Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 461 posts

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

#241

Post by gk1 »

dencodev wrote: post #215
keiferski wrote: post #12

Absolutely worth it, however I'd offer a few short tips: 1. Try to stay in one place for a few months, minimum. If you can stay a year or two, do that. Jumping from city to city every week seems exciting at first, but it quickly makes everywhere feel the same. 2. To quote Lao Tzu, when your work is done, forget it. If you work remotely, actively disconnect at the end of the day. It's too easy to be constantly plugged…

Your third point is maybe a little narrow minded. People travel for different reasons and long term travel can be stressful and uncomfortable for a lot of people, including myself. If I just spent all day in an unfamiliar country by myself where I know absolutely no one, I don't speak the language, I've been trying new foods for weeks, and I'm exhausted because I did 15 miles and 8 hours of walking today - yeah, mayb…

Although this isn't the way I travel, I agree we shouldn't put down other travel styles. For some people the pleasure of travel comes from merely being in a foreign place.

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

#242

Post by jarbus »

g_sch wrote: post #237

I'm interested in a lot of these responses because they don't reflect my experience - I wonder if that's the result of sampling bias (e.g. people with good travel experiences are drawn to this thread) or if I'm the aberration. Granted, I didn't quit my job, but after graduate school I moved to Germany from the US and took a job consulting. For three years I lived in places like Berlin, Madrid, Split...etc for 3-9 mon…

Thanks for providing the opposite perspective, it's important to know that going abroad doesn't make your life magically better.

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

#243

Post by dencodev »

emmanueloga_ wrote: post #100

How about USA road trips? Is it generally safe for foreigners to drive from state to state? Any "deathtraps"? Warnings? Roads to avoid? Advice? Worth it?

US is massive and road trips are boring because you're just in the middle of nowhere for the vast majority of it. But I grew up in the US, so maybe it's less boring for a foreigner.

The entirety of the US is extremely safe. You can probably find trouble in extremely specific neighborhoods of large cities but you'd never find your way to those places as a tourist.

Roads to avoid is a funny question. Country is huge. My general advice is don't drive at night outside of cities. There are deer everywhere and they will total your car, land you in the hospital, and end your trip. I had it happen to me once and now I plan my road trips to never travel at night. Plus it's dark and you can't see anything and you're missing the point of the road trip at that point.

Driving state to state isn't a problem. There's rarely a stop at state borders and when there is they're only there to regulate commercial trucking.

My advice is to pick a few cities and fly between them. Pick cities you can get around in without renting a car. You're not missing much by taking an 7 hour flight instead of a 5 day drive.

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

#244

Post by jarbus »

cmos wrote: post #228

I got rid of everything I owned and spent 1.5 years biking around the US. I lived at a whitewater rafting company for 3 weeks, was hosted at music festivals, taken in by hundreds of people and lived in yellowstone for a month in their hiker/biker campsites for $2/day. I was working part time the whole time for a small mobile hardware startup. It was amazing!! The toughest part was being alone the whole time, though i…

How did you go about asking people to take you in? Surely hundreds of people didn't offer some stranger to stay with them?

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

#245

Post by Grustaf »

biolurker1 wrote: post #222
Grustaf wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your points, just want to add: The best way to connect with the culture and people is to get a local job, or studying at a local university or at least taking courses. EDIT: Basically become an immigrant, even if it's only for a couple of months. Ideally don't plan your return, make your journeys open ended!

Getting an office job in an unknown country for a couple of months sounds so weird and alien and awesome

I wouldn't get an office job, I have worked in restaurants and similar, those colleagues are way more fun. Could be fun to try being a salaryman, but it's probably much harder, need work permits etc.

For that matter, I wouldn't get one here either, if I could earn the same as I do know as a sous chef I'd quit in a heartbeat...

