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

In My Humble Opinion
21

Yes, do this. Before the shackles of responsibility take hold.

Echoing what others have stated, be realistic about working. A neighbor’s daughter recently traveled to SE Asia with a couple friends with “teaching English” in mind. That did not work out, and she ended up as a nanny in Austrailia, hated it, and ended her trip at that point (lack of funds).

I left a secure job in the early 90s to travel Europe. I made sure to leave on good terms, and when I returned they hired me back and I continued my career without a blip. It can be done.

I don’t think you will regret doing this, but if you don’t do it, you will always wonder…

22

If you have no outside obligations, there is absolutely no reason to stay in a low-mobility job you dislike, and anyone who tells you different is just trying to justify their own stagnancy. If you like to travel, make it happen. And I have found that traveling is refreshing- it won’t turn you into a different person, but it can give you a hell of a lot of perspective and shake you out of bad pattern.

That said, I would strongly consider looking into Peace Corps or other similar service. The advantages are:

It can advance your career and put you into an amazing professional network- it’s a really smart career move.

You’ll get a deeper and more fulfilling experience than you would just passing through. And, you’ll still have plenty of time to travel.

You’ll probably learn a new language.
Outside of costs to complete the medical clearance forms, you won’t have to pay for it, and will even come home a little ahead.

You might do some good in the world.

Lots of people meet their spouse in Peace Corps!

It is a long process, a big commitment, and not for everyone. If you just want to be footloose for a while, that’s fine, too. Thousands of people do it, and I’ve never heard anyone say they regret it.

Some advice:

Think cheap. You can live easily in India and China on $10 a day. In Europe, that may not get you lunch. Your money will last longer and you’ll have more freedom if you stick to affordable countries. $10,000 sounds like more than enough to me for cheapish countries, especially if you are willing to spend a month here or a month there in one place. Make sure to think about things like visa costs, etc. Hostels and food can be cheap, but there can be a lot of little expenses you might not have considered. There are all kinds of “travel around the world” guidebooks that will have better advice.

Have an exit plan. You can bum around Asia indefinitely picking up English and bar jobs (yes, this is realistic in Asia), but you’ve only got so much time in your life to do that if you don’t want to end up being that scuzzy old guy at the shady English school who’ll never have a real life. Have fun for a while, but don’t teach English for more than a few years unless that is your only goal in life.
I wouldn’t worry about the car unless I was in some very specific regions (like parts of Africa.) Most places have good public transportation and it’s the best way to meet local people.

Choose quality over quantity. A longer amount of time in a smaller number of places makes for better travel than just quickly flitting through the world. If it were me, I’d focus on four or five countries and spend some real time in each of them, maybe connecting them with a cool overland trip like the trans-Siberian railway. I’ve seen long-term travelers get into ruts where everything ends up repetitive and superficial, and it tends to turn them into pretty boring, obnoxious people. Watch out for that. But other than an idea of what countries you are interested in, I wouldn’t bother planning more than that.

Finally- keep money for your own plane ticket home, and for goodness sake, nobody wants to read your autobiography. Nobody wants to read another boring travel memoir. If you are serious about writing a book, you’ll need to approach it like a journalist with a compelling topic, lots of research beforehand, connecting with people you’ll interview and places you’ll go beforehand, etc. You aren’t going to write a book that sells just bumming around.

23

Sounds like a cop-out to me. You’re bored and lonely, looking for _______ in all the wrong places.

Join the military.

24

See the world.

Go to exotic places.

Meet new interesting people.

And kill them.

:smiley:

25

Do it. All of the best things in life are the ones that make your stomach flip before. You’ll be fine.

26

Been there, done that. :slight_smile: You know the exotic place I ended up?

Valdosta, GA.

27

shudder

28

As usual, I agree with everything even sven says.

I’m about to start my own little break from work. I think it’s very mentally unhealthy to allow workers only two weeks of vacation per year, so I’ve taken matters into my own hands, and resigned. I have few concrete plans, but I do have a husband, mortgage and doggies, so my travels will likely take the form of short local trips. I’ll be regrouping, exploring my new home (moved to CA five years ago), and, eventually, will start looking for a new job that inspires me.

I think taking a break from working 9-5 is a luxury few can afford. If you can, go for it.

