When my partner and I told our friends and family that we were quitting our 40hr/week jobs and moving to Scotland for 6 months, we typically received either one of two responses:
- "Wow, that's amazing! You're so lucky, I wish i could do that!"
- "Why? When are you coming home?"
Neither of these reactions particularly please me, becuase the underlying sentiment is that long term travel isn't accessible, isn't practical, or isn't POSSIBLE. This being my third stint of long term travel, I have a hard time replying to this sentiment politely.
First, may I address those who deem us 'lucky'. The reason I am writing this right now in a cosy living room somewhere in northern Scotland has more to do with the choices we made than luck. First of all, we made the choice that travel was something we wanted to DO. Because of who I am, 'travel' to me doesn't mean a ten day trip somewhere hot once a year. It means diving headfirst into another life. It means starting over and exploring a new place. So how do you accomplish such a dream in today's world where money is everything? Here is where we made choice number one: finding a way to stay employed on the road.
Last year, my partner and I did some research on online jobs and decided to take a TEFL/TESOL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certification Course. We are now both employed by companies teaching english online.
Our second choice was how we were going to go about living abroad without breaking the bank. Currently we are house sitting which means, drum roll please, NO RENT!
Please resteem and upvote if you would like to hear more about how to ACTUALLY manage long term travel!