Returning to Reality
Post travel depression? finding a job? regret having travelled? regret having returned?
B Posts: 9
Kudos to you "Call 2 Adventure." I agree. One thing I see very clearly is how little I know my own country. While it's maybe not possible for citizens of small countries, as an American I have many places to discover in my own back yard. Adventures are found in the small corners as well as the exotic wide open places. There are different walks of life around every corner. One great thing about travel is that you build a momentum. You can only blame yourself for losing steam once you arrive back home. As one wise (and now dead) man said before any of us were around:
"It is not the critic that counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again' who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Summary: just start doing it already and get off this blog line.
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"It is not the critic that counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again' who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Summary: just start doing it already and get off this blog line.
Reply to this
N Posts: 6
Hi Im a thirty something mature student..and im in the final year of college. I dont know what to do as Iv always had the travelling bug yet sadly had a terrible fear of flying. I have only been to Amsterdam and I loved it although I reckon indentaions of my fingernails are still on the arms of the seat on that flight over and back...I would like to go travelling in may when I finish college..Im skint am I mad?? Should I get a loan?? I want to do Europe and then defo India and New Zealand...Iv wasted enough of my life and now I feel its time to follow my Dreams...any advice???? Reply to this
B Posts: 2
This is a big topic for such a small space! For the past few years, I have been able to use my employer's generous annual leave provisions (seven weeks a year) and two periods of salary deferral leave of opne year each. In that time, my wife and I have lived in Taiwan. Our experience may or may not be typical, especially since living in a place is very different from travelling through it.
Getting back to reality can really be a drag. In my case, I had a job to which to return, so I was spared the financial hardship faced by many returning people. Besides, I was working while I was gone. There was no worry or anxiety about financial stuff. We tried as much as we could to live the way Chinese peopel live, and I remember that the foreigners who tried to live a North American lifestyle while away were always broke.
We were nevertheless astonished, when we got back, by how much money it costs to live a North American life style--even in North America!
IF YOUR TRIP WAS A SUCCESS YOU"RE NOT GOING TO BE THE SAME PERSON AS YOU WERE WHEN YOU LEFT. You might find yourself distanced from people who were formerly good friends. You may find that a lot of things (for example the price of gas) that are such a big deal to many North Americans are no longer of any consequence to you. Your spiritual orientation and values might be changed.
Some people speak of how readily they can adapt to foreign environments, yet how poorly they readjust to life back home. In my opinion, this is frequently vanity on their part.
If you can incorporate the best of the places you have been into the best of things at home (and there are plenty), I think you can keep post-travel depression under control.
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Getting back to reality can really be a drag. In my case, I had a job to which to return, so I was spared the financial hardship faced by many returning people. Besides, I was working while I was gone. There was no worry or anxiety about financial stuff. We tried as much as we could to live the way Chinese peopel live, and I remember that the foreigners who tried to live a North American lifestyle while away were always broke.
We were nevertheless astonished, when we got back, by how much money it costs to live a North American life style--even in North America!
IF YOUR TRIP WAS A SUCCESS YOU"RE NOT GOING TO BE THE SAME PERSON AS YOU WERE WHEN YOU LEFT. You might find yourself distanced from people who were formerly good friends. You may find that a lot of things (for example the price of gas) that are such a big deal to many North Americans are no longer of any consequence to you. Your spiritual orientation and values might be changed.
Some people speak of how readily they can adapt to foreign environments, yet how poorly they readjust to life back home. In my opinion, this is frequently vanity on their part.
If you can incorporate the best of the places you have been into the best of things at home (and there are plenty), I think you can keep post-travel depression under control.
Reply to this
N Posts: 1
I have just returned from a trip to Australia and Japan. And in the same way as other people in the thread, I have a hate-love relationship with the returning part. Partly I hate my own "the grass is greener on the other side" way of thinking. When I am gone, and am staying in a room with five other people, I think about how nice my Ikea bed in it's own room is. And how nice it would be to have some time by myself, and when I come home my place feels deserted.
And every time I come home to the culture I missed, I immediately begin to feel irritated at the way a lot of things are. Like people smoking everywhere and littering in the streets.
