Go Travel! Get Lost!

I`m writing this piece for my friend Anthony, to whom I am forever indebted for encouraging and inspiring me to travel and live a dream I was afraid of. Thank you, buddy. What follows is my attempt to assuage the fears of others and help to send them on their way. How can you ever find yourself if you don`t lose yourself for a while. Go travel. Get lost.

What do you wish for when you close your eyes? Palm trees, beaches, large exotic birds, sea mammals barking from the rock outcroppings dotting your horizon? Perhaps mountains that stretch above the clouds, white celestial masses swirling and breaking to reveal white capped peaks, swift flowing streams of glacier melt cascading down the mountain side, finding their way into raging rivers where adventerous rafters shoot through the rapids, cheering for their lives? Or vast bleached dunes with patterns in the sands from wind currents and fossils in them as well from some historical ocean or lake that dried up thousands of years ago? Or forests of giants, giant trees, giant bugs, giant birds, giant lizards, and more green then light or shadows? Or perhaps you dream in a language you don`t fully understand, and dances that toss you, or pull you close, and food that entices you while forcing you to guess what it once was, and religious festivals with bright colors and masked men and women who gyrate and cheer and sing? Or an endless ocean, no land in sight, with waves that make you wince and winds that force you faster and farther then you ever imagined?

Whatever you dream should not stay a dream. You know this, and yet something holds you back. What is it? Why, fear, of course. Fear of the unknown, fear from the warnings of others who haven`t lived your dream, fear of what you leave behind. We all know life is best lived when we face our fears, but that doesn`t make doing so any easier. But one thing that does is the knowledge others have done what you want to. Have no doubt others have made these choices and benefitted from them. So before reading further I`ll ask you to ask others if they`ve done what you wish to. Find those who have and find out how to do it. Then do it. Hell, a great place to start is this amazing search engine called Google. Type in what you want, read how it`s been done before, then go do it.

Fear number one, MONEY.

To live costs. We work to live and so travel, which appears as a major expense, can add stress to ones life because of the financial burden it appears. And yes, you can go to five star resorts, or expensive countries such as in Western Europe (where you can still find cheap hostels and learn how inexpensive ramen noodles, rice, and potatoes are the world over) but you can also pack a few clothes into a bakcpack and hit the less developed world where your dollar stretches. Having travelled in Peru now for the past two months I`m amazed at the luxuries I can afford while staying within my budget (which is about $1000 a month). I`ve done four and five day guided treks through the Andes, large meals of seafood, steak, alpaca. I`ve bought wonderfully warm and soft alpaca sweaters, taken Spanish Lessons, and done adventurous activities like sand boarding. I`ve enjoyed many nights on the town, dancing til 5 in the morning. And I`ve splurged on the more comfortable buses which offer full bed and food for an extra few bucks. The largest expenses while travelling are tranportation and accomadation, and they`re not much. My averge stay in a hostel costs me about $9 a night. Some places I`ve paid $15 and others $6. And to travel by bus I pay usually between $12 and $35. If you`re that nervous about money I suggest choosing a destination you would prefer to spend time in. The less you move around the cheaper life becomes. Staying in a place allows you to spend less money on transportation and to make your own meals. Making your own meals is also a great experience to share with the new friends you`ve made. For about $4 a piece friends and I in Lima made spaghetti and meat sauce, with homemade guacamole for an appetizer, we had a red argentinian wine to compliment the meal, and fresh papayas for dessert. But generally food expenses are not excessive. In Peru they have a lunch deal called a Menù where for between $2 and $5 you generally get two courses and a drink, and the food (especially the sopa/soup in Peru) is spectacular.

Other ways to save on expenses are to volunteer either with funded programs like WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farming) or with local programs that help out the less fortunate. Often these programs provide you with a place to stay, possibly meals, or at the least a discounted rate not to mention an amazing, educational, and generous experience. Another common cost cutter is to work at a hostel. Most don`t offer pay (though some do such as Irish Rover in Cusco), but they will provide a free stay and discounted meals and drinks, and the work load is not long nor difficult. Friends of mine spend most of their work hours making drinks, planning parties, and uploading pictures to the hostels website. And let`s not forget about the TESOL and TEFOL (Teach English as a Second/Foreign Language) programs (which provide a better chance at finding a job abroad but are not always necessary in countries like China and Korea and Japan if you want to teach English). A month long course can provide you with a 6 month to 1 year long job in a foreign country. One friend I`ve made travelling has spent the last eight years working one year in Japan, Korea, and China teaching English (without a TESOL certificate), saving his money, and then travelling for the next two years before once again taking a job teaching.

So have no fear about the expense of travelling. You can spend plenty of money in no time at all if you want, but it`s also possible to have comfort and wonderful experiences for far less then you`re spending at home.

