up my stuff and sleep in if one of the Couchsurfing folks flakes out, but public transit will give me much better immersion and learn to survive without a car.)

  • Are any European/Asian dopers willing to put me up for a night or two if I come to your area?

Finally, TL;DR: I’m 34. Life is stagnant. I have no SO and no kids. Planning on quitting, selling everything, and gallivanting across Europe and Asia for a year. Thoughts?

2

No advice but it sure sounds like fun. I have several friends that have done this and never returned. Off the top of my head I would say Italy, France, Costa Rica, China, Ireland and a few others I can’t think of seem to be where they all ended up. I would not attempt it with out at least $100,000 to start off with.

3

All your friends started off with $100,000?

4

I would do it. I don’t think your job scenario will suffer. People who do these sorts of things tend to come back with heightened sense of confidence about themselves and a more worldly outlook, and this attitude translates into getting more and better work opportunities often in different fields. Plus doing this, especially if you pitch it as part of a book or travelogue tend to impress people also leading to opportunities.

5

I think it sounds great! I watched a documentary about Craigslist showing that you could use that to find a place to stay and other necessary things.

6

Do it! It isn’t the same, but I backpacked by myself around Europe for a couple of months after I graduated high school, and it was probably the single best experience of my life. And I’ve had a fantastic life. I personally didn’t have an itinerary when I went, and I think that was best. Go and do what you want, when you want to do it.

I wouldn’t buy a car. Take the train around Europe, and hostels are cheap if couch surfing doesn’t work. I don’t see any reason you would need a $100K cushion, but about $10K would be nice. Certainly lots of people do this on less money than that.

7

Permit me to be the voice of reason (or wet blanket).

I think this has all the makings of a desperate act by a desperate man in a moment of desperation.

You don’t have to leave home in order to “clean house”.
You don’t have to travel the world for a year in order to travel the world.
You don’t have to pack everything you own in a bag in order to find new opportunities.

I know it sounds like a fantastic adventure and I’m sure it will be a very interesting year for you. But independence and self-reliance are not places just beyond the next horizon. You can find them through other means. Abandoning everything and hoping you’ll find a better place is not exactly a plan.

So why exactly are you considering doing this? To find something or to try to leave something behind? What if neither of those things happen for you despite the year of travel? You’ll have seen things for sure. But what kind of change do you really expect to take place in the course of this journey? After all , as you well know, wherever you go - there you are.

I’m not suggesting what you’re considering is a huge mistake. In the grand scheme, it’s just a year out of many more in what is hopefully a long and happy life for you. But is it necessary? And if so, why (no, really)?

I ask out of curiosity about why people choose to do this kind of thing.

8

I haven’t traveled that much, but here are the things that stuck out to me.

-Do you know what odd jobs you could get? Or how much they’d pay? I’ve heard other people who planned to do odd jobs to get money on the road and it often ends up harder than they expected. So I’d say have the odd jobs lined up as the best case scenario, but also have Plan B in place in case the jobs fall through or don’t pay as much as you’d expect. That if the odd jobs work out you can eat at somewhat decent local restaurants, but if they don’t you can rely a bit more on granola bars and other cheap but filling food.

-I don’t think you’re crazy at all for giving up your job, since I don’t know if any job is really that secure anymore. But also imagine that if you went traveling, and came back in a year and had to start further down on the totem pole of your career field. Or you couldn’t get anything related in your career field and had to take temp work or work at some minimum wage job. Would you be able to handle that? You might not be super happy in the lower position, but it doesn’t sound like you’re truly happy now.

-A car sounds like it’d be more trouble than it’s worth. And I don’t really know how secure of a place it would be to lock your stuff up in. I would just research the public transportation options, and keep an eye out for storage lockers when needed.

I was thinking some of the same things. Traveling to get new experiences and learn new things and have fun is a good idea. Traveling in order to come back a new man in a year is a bad idea, because you won’t be a new man, you’ll be the same man with some new experiences. When you come back, you’ll realize that some problems you had were petty and you wasted time worrying about them. And you’ll find some other problems that pick right back up where you left them. You won’t fix your life by traveling, but maybe you can get some new perspectives.

I think you should go for it, but do some research and be realistic in what you can do, and also be realistic in what outcome you expect from your traveling.

9

Oh my god, do it.

10

Yeah. This doesn’t sound all that realistic to me. First, countries tend to take a pretty dim view of foreigners showing up with a one-way ticket to their country, seeking a long-term visa, and having no job sponsors. Getting a work visa just to do whatever unskilled labor you might happen to find will also be a no-go. Working under the table will also tend to ensure that your wages are minimal, perhaps not adequate to support your meager life abroad.

Allow me to be a little bit of a bitch: What do you think that you have attended college for seven years, allegedly on a full-time basis, without getting a degree suggests about your ability to formulate and see a planned goal through to completion? Finishing a college degree is a lot easier than making a new life abroad. What does the fact that your antidote for job dissatisfaction is not “attempt to find a more suitable position,” but rather, “just walk away, sell everything, move abroad without any real plan, hope for the best, and call Mother and Dad if things don’t work out.”?

When the money runs out, as it will, and you come back, where are you overall? Not anywhere further, and a good deal behind.

even sven had a similar yen. But she didn’t go off half-cocked. Why don’t you investigate options like the Peace Corps or a similar organization that would afford you a realistic avenue to pursue your interests?

11

Drop Jjimm a PM about this. He is what i would describe as an expert at living in different places.