So as previous posters have suggested I guess it's all about learning that happyness is to be found whereever you may be. Reply to this
And every time I come home to the culture I missed, I immediately begin to feel irritated at the way a lot of things are. Like people smoking everywhere and littering in the streets.
So as previous posters have suggested I guess it's all about learning that happyness is to be found whereever you may be. Reply to this
B Posts: 67
Donavin Wick makes such a good point. I have often thought when walking around my local city or sitting at the beach or looking up at the moorland where I live..."if i was travelling right now i would think this was the most amazing view/greatest beach/stunning building" and would be taking a photo of every little thing. i think sometimes we don't appreciate what's around us. if you think about it, people from other parts of the world are coming to YOUR part of the world and thinking perhaps it is the place they would much rather be...some people have seen more of another country than their own..we do things travelling that we might not necessarily do at home even though it is perfectly feasible. rock climbing, white water rafting, wine tasting, getting a tattoo perhaps..i could do all these things at home but i know that i am more likely to do them while travelling than at any other time, therefore creating the mundane life i live in, simply because its"just not travelling!!" i went caving in budapest for example..why?! i dont know, i could have gone caving at any time in my life!! i definately echo the sentiment that we are living two separate lives.
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B Posts: 37
Part of why I travel is that same curiosity that has had me soaking up the world like a sponge since I was a kid.
Another part is that the magnificent things I've seen encourage me to want more.
The aspect that eventually gets me off my butt and traveling again, even when I'm feeling a bit depressed or am fatigued of traveling (as I am for the first while when I get back) is this: The world back home just isn't quite big enough, nor are the minds. I can love the people who never leave, love them for who they are, but their perspective is not mine, and never will be.
Already, regardless of our differences, each of us here on this forum has more in common with each other than with those who stay behind, content there, disinterested in anywhere else, or not interested enough to actually DO something about it. That's part of why we come here - the kindred spirits. Another part is the vicarious journey for when we're back home and aching to be seeing and doing and going again ourselves... and there is nothing wrong with that.
Someone once said that the ticket is to figure out what you really love doing, and then figure out a way to get paid to do it (or at least make enough to survive.) I think it has more to do with simply not seeing career, etc., as a reason for being. What is your goal? To be a "success"? By what standard or opinion do you define Success? To be stable, secure? There is no such thing. Jobs go away, economies change, people become ill of diseases they couldn't have done anything to prevent... and then that sense of security is revealed for the illusion it was all along. Our parents may have worked a job they barely tolerated, 9-5 5 days a week for 38 years... only to be unceremoniously dumped as Too Old, or to end up dying 5 years after they start getting social security, never having had the time or health to travel as they said they'd do when their Retirement ship came in.
The best revenge (for being born) is to live well; If I have to be here anyway, I may as well make it as good as a time as I possibly can.
Rethink EVERYTHING. Maybe you can't make $30k a year from the road (or maybe you can.) But you don't NEED $30k a year! Between $1800 and $3000 a year will give you lodgings for 365 night at $5-10 a night. Likewise for food (or less) in most places we travel. So now you need $6k a year plus transport. Let's figure on hitchhiking, walking or whatever (and that's a rich journey too). I can easily pull off that writing part time from anywhere in the world. Or fixing computers, or whatever. But let's just say for kicks that I can't. Those of us who have been already know that we're not going to starve to death (though we may sometimes wish we'd refused that politely offereed meal :) ) You WILL find a bowl of rice or somesuch. You can and will survive... so long as you live and travel as one of the people.
The style we'd like to become accustomed to - that's the real compromise, isn' t it? I'm sure we'd ALL rather have a new late-model SUV to drive across Africa in than a place amongst the others crammed into a 1976 Toyota sedan. but would you rather be at home than in Mali or Senegal or Niger, Malaysia or Mongolia or Pakistan, or wherever else you've got your sights set on? If you would, by all means, stay at home. If not, then GO! The uncomfortable aspects will be no more than a memory in hindsight, a minor trial gone through in exchange for a mountainous treasure that you'll be living, taking into yourself from the moment you set foot on foreign soil.