29

If you do it, you may regret it.
If you don’t do it, you will regret it.

30

I like the cut of your jib!

31

Should you decide not to do it, could you take week-end trips and/or possibly a two-week vacation? Obviously, with air travel it could be doable to see a lot of places in a short period of time. Speaking for myself, I have taken week-end trips and gotten a lot out of it. You sound great, but a year does sound like quite a long time, and you are still young, and of course, men do not have biological clocks, so you could have children many years from now.

32

Perfect! Simply perfect.

And if I haven’t replied to you in this thread, please don’t take that as me ignoring you. I’m sucking up all the advice like a sponge. Special thanks to even sven and DMark.

33

I have to agree with this. If you were ten years younger, there would be no question in my mind. I hate to see a 34 year old empty his retirement account, but if you don’t go you’ll always wonder, “What if?”

34

Go for it. You have nothing to lose but a job you don’t like. I’d join you but I have two young kids and a mortgage. You’ll meet new people, see the world and come home with an interesting view of yourself and everyone else.

35

I took an early retirement/buyout offer in 2001. I took the lump sum and spend a bunch of it traveling all over the US, New Zealand and Australia for 5 years. Some of the best times of my life. I was lucky and hired back on with the same company at pretty much the same pay and benefits, so it ended up being like a super-extended leave of absence.

Even if I hadn’t been able to get that job back, I still think it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I know I would have regretted not doing it for the rest of my life.

36

Don’t do it. Things may be boring, but so what? It can be worse, a lot worse. If boredom is your biggest problem, then you have it better than most people in the world.

37

I’m all for traveling abroad, but you cannot expect to line up odd jobs in advance in a series of foreign countries. First, that’s not how odd jobs normally work. Who says “Well, I’m going to need a little extra help several months from now, so I’d better make arrangements with a foreigner I’ve never met who’s not yet in the country”? In most cases it would not even be legal for you to work in a foreign country without obtaining a work visa in advance, so you also can’t expect to just enter as a tourist and then be able to work legally.

People do of course go to other countries and work illegally, but countries like Japan take this sort of offense very seriously. Like “you could go to prison” seriously.

38

Go for it— otherwise you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering “what if…”.

But do try to be a little less self-centered.
You’re not going to be a new person. You’re not going to “find yourself”, and you’re not going to discover Buddha, even if you do spend a week or two meditating in an Ashram.

You’re not the first person to go backpacking around the world. For Americans, it’s a little unusual. But in other countries, drifting around the planet is as common as Americans visiting Yellowstone Natl Park.In many countries, travelling is just the standard rite of passage–after high school, or after finishing the army…the young people all head out seeking adventure… by going to the same youth hostels that their friends visited the year before.

In Bankok, in Goa(India) , in Katmandu-- there are long rows of youth hostels lined up along the beach or the main road thru town, creating their own tourist traps, just like the Hilton and Ramada hotel chains line the beach at Miami or Honolulu.The hostels are even arranged by nationality, with signs in the appropriate language…the Aussies and Brits over here, the Germans and Spanish speakers over there, the Israelis over there. Sure, it’s cheaper, it’s a great way to meet other travellers (unlike the lobby of a Hilton Hotel), and —it’s fun!. But it’s not a life-changing experience.
You are one of thousands of backpackers all hanging out in the same place.

Yes, it can be fun. And yes, you will learn more by chatting with hundreds of people from a dozen countries, than you would learn by chatting at your office with the guy in the next cubicle. Yes, you will pick up some interesting stories to tell (mostly about language barriers, rigid bureaucrats, and drunk or stoned 20 year olds.) But the stories won’t be interesting enough to write a book. And, in fact, after your third country, most of the stories will be pretty similar to each other.

So go ahead and do it.
But let it flow over you, take things easy, and don’t build up expectations of something dramatic happening that will change your life.
And don’t count on returning home at age 35 with no money and then expect to start a family.

39

Go for it:

http://www.cntraveler.com/daily-traveler/2013/08/jauntaroo-best-job-ever-travel-the-world-for-a-year#/!

40

For everyone who spoke of boredom:

I never said I was bored. I said I was stagnant. I feel there’s a difference there.

I’ve wanted to travel since I was a young kid, but I was waiting until finishing my degree first. Now I’m simply not waiting for that.