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Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

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Re: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

#71

Post by noname123 »

keiferski wrote: post #33
noname123 wrote: post #25

I'd love to hear concretely what you guys who traveled actually gained from traveling the world? Because I always hear that it's really exciting and you get to go to exciting places - but what exactly did you gain in terms of perspectives besides your instagram pictures and cocktail stories? I've never get beyond this superficial in hearing people's travel stories online and IRL. Maybe it's just me; but the idea of g…

You have a very stereotypical view of what "traveling the world" is, so it's not surprising that you're dismissive. > If you want to immersed into a culture, wouldn't you want to commit to learning the language and go to your local city's meetup for that language - instead of going to a foreign country with a phrasebook. Meet-ups are not even remotely comparable to actually being there. This is especially true for no…

So far in some of the comments. I've gotten the same answer, "it changed my life!"; "I heard some new stories from the countries I stayed and it changed my perspective!"; "and I'm different from people back home now!"; and a subtle swipe that OP is dismissive and maybe "small-minded"; and I love it and appreciate your guys feedback!

Allow me to share my experience of being immersed in American culture for 25 years as a Chinese immigrant. It may seem off-topic but if you guys'll bear with me - I have also a lot of Chinese friends, some of whom are graduate students who even stay in US for several years. To them, experiencing America means going to an "American party", maybe go clubbing, going to the Yellowstone Nat'l park, the gun range or the Burning man, and most of all - making an American friend or the ultimate pinnacle getting an American boyfriend or girlfriend! I hope y'all agree with me that American spirit is not encapsulated in just getting an American boyfriend or going to Burning Man! But are my Chinese friends' self-centered efforts to (understandably) efforts to "become more confident", "self-reliant", get "exposed to ideas and places [they] had zero experiences in"; so that when they go back to China and compare themselves to Chinese compatriots, it's "obvious that [their] trajectory has changed compared to other [plebeian folks] back home".

Just my humble opinions, most human beings have remarkably similar values across different culture, we all want paradoxically to belong to the herd and also distinguish ourselves from the herd. And yet 25 years of living in America, I've been so self-centered at my own "culture refinement" all this time that I rarely and truly listened to others around me and their experiences.

Re: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

#72

Post by anm89 »

dejv wrote: post #29

I traveled for five years or so. I was having great time, but I've probably overdid it for year or two. What worked well for me was quiting mixing backpacker circus with less known destination. It was fun to sleep at hostels, party with fellow travelers and have fun, but it gets old after while. I split my trips into 3 to 6 months chunks after which I just come back to one of my bases, recharge for a bit and then wen…

Yeah, I think going out to find yourself or being transformed is mostly a fools errand.

I also don't regret my travels but didn't find any of that.

Re: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

#73

Post by noname123 »

dejv wrote: post #55
noname123 wrote: post #25

I'd love to hear concretely what you guys who traveled actually gained from traveling the world? Because I always hear that it's really exciting and you get to go to exciting places - but what exactly did you gain in terms of perspectives besides your instagram pictures and cocktail stories? I've never get beyond this superficial in hearing people's travel stories online and IRL. Maybe it's just me; but the idea of g…

It taught me that it is ok to not be high on career/income ladder and there many niches outside tech that are worth to be living in and you can easily carve some for yourself.

Thanks for answering! I hope to find that niche (that's outside tech) one day too!

Re: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

#74

Post by tayo42 »

noname123 wrote: post #25

I'd love to hear concretely what you guys who traveled actually gained from traveling the world? Because I always hear that it's really exciting and you get to go to exciting places - but what exactly did you gain in terms of perspectives besides your instagram pictures and cocktail stories? I've never get beyond this superficial in hearing people's travel stories online and IRL. Maybe it's just me; but the idea of g…

> I've never get beyond this superficial in hearing people's travel stories online and IRL.

I think most people aren't very articulate, they cant express their experiences well. Or maybe don't self reflect well. But anything you experience will leave an effect on you.

Food, locations and just getting dropped into to situations you wouldn't normally be in are the biggest things about traveling. There's a lot of little things that can leave an impact. Some things are just seeing how similar people around the world really are too. I've discovered a lot of new food and learned about food from traveling. A cookbook, youtube and imported ingredients aren't quite the same.(I saw in your other post your a chinese immigrant, do you think I could claim to know about chinese food without visting and eating in china?) I took one off cooking classes in kyoto, bali and morroco and learned a lot about the culture and what i learned left a lasting effect on me. I found I really like indonesian food, mie goreng is a regular weeknight dinner for me now.

There is a lot to write i think what I gained from travel,probabaly to much for a forum post. One other thing i want to mention is seeing nature is impactful. Going to the carribean and seeing dead coral reefs really drives home the damage humans are doing to this planet. You probably won't see that in your suburb, or realize it in a city.

Re: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

#75

Post by legerdemain »

hoka-one-one wrote: post #50
tayo42 wrote: post #48

Ive always wanted to do this, but I don't know what I would do with my stuff? Sell everything seems dramatic because i do have sentimental things. The idea of paying rent for a place in america/california and not using it feels wasteful

storage space

Storage for an home's worth of possessions doesn't cost that much less than rent on an apartment.

