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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?

#251

Post by tamiral »

eric4smith wrote: post #145
Etheryte wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone following your footsteps a few decades behind, this is gold, thank you. One question, how do you handle work commitments with the uncertainty of travel? One of my best adventures is being stuck on an island for the night due to unforeseen circumstances, alas without much in the way of network connectivity.

I’ve never really had a problem with internet etc. On travel days I let people know I’m offline. I stay in Airbnb’s a lot and find a coffee shop backup nearby usually. I have local SIM card when generous data plan when I arrive at the airport. This is good tor sharing with my computer in a pinch. Asia has great internet - better than Europe, Australia or North America so that is rarely a problem. Transport is general…

so happy to have more open access to SIM cards and data packages now in case of an emergency when we used to travel. I remember my family used to go no phones just local payphones and maps.

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

#252

Post by paulkrush »

I almost did this. I sold 90% of what I owned, my house, most of the contents, and my car. I meet the woman of my dreams on the first stop and decided we needed to get married and start a family. I highly recommend reading travel blogs about people who do this. Most people that travel the world live each place for a little while to save for the next place and are not rich, plus this gives you time to live around the world, which is more meaningful.

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

#253

Post by keiferski »

myridium wrote: post #250
keiferski wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Your reply is kind of insulting, honestly. Not appreciated.

As I said, most people (including those that live in a city, or have friends in other countries, etc.) still view the world in their own local way. It has nothing to do with cities or civilization, as the inside of any college classroom would make clear. Actually living in another country and delving into their culture for a sustained period of time is not the same as reading about it in a book.

Perhaps you think you’re already enlightened and already know everything. If that’s the case, there isn’t much I can do.

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

#254

Post by seibelj »

paulkrush wrote: post #252

I almost did this. I sold 90% of what I owned, my house, most of the contents, and my car. I meet the woman of my dreams on the first stop and decided we needed to get married and start a family. I highly recommend reading travel blogs about people who do this. Most people that travel the world live each place for a little while to save for the next place and are not rich, plus this gives you time to live around the…

That’s amazing! Congrats to you two.

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

#255

Post by symlinkk »

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…

This seems extremely shallow. Yeah if you don’t have to worry about making money to survive obviously life is a lot simpler and less stressful.

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

#256

Post by rgovostes »

In 2016, I worked remotely from Prague for a few months. When my girlfriend came out to visit, we took 3 weeks to travel around Czech Republic, adding Vienna and Budapest, hitting up museums, charming dinner cruises, trendy cocktail bars, you name it.

I kept track of every koruna, euro, and forint along the way and the total bill for this extravagant trip was around $2,000. Back in San Jose, that wouldn't even pay rent for my 1BR. It felt like I was missing out on a huge opportunity.

The next year I left my job and moved to a town in the Japanese countryside to decompress. Luckily, there were a number of locals with English proficiency who looked out for me, and I ended up doing things I never imagined -- hosting a cookout, participating in a crazy fire festival, teaching kids about finite state machines (via translator), learning how to make gyoza from old ladies, presenting to entrepreneurs about makerspaces, helping a craftsman export his product, meditating with Buddhist monks. I also learned to ride a bike, better late than never.

I still think of these experiences as highlights of my life -- being carefree, the thrill of traveling, and most of all becoming an illiterate and mute witness, being led around by generous people who want to share their culture.

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

#257

Post by mnky9800n »

I moved to Japan because my wife at the time took a job there. That eventually led me to Germany, France, and now Norway. I think if you enjoy being surrounded by different cultures and ideals it's good. If you are able to immerse yourself in the local culture and habits it's good. If you are too connected to your family and friends back home or too much identifying as your home culture is not so good.

Also what countries are opening back up? Lol.

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

#258

Post by jasonkester »

I travelled for most of the year, every year, for most of my 30's. It was every bit as good as you would expect.

I'll second the advice I've seen here about moving slowly. Never put dates on your calendar where you need to be somewhere. Certainly don't buy an entire Round-The-World ticket that forces you to commit to a bunch of flights in advance. You'll spend your whole year missing out on cool stuff so that you can rush to the next airport and catch the next flight.

I would typically book a one-way flight to an interesting sounding place, then let my trip evolve from there. So I'd start in, say, Cape Town. That's one end of a big continent, and the plan is vaguely "work my way North". At some point in the next year, I would run out of Money, Motivation or Africa, at which point I'd book a flight home or elsewhere.

As it happened, the thing that always failed first was motivation. I'm a software guy, and my brain starts to get annoyed when it's not thinking. After 9 months of dirtbagging around interesting parts of the world, I'd feel the need to work again, so I'd arrange a contract back in the 'States and book another one-way flight home (or round trip home from wherever I was so that I could pick up again a few months later).

Go slow, stick to public transport, avoid touristy areas. There's a lot of good still out there to be discovered.

Good luck!

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

#259

Post by kungito »

tartoran wrote: post #238
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…

> 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 really hard and I often fail in this) This makes sense but how do you sustain yourself if it's hard and you often fail at it? Living extremely frugally? I can see the excitement in this but I admit this is not for everyone.

I'd be very interested to know what kind of jobs foreigners land in Eastern Europe. Without knowing the language I'd say almost all professions are unavailable
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