Am I giving it all up??

Stephen,

I think it was so important that you shared this with us all for the very reason of reassuring all embarking on their own travel adventure.
This empitomises the very essence of why it is so important to take that leap of faith.

I'm so grateful for all I've seen and done and have always said to friends and family that if I popped my mortal coil tomorrow, I've had a ball. I've heard so many stories from people who have lost loved ones tragically young and heard those loved ones say on their death bed what regrets they had that they didn't travel. Seemingly they had everying else, career, house and all the other empty trappings. But in the end, it meant absolutely nothing. I always say we are here to learn and grow as individuals and to have as many life experiences as we can in order to grow. I'd take the path less travelled everytime.

I also loved Torres, what a beautiful mystical place. One of my favourite places in the world. I could quite happily travel until the end of my days.

Partly as a result of some of the spiritual places I've travelled to (Tibet, Nepal, Egypt) I am now a Reiki practitioner and I find that it helps so many on many different levels. I would urge you Stephen to find a practitioner and give it a try. I think it will really help in your difficult times ahead. Both physically and spiritually.

Best wishes to you,
Caroline (aka TT) Reply to this

Stephen;
I'm sorry to hear about your current situation, and truly hope that you get to your travels as soon as you are able. Your circumstances highlight one of the common themes that has emerged through this thread, which is that we all seem to be in a place where major life changes are either being considered, or are in the works. You've highlighted what I think is one of the major concerns expressed on this site, "to wait or not to wait?", and I think your sharing of your circumstances has helped to answer that question, at least for me.

Take care Stephen,

Lolarun Reply to this

This is excellent news Stephen....really pleased to hear it! Chile here we come 😊 Reply to this

Just go for it Stephen, better to have seen and done many things and followed dreams, then to have done nothing at all😊 Reply to this

Hey Tarkangel, it boils down to time and money, how much time do you have and how much money can you save or have saved?, how old are your children and dependent in what way?, if they need a roof over their heads and are college or uni age, then get them packed off to higher education😊

Afterall you have supported them this far and it is about time they fend for themselves and make their own life, selling the house depends on how much it is worth and how long and how far you want to travel?, if you have savings it may well be worth renting the house and getting a small monthly income and the mortgage paid, unless it is already paid?, to be honest if your turning 40 you want to go now rather than retire and possibly have bad health and regret not doing it.

Im always happy to help and if you give me an idea of what your current position is like and what you want to achieve im sure i can add more imput.

Thx Mike😊 Reply to this

glad I read your post.... I was about to start another thread with the topic

anyone out there travelling/living overseas with children

reading all these comments have made me even more determined to do it with kids. Have been thinking about it for a while. I would probably like to get a job overseas (well my husband, not me lol) and use it as a base to go other places.

Funnily enough I always google overseas jobs and annoyingly "Come to Australia" always comes up!! I live in Australia and am trying to get away!! ha ha.

My husband has a HR degree (not really used though, not much experience) and is currently doing IT consulting work... any ideas... how come some people seem to get the lucky breaks (ie their company sending them OS)

we have 3 small daugthers (1years-6 years) so i suppose no war torn countries or poorly developed

maybe i should just swap lives with some of you from .... anyone want to come to Australia? ha ha the grass is always greener.. .lol Reply to this

Tarkangel thanks for the reply, well if the house is not paid up, no point selling it, as by the time you pay the bills and fees etc you may not come away with much, better to rent it to be honest. The 17 and 19 year old can get by, however the 11 yr old is the issue, cause they have a few years left in school. But thats now bad news as you have sown the seed of this idea and you have some years to plan this trip. your savings are 401 thousand or four thousand and one?

To be honest if the savings are small, save some for a trip and pay more towards the house and the kids who are old enough politely and tactfully get the into their own place and living there own life. You then have just one child to nurture till school finishes.

You have given everything from birth to were they are now and they should not be selfish and they should accept you want to fulfill dreams and take a chance.

If you have a few years to think then you can research,research research as it depends where you want to go and for how long and what vacines you need and is the malaria present and do you want to use hotels or b&b's or if you want to use sights like couch surfing or hospitality club and stay with interesting people as you travel.

Everyone is an individual and i can help with ideas and research and so forth, but everyones trip/dream is different and ultimately only you and your husband know what fits. I hope that helps and feel free to ask me anything else😊 Reply to this

traveling mum the kids aren't at school yet, so you don't have anything stopping you apart from money, i d suggest saving and going for it😊 Reply to this

We fly out on the 10th jan into Brazil and hope to hit Rio for the carnival but the prices are so steep??? Then onto Agintina and up through Chilli. I'm excited too!!!! Reply to this

Hi there, I am 50 and my wife is 49 and we are in the process of selling the stuff, house cars tvs all that stuff. We are only keeping what we can't replace. I am lucky I have a 12 month leave of absence and with holidays and other time off I will have 14 months to travel. My wife will quit but I know that she will find a new job that is more to her liking as world travel opens up so many opportunities of self discovery.

I have never felt so invigorated since we made the decision to just "Do it". All we need now is to sell the house and we are on the road ! It's funny, so many people say "oh you are so lucky, I wish I could do that". I say why can't you do the same, it 's all about choices, if you fear loss of material goods and jobs then you will have to over come that.

We plan on a $50,000 Cdn budget that includes airfare-funstuff-food-accommodation etc. We will see what happens with that plan. I know you can do it a lot cheaper but we want to get dive certified, learn to sail and spend time in Auz and New Zealand and Europe so it will be a little pricey.

Just go for it and you will never regret it. Reply to this