12

Look at it this way,
fifty years from now what do you want to tell your grandkids?

13

No, they didn’t. I know one couple, she is a teacher he is a bum. They take off about every 5 years for several months and they go on a shoe string budget. They have become experts and shopping deals and promotions. Some of the others I mentioned turned them into business trips. One of the girls I used to date would rent blocks of hotel romms all over Asia and then travel Europe leasing out her rooms to companies and private individuals. She did very well and traveled virtually free.

14

This sounds like a horrifically bad idea for someone who wants to have a family soon.

15

Totally do it, I know loads of people who have, with no repercussions on their long term careers. It’s practically a right of passage in the UK. Who knows, the economy might have picked up by the time you get home!

You’ll have to rethink the ‘working as you go’ thing though. Countries do have an annoying habit of demanding work visas. And you’re going to wing it (an idea I would like) you should at least look up how long you can stay in certain places on just a tourist visa. You can only hang about in the Schengen Zone* in Europe for up to 90 days without a visa, for instance, which isn’t long when you consider it comprises 26 countries in one border zone.

*The Schengen zone is a group of 26 European countries - some of which are EU members, some not - that have abolished passport control between them. There are some notable exceptions, eg the UK, so you need to read up on this.

16

Get a TEFL certificate. It doesn’t take very long and it gives you the ability to teach English if you decide to settle somewhere for awhile. I taught English in Saigon during my “sabbatical”.

You might also check out The Career Break Book, published by Lonely Planet. I haven’t read it, but it looks like it might have some good advice. I like that one of the questions it purports to tackle is, “What if I decide not to come back?”

17

There’s a book for everything.

I agree with everyone who said that you secure a job or a job-like thing first, THEN leave. The other way is not going to work.

18

Have fun! Go for it. You’re a grownup, you can deal with the challenges and consequences.

19

Read this, for starters:

20

I did exactly what you are talking about - granted, I was a tad younger (day after graduating from college).

I got on a plane without a single plan - to prove this fact, as the plane was taking off a woman next to me said, “Where are you going?” and I said, “To Europe.” and she looked at me and said, “Everyone on this plane is going to Europe…” and I realized, I had no idea where I was going to go or what I was going to do when the plane landed. It sounds odd, but at that moment, I felt more free than I had ever felt in my life!

I always tell people to take at least enough money that they could live in NYC, decently, for three months without working. If you have more - great!

Do NOT get a car…trains and subways and buses are just fine.

Go with the flow…if you thought you would spend 2weeks in Ireland, but it is pissing rain and you are not having fun - get the hell on a train and go. However, if you just love the little hotel/pension, and have met some cool mates at the pub, and are having a great time - hang around! Keep your “general” road map in your mind, but don’t rush off, just because of some vague plan.

Work can be an issue…work permits and residence permits can be a real bitch to acquire! There are always “tricks” in each country to get around this, but I would only research that if you really think you want to spend at least 6 months or a year at that location.

Whenever you get to a city or place - go to the main tourist trap area and then IMMEDIATELY walk at least three or four blocks away. That is where the locals will eat and live and play. (Pretty much avoid ALL tourist trap areas - oh sure, go see whatever you want to see - once - but then stay away…they are money pits and you will never meet a single local.)

Find the off-beat, cheaper youth hostels, or pensions…most are quite liveable and much cheaper than any other overnight locations.

To meet locals - go to some off-the-beaten-path cafe/bar and have coffee and a piece of cake or whatever, every single day, at about the same time. You become a “regular” and people will eventually warm up to you - then you can ask about cheaper digs, perhaps some part time, off-the-books work, etc. If nothing else, you will start to meet some folks and can have some real conversations.

Use your common sense…if an area seems a bit dangerous, or some characters seem a bit shady, get the hell out of there - pronto. Be a bit subtle - don’t talk so loudly everyone can hear you from two blocks away…don’t dress like some Texan or rube who just got off the American Tour Bus…do your best to blend in. In other words, observe before you start making any waves.

It always helps to learn at least a few words in the local country - hello, thank you, where is, how much, what is…
Nobody will expect you to speak their language perfectly, but you have to show you are at least TRYING to become involved.

Don’t be afraid to hook up and travel with some others for a few days or a week - maybe the fun couple from Australia, or those two German guys, or the crazy Swedish group…they can give you great tips on where to go, and what to see/avoid in other places they have been recently. When they get too tiring, bid adieu and move on. I met some great people that way, and some are still friends to this day!

Be frugal…but feel free to splurge once a week on a nice® dinner, or a long night in a pub, or a somewhat better pension…but until money comes in, be cautious with the money going out. Make sure you have your “emergency” money and keep it safe - stolen laptop, no inexpensive rooms to be found, a quick visit to a doctor, etc. I would use an ATM card, and let your bank here in the USA know you are traveling and how to quickly get a replacement card - just in case it is lost or stolen! I would also avoid stupid things like wearing an expensive watch or a gold ring, etc. You can certainly go without.

BTW, I would buy a round trip airline ticket - valid for one year. It does make crossing borders easier, and if disaster strikes, you at least have a ticket back here.

But do go! From personal experience, it was the wisest thing I have ever done - and worst case scenario, you come back to the USA and start over new somewhere here! But that experience will serve you well in the future!

Oh, and please check in once in awhile here on the SDMB…I always love to re-live these adventures through the eyes of others!

Have fun!