I'm putting up digs on 10 acres in the desert now, about an hour outside of El Paso, an hour away from Mexico. The land is cheap, and I've made it cheaper yet by trading a third of the costs for design and construction skills on a cabin. From now on, that's where I'll return to. It'll be paid for, and that's my retirement. Now I'm free to carry on with the living most put off to build up for that same retirement. What the HELL could possibly cost you 40 years of slaving at some miserable job just to gain retirement benefits? Thanks, anyway, I'll take my Living now... and worry about retirement when and if that time should come.
Will you become bummed? I don't know. I'm not you. But I do know that I can't be any better than content sitting in my comfy, safe familiar surroundings. Traveling and exploring, on the other hand, I can be ALIVE. For me, it has been a no-brainer.
Peace & Creation,
JT
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Another part is that the magnificent things I've seen encourage me to want more.
The aspect that eventually gets me off my butt and traveling again, even when I'm feeling a bit depressed or am fatigued of traveling (as I am for the first while when I get back) is this: The world back home just isn't quite big enough, nor are the minds. I can love the people who never leave, love them for who they are, but their perspective is not mine, and never will be.
Already, regardless of our differences, each of us here on this forum has more in common with each other than with those who stay behind, content there, disinterested in anywhere else, or not interested enough to actually DO something about it. That's part of why we come here - the kindred spirits. Another part is the vicarious journey for when we're back home and aching to be seeing and doing and going again ourselves... and there is nothing wrong with that.
Someone once said that the ticket is to figure out what you really love doing, and then figure out a way to get paid to do it (or at least make enough to survive.) I think it has more to do with simply not seeing career, etc., as a reason for being. What is your goal? To be a "success"? By what standard or opinion do you define Success? To be stable, secure? There is no such thing. Jobs go away, economies change, people become ill of diseases they couldn't have done anything to prevent... and then that sense of security is revealed for the illusion it was all along. Our parents may have worked a job they barely tolerated, 9-5 5 days a week for 38 years... only to be unceremoniously dumped as Too Old, or to end up dying 5 years after they start getting social security, never having had the time or health to travel as they said they'd do when their Retirement ship came in.
The best revenge (for being born) is to live well; If I have to be here anyway, I may as well make it as good as a time as I possibly can.
Rethink EVERYTHING. Maybe you can't make $30k a year from the road (or maybe you can.) But you don't NEED $30k a year! Between $1800 and $3000 a year will give you lodgings for 365 night at $5-10 a night. Likewise for food (or less) in most places we travel. So now you need $6k a year plus transport. Let's figure on hitchhiking, walking or whatever (and that's a rich journey too). I can easily pull off that writing part time from anywhere in the world. Or fixing computers, or whatever. But let's just say for kicks that I can't. Those of us who have been already know that we're not going to starve to death (though we may sometimes wish we'd refused that politely offereed meal :) ) You WILL find a bowl of rice or somesuch. You can and will survive... so long as you live and travel as one of the people.
The style we'd like to become accustomed to - that's the real compromise, isn' t it? I'm sure we'd ALL rather have a new late-model SUV to drive across Africa in than a place amongst the others crammed into a 1976 Toyota sedan. but would you rather be at home than in Mali or Senegal or Niger, Malaysia or Mongolia or Pakistan, or wherever else you've got your sights set on? If you would, by all means, stay at home. If not, then GO! The uncomfortable aspects will be no more than a memory in hindsight, a minor trial gone through in exchange for a mountainous treasure that you'll be living, taking into yourself from the moment you set foot on foreign soil.
I'm putting up digs on 10 acres in the desert now, about an hour outside of El Paso, an hour away from Mexico. The land is cheap, and I've made it cheaper yet by trading a third of the costs for design and construction skills on a cabin. From now on, that's where I'll return to. It'll be paid for, and that's my retirement. Now I'm free to carry on with the living most put off to build up for that same retirement. What the HELL could possibly cost you 40 years of slaving at some miserable job just to gain retirement benefits? Thanks, anyway, I'll take my Living now... and worry about retirement when and if that time should come.
Will you become bummed? I don't know. I'm not you. But I do know that I can't be any better than content sitting in my comfy, safe familiar surroundings. Traveling and exploring, on the other hand, I can be ALIVE. For me, it has been a no-brainer.
Peace & Creation,
JT
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