Fear number two, LEAVING YOUR LIFE.

If you are in love with your job and your home and your life then you may have no interest in travel. But let`s say you still do. What is the harm in asking your work for time off to travel? Most jobs already provide you two to three weeks vacation. Use that time, and I still say ask for more. The worst the happens is you`re told no.

Now let`s say, like me, you enjoy your job but it does not appear to be a career path. The truth is you are blessed in this economy to have a job you enjoy even if it`s not your dream job. And that kind of job can be hard to leave. The economy is not doing particularly well and the job market looks scarce. So how can you leave your job for something temporary like travelling? Well, the answer requires that you have faith in a general principle I believe in and live by. But before we get into that also consider these possibilities.
1) You can get a job abroad. Working visas are not always difficult to get, especially in a country like Australia where minimum wage is around $20 (no shit, right!). What, you don`t want to spend a few months to a year making sandwiches, waiting tables, serving drinks, working on a farm, or canvassing for a non profit for $20 an hour? Why the hell not?
2) Jobs in America still exist. I had a friend who applied to two to three jobs a day for a month or more before he finally found a low paying job in the pizza industry. Oof, it`s tough out there. Well... I also had a girlfriend who would spend three to four hours a day applying to jobs in a few general fields she`s worked in before (she applied to about 40 jobs a day and had a different resume for each field) and would find a job with around the same pay she`d been making in less then a week, every time. She would often quit those jobs, but that was due more to clashing personalities between herself and her bosses, and she always had another job less than a week later. So, the jobs are out there. You just have to treat finding a job like it`s your job.

So what is this basic principle that guides me through what should be the tough decisions in life like leaving my job, selling almost everything I own, and hopping on a plane, with only a one way ticket, to see the world and learn about others and myself? It`s this...

Once you`ve achieved something, you can always achieve it again.

One of my best friends was offered a job after college with a starting salary of $50,000 a year (maybe more, it`s been a few years). He came to me wondering what he should do. That was a great salary to be offered right out of college, but his dream was to work in the TV and Film industry. It was during those discussions that we both came to the realization that since he was already offered that job he could always be offered it again. He didn`t need to take it now and could go chase his dreams with confidence that he had worked hard at this company and proven himself worthy of their offer and now he could put that same effort towards what he really wanted. He now lives in LA and passed up a Junior Executive position in reality TV because that`s also not his dream. Great guy.

So don`t worry about leaving everything you have. You can get it all back. It`s not hard to buy a new Calvin Klein shirt or ¨Friends¨ box set. And don`t worry about your job filling your pisition, good business is about expanding and if you`re a good employee they`ll want you back. Especially a confident decision maker like yourself who just got back from the adventour of a lifetime where you obviously grew as an individual and now have more to offer than before.
:)

Fear number three, VIOLENCE and CRIME.

Most places are not as violent and dangerous as our news media makes them out to be. I`ve met travellers who were in Egypt during the revolution and would hear on the news that where they were was rioting. They would look around at the calm streets and ask ¨where?¨ However, I`ve been warned about certain towns and such should I head into Columbia. Just ask local people what`s safe and what`s not and you`ll be fine. With that said, crime does exist, but I have a story to share with you...

I heard a story where a couple was approached by another couple who hung out with them over the course of the night and took turns buying rounds. The second couple drugged the first couple, stripped them naked, stole everything including their rental car, and left them in the gutter. Now, I`ve heard of this terrible scam happening in two different places. The first is in Bogota, Columbia. The second is in Los Angeles, California. We live in a violent country. A college friend was beat up at a party in Boston, my sister-in-law was mugged in Los Angeles, and my best friend was murdered in a small town in Connecticut. America is no picnic of good will and brotherly love. But because of this we as Americans have wonderful common sense. While travelling I won`t walk down dark streets at night, I won`t take unregistered taxis, I won`t get so shitfaced I risk my personal health getting back to my hostel, I won`t travel with more on me then the money I wish to spend that night or day, I don`t leave my things unnatended unless they`re locked up, I don`t go to ATMs past sundown, I don`t travel to most places alone, and I ask the locals everything I can about the neighborhoods I`m in. Basically I do everything I would do if I were to go to a major US city for the first time. Use common sense and you`ll be just fine. Our country is more violent and crime ridden them some you may want to visit (like Japan) and it`s taught us not to be easy targets. That means we most likely won`t be. Again, I can`t stress this enough, just use your head and you`ll be fine.

So again. If you have a dream, especially the dream to travel, then go do it. This has been one of the best experiences of my life and one I know I will continue to repeat, but at first I was afraid, I was petrified, but I grew strong... thanks Anthony for the support and advice and I hope this short piece offers some insight and inspiration for the would be travelers of the world.