Ever thought "Well this isn't good".... but manage to turn it around to your advantage??
This is the place to share....
Recently my world got turned on it's head....
There were plans in place....
Timelines to follow....
Savings to be put aside....
All with the end result of more travel and broadening the mind.
Then work restructured and I was restructured with it.
Once the shock wore off it came down to a single decision....
Did this situation allow me to cut the bowlines and take off again?
Luckily for me the answer was yes!!!
Anyone else been able to turn a negative into a positive when it comes to travel?
Reply to this I do it all the time. Anytime something like this happens the only question I ask myself is "where does the opportunity lie here". When I had to have my truck worked on in Colorado Springs my first thought was now I had time to catch up on my blogs and do homework on the next part of my trip. I rented a weekly rental hotel room and went to work.
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In response to: Msg #175768
Believe it or not, I went through a similar experience. I had lots of wonder lust and some savings, but no definitive plans. Work then announced a majoring restructuring. I took a long look at my current life, decided to take the risk, and volunteered to leave and travel. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make, but was ultimately quite rewarding. I blogged about it at the start of the resulting trip:
Introduction: The rites of passage.
On trips, I've also had lots of little things go wrong: car problems, hotel sellouts, closed roads, closed attractions, bad weather, lost stuff, the list goes on and on. For all of them, I've learned to consider it part of the experience, and find some way of making it positive. Its a rare day nothing good at all appears (experience that carried over to my subsequent hunt for a new position).
Reply to this One good thing about bad experiences is that they make for a good story!
Reply to this I think it has a lot to do with perspective and managing expectations.
When we were travelling in Turkey we decided that catching the 12 hour overnight bus from Goreme to Istanbul (rather than flying) would be a good experience; half way through the bus trip we thought differently.
But now, the stories from that bus trip get recalled with much affection. And it really was a fantastic experience!
Reply to this Have done a few times. Probably the one I remember most is turning up at the airport a day early - im usually late, dont have a stellar record with flights - after having checked out of a penthouse in Phuket. After being told I wasnt going to Vietnam that day at all they suggested a "nice little beach and hotel just around the corner''.
I was thinking it would be a noisy dive under a runway..turns out its now one of my favourite little hidden away spots on Phuket island and ive fallen in love with one particular restaurant so I often fly into Phuket just to eat there then venture onto places further afield.
Hotel wasnt my penthouse but it was far from a dive and turned out to have some relatively unknown diving so I went back after Cambodia and dived the local reef and wreck.
Ironically, its so quiet there I nearly missed my plane to Vietnam because....I was chilled out mellow and theres no run way noise.
Also once made a split decision to head out of bali one friday a week early than planned to go and dive the gilis....glad I did because I had a few drinks at the Sari club before heading off the next morning. The Sari club was blown to bits the next friday night.
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In response to: Msg #175787
I agree with this one. Earlier this year I hiked up a mountain with some friends and to say I was unprepared is really putting it mildly. But it gave me a huge sense of achievement afterwards, not to mention a different perspective on a blog entry on mountain climbing.
I also quit my job more than three years ago because the opportunity to travel was staring at me in the face and I couldn't pass it up. Career-wise, nothing has ever been the same but given another chance, I think I'd do that again (quit my job and travel) in a heartbeat.
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