Aside from the 7 obstacles to traveling the world I outlined over 2 months ago – leaving your day job, money, not knowing where to go, missing your family and friends, having kids, a significant other, and procrastination – what obstacles would you add to the list?
I’d like to compile your answers and address some of them this coming Thursday, so please let me know what obstacles you’ve overcome or faced in your pursuit to travel the world in addition to the 7 listed above?
I would really appreciate you input for my next project with this series.
[photo by: mhoffman1]
At this point, my only obstacle is my stupid house! As soon as someone buys it, we’re outta here!
It’s a hard one since you’re waiting on something you can’t really control. Good luck 🙂
Why are so many travel bloggers sounding like support group therapists these days? Seriously, who really gives a crap if some middle class schmendrick clears his calendar enough to go backpacking? Don’t you have any stories from wherever you are? Is it because this kind of drivel gets more hits from disposable income having readers?
You sound angry and your comment could have asked all of the questions without being negative. But to response to your questions –
I don’t know that everyone is sounding like a support group but really there are lots of people who want to travel but are held back in so many ways. Not all travelers (in fact the majority) don’t have lots of money to throw around. It’s a choice on what you spend your money on.
Is traveling out of the realm for some people due to a variety of circumstances? Yes; but that’s not what this series of posts was about.
I do occasionally post stories from my travels but that’s not what this blog is about. It’s not a personal travelogue, it’s about the many ways to travel smarter. It’s hard to travel smarter though if you haven’t overcomes some or all of these obstacles.
…but you never answered my question, what obstacles have you overcome or faced to travel the world?
I would like to add here regarding the “support group therapy”..:))) Actually I am planing my journey and facing a lot of fears. Moreover, every day you meet people, family and always they are trying to persuade you out of your plans. Because this is not logic not normal not acceptable to the society, “what r u doing with your job, carreer ?” and so on. Sometimes u feel really weak. And here comes all the uncertainty: maybe they ar right? And these times I just simply read all these travel blogs and tips and they truly encourage me all over again. It works. That is all I need. thank you!
Thanks for the comments JJ. I agree, it’s a big decision because before any traveling happens there can be many doubts and outside voices and particular circumstances etc. that can derail your dreams. You get a lot of the ‘don’t go’ side of things but it’s great encouragement to hear the other side from people already doing what you hope to accomplish.
My biggest hurdle was figuring out how to deal with the (great) relationship I was in, since she wanted different things than I did.
In the end, we just talked a whole lot, got everything on the table, and then decided to have a breakup party before I left the country and she moved to Seattle. It still wasn’t easy breaking up, but it was a LOT easier than if we had just done it the conventional way, and now I’m on my way out of the country to travel for a while!
At least it ended on a good note – which is tough in a lot of cases. I always find the obstacles involving people the most difficult (and unpredictable).
My biggest hurdle is leaving our dogs behind. My parents, who love our dogs, are keeping them but it is very hard to leave them behind.
That is rough, harder on us than them. Dogs seem to adapt so fast. Do you ever get to take them on trips with you?
My biggest obstacle has always been money. I’m up for just about anything, but my financial portfolio doesn’t support that. I’ve used tips found here, and elsewhere, and common sense to save as much money as I can to use for travel but I still don’t have the income stream to do the things I want to do (World cup soccer game, olympics, etc) I have expensive tastes!
haha, the World Cup is expensive!!
Like Colin my biggest obstacle was a very long term boyfriend who didn’t want to travel. Or more importantly didn’t want me to travel without him either. There are a lot of things wrong with that but at the time it was a very difficult decision. Once I lost the boy and left the country I never regretted it.
Really this isn’t just about significant others. It’s really difficult to find the motivation and will to go out and see the world when people in your life are un-supportive, be it your parents, spouse whatever. I always try to surround myself with people who build me up now and don’t hold me back.
And I look back on the boy as a very good life lesson.
I agree – a lot of people will have different motivations for not wanting you to leave. For family and close friends it’s good to find out what those reasons and concerns are and approach them accordingly. Of course you can’t win everyone over but I take a page of of Sun Tzu’s book and say conflict without fighting is the greatest victory.
Not sure that would help but looking back at my first trip, I’d say stepping out of the entire comfort zone of familiarity, parents, environment. But you’ve covered all that before 🙂
I think that’s where so many of the problems stem from. We’re mostly creatures of habit so it’s hard to do something outside of the norm 🙂
I find Anil’s reply to salvadoran_army_priest very well spoken. Be respectful and stick to the topic if you want to reply to a post.
Thanks Rich and well said. I should put that up somewhere…
dido on what rich said i don’t know why people bother writing something so off topic and negative.The hardest obstacle ive had to overcome has been money and how to make to money how to save the money.
Money is a double-edged problem like you say. First to make enough, then to save enough to travel. Thanks for the input Kevin!
Leaving family and friends is the most difficult part of traveling, especially when you miss huge events like weddings or becoming an aunt or uncle. Money is not as big of an issue, depending on how you want to travel. If you budget well, and find a place you would like to live for a while, stop there, teach or find a job, make some money, and then move on.
Big events are hard to account for – I think they pop up and make it hard to be away when you least expect it. The Internet works miracles but still nothing like being there in person for weddings, first birthdays, etc.
Thanks for adding that Mike, I think concrete problems (like money) are always more difficult to handle than emotional ones.
We overcame many hurdles to move abroad to Spain for a year. For my husband and I, we both had wanted to live abroad for many years so we were on the same page in that regard. We then had our two daughters to consider, ages 6 and 9 at the time. Jobs, finances, our house, cars, stuff, schools, family… all that you mention. Immigration became a big one too once we had decided upon Spain. The visa process can be very complex and expensive. Traveling instead of living in one place would help solve that though.
I think one of my personal biggest hurdles was telling my parents and trying to explain to them why a 40-year-old mom wants to leave the US and live so far away. They eventually accepted it though and one of my favorite experiences was showing my mom Spain and Rome. It was her first trip out of the US.
Change is so good if we can make ourselves go for it! Thanks for sharing your experiences. (And I agree about the support group being a positive thing; it is scary to embark on these adventures sometimes. Scary and exciting!)
~ Dee
Hi Dee,
Thanks for the comments – I think it’s easy to have a “fight the world and system” mentality until it comes to family, especially parents. In my experience at least, I think the desire to leave can often be seen as “what’s wrong with where you are.” Of course there’s a bigger debate on whether traveling long term is escapism but I don’t think it’s the case for everyone. Sometimes it’s curiosity, what’s over the next hill or what’s really inside of me, etc.
With a good plan once you go for it usually the reluctant ones hop on board with support. I’m looking forward to digging through your site to read more about your travels!
I recently moved out of the US to Japan to live and work. It was an incredibly difficult decision – one wrought with a lot of back and forth and doubt. I think the hardest things were leaving my network of friends and family, my career path, and my beloved city. I was so comfortably where I was and I would have been perfectly happy living there for years to come. But I wanted more – I needed a challenge. I needed to get out my comfort zone. It helped that I had a lot of supportive friends encouraging me to take advantage of the situation. So I saved up the money, made the arrangements, and moved out here. The city will still be there, the long-term friendships that I established will continue on with the help of email and Skype, and the job will work itself out. I came to the conclusion that the place and the people will continue to play a part in my life, but I will have become a better/more enriched person because of this experience.
Amerly, thanks for sharing your story here. That’s incredible and can imagine it was a tough choice. Did you get a job offer in Japan or just decide to give it a shot there?