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

#246

Post by eric4smith »

biolurker1 wrote: post #224
eric4smith wrote: post #83

Did not quit my job, but instead went full remote in 2018 (age 55 at the time). Still doing it, but the pandemic forced me to stay in one country for just about a year now. In that year I put down roots, got long term visas and maybe will spend another few years there while we see how things shape out this and next year. But ya, 2-3 months minimum in a place is what you need, with just a small backpack. Make local fr…

Fascinating mind if you share some more details? Do you have kids? How about family? Do you consider a city your anchor or you feel totally like a world citizen

Yes I do have a kid. She will move here with me when she finishes high school (currently lives with her mom).

This kind of life is not really compatible for younger children unless you have the funds to travel with them and can home school them as you go.

I try to maintain at least 3 permanent or semi-permanent bases in 3 countries but that’s now down to 2 because of the pandemic.

Yes, it’s good to have a few anchor cities where you put down some roots and make good local friends - they can help you settle in. A bunch of fellow tourists or expats are not deep in the culture and will not be of great help which is why I don’t pal around with them.

It’s quite easy to start a business in other countries if you have local friends to point you in the right directions and translate for you. Another reason not to hang around other tourists. And that will diversify your income - not every business needs to be online.

No one knows how the world will turn out in the next few years, so I believe in hedging my bets and having options both in income and second and tertiary places to potentially live if needs be.

Sort of like a prepper - but international.

Follow the Nomad Capitalist channel on YouTube. It’s a good resource and has great tips.

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

#247

Post by oblio »

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #232

left my home country to go backpacking in Asia and Australia in the early 90ies. Had a plan to stay at least 1 year (that's how long I hoped my savings would last before I had to either earn a living or go back home). And I'm still abroad (not Asia) until this day. Another goal I set for myself is try to economically sustain myself in the host country without relying on a pay-check from a foreign company. (this is re…

> continue my exploration of South Eastern Europe. A challenge I had set for myself after the break-up because my wife would never go to there (it's a lot harder to survive there using the above "rules/philosophy")

I'm not sure I understand this part.

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

#248

Post by tamiral »

elyobo wrote: post #45
keiferski wrote: post #12

Absolutely worth it, however I'd offer a few short tips: 1. Try to stay in one place for a few months, minimum. If you can stay a year or two, do that. Jumping from city to city every week seems exciting at first, but it quickly makes everywhere feel the same. 2. To quote Lao Tzu, when your work is done, forget it. If you work remotely, actively disconnect at the end of the day. It's too easy to be constantly plugged…

1. is a good point, but I wouldn't be too focused on it - just realise that it's ok to do that , so that when you find somewhere you like, or when you're tired from the go go go, you do actually stop and enjoy yourself. Eventually you'll feel like moving on and getting back to it. I've done three long trips quitting a job first (~20 months, ~12 months, ~6 months) and the first two had several month or more stops, and…

have you found that your life has changed after returning from your travels?

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

#249

Post by devonproctor »

I left Google to spend a year cycling with my partner from Alaska to Argentina, and couldn't recommend it more highly.

I strongly agree with other comments about having some structure/mission to your experience. I'm sure the need for it varies from person to person, but I know that I would have gone crazy or felt guilty for wasting my time if we had just been hanging out and drifting from one tourist hotspot to another, as seems to be popular on e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gringo_Trail.

Having a theme or purpose, even if it's totally arbitrary (like "let's go from the top of the Americas to the bottom, by bike!") was definitely important to me to maintaining a positive mindset and achieving a satisfying experience.

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

#250

Post by myridium »

keiferski wrote: post #218
enimodas wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OP asked for concrete examples and not vague sweeping statements and here you are doing exactly this. As someone with the same sentiment and question as the OP I'm disappointed.

Vague sweeping statements? I’m literally an entirely different person because I decided to spend years abroad. That isn’t concrete enough for you? I grew up in a decayed industrial town in the Midwest. My parents didn’t go to college and I had very little interest in traveling or foreign cultures. If you were to predict my life based on my family and socioeconomic background, I’d be still living in the same empty tow…

Ah, so a US citizen living in the middle of nowhere learned something by seeing civilisation. This is an example of why the OP asked for more details. Now I know that your experience isn't applicable to a lot of people who already live in a city, have friends in other countries, have travelled a bit, etc.
Post reply on HN