Re: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

#76

Post by anm89 »

nexus2045 wrote: post #49
redisman wrote: post #7

I did the digital nomad thing shorter term - for a few months. Kinda fun but I still found work even more invasive on my time than at home. Everyone’s having fun and relaxing at the beach while I’m sitting at the reception area trying to connect to the crappy wifi to upload my work or join a call. Or I’m sitting at a hotel room all day/night working because the time difference is weird or just working in a coffee sho…

This is a cautionary tale... I'm considering doing the same myself, and hopefully can get the most out of it. What would some of you have done differently? Considering mostly East Asia, and will be having a remote full time developer job.

Be careful working remotely in asia if you need to work on US time. I spent two months as a zombie in Tokyo only wandering around by myself at night because of that which was fun but not as glamorous as it seems.

Re: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

#77

Post by SwimSwimHungry »

elcomet wrote: post #69
LimaBearz wrote: post #54

Taking a loose definition of "travel the world". Born and raised in the BA. In my mid 30's I left a FAANG type(specialized, highly compensated) employer, sold my home and bought a sailboat and moved aboard. Over that next year and half I spent it sailing the Pacific then ending up in Southern CA. I was going through a premature midlife crisis all based on the premise that "humans weren't meant to sit behind a desk al…

What's BA?

Sounds to me like it's short-hand for "Bay Area"

Re: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

#78

Post by disabled »

I cannot answer this question, as I moved abroad for work and my education. However, I do travel a whole lot more, especially during the pandemic with everything being remote.

Most importantly, you only live once: Travel while you still have your health! Travel becomes a lot harder with health problems.

Anyways, if you are an American, you may want to try Croatia, which offers a digital nomad visa for all remote workers worldwide. Croatia allows third country nationals (non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizens) in extremely easily. In fact, if you stay in Croatia for 14 days (with or without the digital nomad visa) you can travel throughout the EU, as long as you follow the pandemic rules. It is a "loophole" for Americans who want to get into the European Union for travel, as Croatia is part of the EU (but not a part of the Schengen zone, so they are allowed to make their own rules for entry a lot easier and without controversy within the EU), but not part of the Schengen zone ("Freedom of Movement zone").

You are also eligible for Croatian national health insurance, which Croatian/EU/EEA/Swiss citizens are likewise eligible for, if you get the Digital Nomad Visa, which is quite a good deal. Croatia costs about the same as the US, worst case scenario, if not less--which is usually the case. The people are extremely friendly and accommodating, too.

Here is some info on the Croatian Digital Nomad Visa: https://www.total-croatia-news.com/news/digital-nomads-in-cr...

This is the website to consult for getting administrative stuff done in Croatia: http://expatincroatia.com/

Re: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

#79

Post by noname123 »

q-base wrote: post #42
noname123 wrote: post #25

I'd love to hear concretely what you guys who traveled actually gained from traveling the world? Because I always hear that it's really exciting and you get to go to exciting places - but what exactly did you gain in terms of perspectives besides your instagram pictures and cocktail stories? I've never get beyond this superficial in hearing people's travel stories online and IRL. Maybe it's just me; but the idea of g…

You do not seem like you want to change your mind - and that is fine. If you are doing a cost/benefit analysis, then you are doing it wrong. You mock western consumerism but radiate tells of "western overoptimization" attacking everything as a task that can be broken down to individual parts, prioritized and optimized. That is in my opinion a very reductionist way to go about your life. Traveling the world can open y…

Thanks for your critique! Your "over-optimization" comment (vs. presumably being more spontaneous and improvising as your travel or just in everyday life) is very valid. I will say that my original feeling is not even "squeezing the most out of the paste-tube" or "maximizing profits" of some objective - it's more about commitment, whether be a subject or to people. Travel to me is like watching TED talks of experienced professors or artists in their field - it makes me feel very smart for 15 minutes listening; but in no way skilled nor committed as a practitioner of that field who dedicate time to their craft everyday over years.

Re: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

#80

Post by marcyb5st »

My girlfriend and I took a 9 months sabbatical back in 2019 so we didn't quit our jobs, but hopefully you'll find this useful anyway.

I bought an used RV and did some modifications ourselves to be truly independent (more water storage, 500w of solar panels, ...) As we didn't want to be constrained to campsites.

It was a glorious experience. Very tempted to do it again to be honest. We traveled in Italy and Spain for 5 months during the cold periods and in summer we roamed through Scandinavia.

Generally speaking, we spent 2 weeks in each spot, but in few 1 or 2 months (San Vito lo Capo in Sicily comes to mind). We both climb and generally speaking are outdoor persons so we opted to stay away from big cities and choose to park in remote areas in the countryside. This let us get to know the local lifestyle and made friends along the way in A way that is impossible in cities (we both speak Italian, Spanish and English). Going to the only bar/restaurant in these towns every day made our faces familiar to the locals and we got invited over for dinner several times (in italy and spain, that didn't happen in Scandinavia at all).

I highly recommend traveling this way. It's fun, economic and if you are with a good partner an endless pool of amazing memories. Also, this made me rearrange my life priorities. Before I had career on top of my list, now, instead, I just want to be relaxed. I don't want a job that keeps me worried after work hours and I want to spend more time with my family!

Happy to answer all your questions!

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