I am doing something similar. I am selling everything I have (not much stuff though, I am frugal) and moving to SE asia (where I was born). This is the first time I will be there in a long time (15 years) so not sure what to expect.
I made the decision in 30 minutes. Bought the ticket, committed myself, sold most of my stuff, said good bye to most people I know. The plan is to visit 50 countries in the next 5 years. Leaving on Jan 3rd.
I am too content with my life. Sometimes you need a kick in the butt to get out of your comfort zone. The world is too big and not enough time.
A similar thing happened to me recently. About a year or two ago I broke up with my girlfriend of eleven years and started to think what a waste everything had been during that time. We weren't married, no children etc and so when she left all ties were pretty much cut. Bam, there goes eleven years!
I went on holiday with a friend a few months later to cheer me up, and I met a new lady, and just last week I moved to Prague with her after spending some time travelling in the Middle East.
I gave up a decent job, sold all my possessions, left all my old friends behind and just went for it. I made up my mind on a wet rainy evening in Sheffield after watching another crap episode of regional news. I don't know what clicked that evening but it was sudden.
It's the best decision I have ever made. The alternative was to just sit around and carry on doing the same old stuff that I wasn't really excited about. Giving everything up is really tough, selling all your possessions is even harder but it's very cathartic.
The saying Life's what happens when you're busy making other plans comes to mind. If you have something you want to do but aren't sure about whether the hassle is worth it - it probably is :)
I realized one day that my friends weren't good friends - they weren't bad friends, they just weren't an asset to me. I realized my job is just a job, I work in construction so it really didn't matter where I am I'll always be able to work. My dream of being a novelist is achievable anywhere, and from a logical perspective I make more money in North America than in the UK thanks to the exchange rates.
I took a chance and started visiting someone I'd met online, it went well so I gave up everything and moved to Canada. I'm now married, I have a good job with good bosses and good coworkers (in the year I've worked there, I haven't seen a single bit of drama).
What made me want to do all this? The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin by P.D. Ouspensky, basically the man made all his decisions wrong in life and is tortured by it at the end of his life as he relives his life unable to make a change for the better.
FYI, 5 years is not enough time to do 50 countries. It took me 10 years of traveling 6-9 months a year to break 50, and I'd say more than half of them are places I don't think I spent enough time in.
I'd recommend taking that half of the plan out, and just shorten it to "travel for 5 years or so". Chances are you'll find at least one country that traps you for an entire year. Probably best not to set yourself up to feel bad about it.
Thanks. I have a set of "life goals" and none of them are "rigid", think if it as a "baseline" goal so I know what I am aiming for. If things work out the way I planned, it nice; if I visit just 20 countries in 5 years its still 20 more countries that have not been to before. I am fine with it.
On the other hand, I've "done" seven countries in two weeks. (In Europe, of course.) It's easy to get into a travelling pace where one night is enough to feel like you've seen a city... unless it's a really big city like Rome or Paris in which case you need two.
I'm living in Europe and just have been to the USA for the first time. LA, SF, Vegas - 4 days each plus 6 days NYC (start and end point). I'm not sure you can do even the typical tourist stuff in one day where you don't have to think about where you go.
and it took me, well I'm not even sure, but probably 4-5 years of actual travel time to hit about 70 countries, and all up 12 years or more living abroad.
I didn't see enough of _any_ of those countries. I agree it's not about hitting a number, but about enjoying the meandering, and allowing yourself to be trapped for a time in places that please.
I am since seven years in one country,China, and the rest of my life will not be enough to know it. I don't think you can say you know a country if you didn't speak to its citizen in their language, for example.
I keep reading stories of people who do things like this, on HN and I always wonder that how is it that people are able to afford something like this. Do you mind telling us (me?) how you're going to finance yourself for the next 5 years (I think you said you plan to work - freelance?), what you think you'd do once the 5 years are over (if you come back to the US/wherever, do you think you'd still have what it takes to be employed at a similar job again), how you plan to handle the potential loneliness (travelling alone for a long period of time can get lonesome, after a while) etc.?
BTW, having lived in Malaysia and visited some SE Asian countries, I highly recommend it (KL, Langkawi), Singapore and Thailand; but then again, these places were probably on your list already.
I can only speak for myself. I am not sure how others have done it. I have some savings and I am a frugal guy, Experience is more important to me than "stuff". By selling everything I have (except for the bare minimum) I won't be tied down to anything. My savings is enough to keep me going for at least 2 years. I hope to do some kind of work during this period - but only enough to help me with my expenses, not trying to be a millionaire. It most likely will be in the form of freelance work, but I am open to odd jobs working part time where ever I end up in.
One of the reasons I am doing this is my life is too easy and predictable. If I try to prepare too much on what "exactly" I will be doing on my travel or what I will do after 5 years; that defeats the whole purpose of doing this. I want to keep planning to the minimum and just flow with whatever happens. It might end up badly or it might be an awesome experience and I am mentally prepared for both and fine with both.
Loneliness is not a problem for me because I am an introvert and I actually enjoy quite alone time.
Yes I do plan to travel to singapore, thailand, malaysia. My plan is to start from asia and neighboring countries; as I get more used to travelling I will try other continents.
I don't have any plans to come back to USA, for now.
That sounds awesome, and best of luck to you. If you decide to blog your journey, please let us know. I (and I'm sure most people) would love to follow along.
That sounds absolutely fantastic! If one of the 50 countries is NL then be assured you have a place to camp out for a while here, I wish you much good luck on your travels.
I will be honest with you. I absolutely hate cold weather. I know few people who invited me go to Nederlands and I have said I will think about it. I hate it when its 23F here in NY, last week someone told me it was ~-20F in NL.
My plan too, although I took a detour through Berlin and New York. Are you going to try to earn some kind of income while you're there or just travel on savings?
I'm planning on doing something similar in a few years once I've saved up enough. Just curious - what is a good amount to have saved up to do something like this? Are you still planning on working while your traveling?
Yes I am planning to be working during my travels. I have a decent savings but I don't know what would be a good amount. I have options to fall back to if things doesn't work out though.
Go easy on the street food, at least at first. Get a water filter or, at the least, boil all your water. If you are fluent in Bangla, always speak it. And if you're not, then best of luck. Don't try and give away that you are from the West, everyone will try to take advantage of you. Know your crowd and where you are; it's still a very conservative country.
I can't speak too much about the quality of infrastructure there in recent years, but the last time I was there ~5 years ago it was abysmal. I don't imagine too much has changed, though I hear you can get somewhat decent internet depending on where you live.
Sounds like a lot of negatives. And, they are, at least to a spoiled American like me. However, there is a lot of beauty in the country as well. Check out Cox's Bazar, St Martin's Island, Patenga beach all in the south. Take a steamer out to Barisal for a day.
Yes I will be Dhaka. That will be my base location. I have family there so I should be ok and I do speak the local language, not fluently but good enough to hold a conversation.
I made the decision in 30 minutes. Bought the ticket, committed myself, sold most of my stuff, said good bye to most people I know. The plan is to visit 50 countries in the next 5 years. Leaving on Jan 3rd.
I am too content with my life. Sometimes you need a kick in the butt to get out of your comfort zone. The world is too big and not enough time.