Stay in job vs. travel

LegacyUser

I've talked to few friends and people I know already but am hoping to get a bit of perspective and experience from other people, hence why I'm posting here!
I'm a bit confused at the moment....

Have a big itch to go travelling, feel like I'm only young, shouldn't be working in a highly stressful job at this point in my life and want to go see a bit of the world.

The only thing stopping me from making any plans is this recession....it has put the fear in me!
I feel like I can't justify to my friends, family or even myself for leaving my job in times like these! I'm scared myself in case its the wrong decision!
I know work isn't the be all and end all of life but I feel like its a big big risk to take!

But...on the other hand, I feel like this is my chance to just up and leave and go travelling while I have no commitments. I need to give myself the push to do it and i need to take that risk to become more independent etc

I keep changing my mind, one minute absolutely rearing to go and start planning everything and then the next doubting everything again, wondeirng if I'm crazy even considering about it.

Anyway, just looking for opinions from people, it would be much appreciated!

LegacyUser

patbud10 wrote: »

I've talked to few friends and people I know already but am hoping to get a bit of perspective and experience from other people, hence why I'm posting here!
I'm a bit confused at the moment....

Have a big itch to go travelling, feel like I'm only young, shouldn't be working in a highly stressful job at this point in my life and want to go see a bit of the world.

The only thing stopping me from making any plans is this recession....it has put the fear in me!
I feel like I can't justify to my friends, family or even myself for leaving my job in times like these! I'm scared myself in case its the wrong decision!
I know work isn't the be all and end all of life but I feel like its a big big risk to take!

But...on the other hand, I feel like this is my chance to just up and leave and go travelling while I have no commitments. I need to give myself the push to do it and i need to take that risk to become more independent etc

I keep changing my mind, one minute absolutely rearing to go and start planning everything and then the next doubting everything again, wondeirng if I'm crazy even considering about it.

Anyway, just looking for opinions from people, it would be much appreciated!

Funny, I was going to a create a similiar thread today. I'm in the exact same boat as yourself. I have a good job but my god is it so stressful. All I want to do is take one year out. Take a career break and go to australia before I spend the next 40 years working until retirement. Will be keeping an eye on this thread....

sitstill

OMG thats mad. I've been planning the last few days to post the exact same thing. Basically, I'm 26 have a good but stressful job but the itch to travel and with the recession just cant decide what to do!

LegacyUser

Good to know I'm not the only one thinking like this!

Thing is I don't have the option of a career break so if I leave, I leave and that's it!

Sin1981

GOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm saving like mad at the minute, and as soon as I have enough money, I'll be on that plane!! Like all of you, I have a steady permanent job. I know a fair few of people unemployed, and yeah, I know they'll think I'm mad when I hand in my notice. The older (parent's generation) will think I need a slap:eek:. I don't give a hoot. Travelling the world has been on my to-do list ever since I was 10 or 11 (I'm 28 now). If I come back and struggle to get a job, I won't have a problem going abroad for a couple of years. I've lived in usa and England before. it's no big deal. We'll be working for 40 years, why not make the most of life and head off when we're young free and single. you'll be fine.
There is no way you'll regret!!!:)

wasper

want.2.go.2.oz wrote: »

Funny, I was going to a create a similiar thread today. I'm in the exact same boat as yourself. I have a good job but my god is it so stressful. All I want to do is take one year out. Take a career break and go to australia before I spend the next 40 years working until retirement. Will be keeping an eye on this thread....

Every year the job is stressful. It will not get easier if you take off to Australia
& resume work again.
If I was you, I would wait till there is a light at the end of the tunnel so too speak. You might come back to a no job & have a different type of stress.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

I'm not in a similar situation really, but I think what you really need to ask yourself is what would you regret.

I did a little travel, did it late although I was between jobs (nice euphamism) and I was quite nervous about doing so as I am kinda of a homebird. But what made up my mind was knowing that I would really regret it had I not done it. That doesn't make for a happy worker and I think most HR depts realise this. My brother works in a very large company that are making cutbacks, but he was given a break and assured his job would be there, so at the very least, talk to HR.

Worse case scenario, HR say you wont have a job to come back to. Then its all down to balance, would you regret not having travelled or losing your job as the price of travelling.

I know what my answer would be but only you can know your own.

cafecolour

Well, I'd say it's better to travel now when things are in a recession and might be picking up when you return than travel at the height of it all when everythings a lot more expensive and the economy in a recession when you return.

gagiteebo

Wow I have been thinking the exact same thing for a while but the decision has been somewhat made for me. I'm a secondary school teacher and it's near impossible to find a permanent job so I've just been doing maternity/sick cover. Anyway last week the woman I am covering for decided to come back 2 months early so I'm jobless!

I've a good bit saved up over the years (I'm 27 btw) and I have lived abroad before in Canada and Germany but there is so much more out there. I've travelled a good bit, it's a part of who I am and I know if I don't do it I will regret it.

My advice to you is to go. Life is too short

LegacyUser

That's amazing - patbud, sitstill, sin1981 and myself - all four of us with similiar stories.

patbud10 wrote: »

Good to know I'm not the only one thinking like this!

Thing is I don't have the option of a career break so if I leave, I leave and that's it!

I'd be in a similiar situation. If I leave I won't have a job to come back to. So its a difficult decision.

Like sin1981, I always wanted to travel from a young age but never did. I'm 27 now.

I was offered a job a few years ago. A job that I love and enjoy doing but the thought of working til retirement is killing me. I want to take a year away. I don't care what life will have in store for me for when I come back. I just want to go while I can. When I took on my job, I knew it was going to be though, and that it was going to be long term and it was something I was very happy doing and I still enjoy what I do but like others have said I have an itch to travel. I just want to go, go, and go.
My biggest fear is letting people down. My working sitution is unqiue and very different. Not your everyday type of job, and my employer relies on me for so much so I will be letting down a lot of people. And I hate that but I am not happy here.

sitstill

Its interesting to know that others are in the same situation as me. Like someone else here, I'm a secondary school teacher so its a good job but in no way guaranteed. I'm thinking of doing one more year and then heading off as in, Summer 2011. My friends all say I should go but my mother is totally against it - is that just a generational thing? I suppose I'm worried about not getting a job when I come back but I don't really like the school I'm in at the moment. I'm 26 now, so I'll be 27 by next Summer - is that too old to set off travelling?

Wagon

fúck the poxy recession. save up, go out of poxy ireland and travel if you want. you might not come back for longer than you think as there is better places out there. but do save up plenty to last the year at least.

zootroid

sitstill wrote: »

Its interesting to know that others are in the same situation as me. Like someone else here, I'm a secondary school teacher so its a good job but in no way guaranteed. I'm thinking of doing one more year and then heading off as in, Summer 2011. My friends all say I should go but my mother is totally against it - is that just a generational thing? I suppose I'm worried about not getting a job when I come back but I don't really like the school I'm in at the moment. I'm 26 now, so I'll be 27 by next Summer - is that too old to set off travelling?

27 isn't too old, I was just turning 27 when I went (28 now having been away 18 months).

But as you're a teacher, would you consider going for a long holiday? I met plenty of Irish teachers on holidays for a month travelling the east coast of oz.

In response to the OP, everyone's circumstances are different, but in general I would say that you have the rest of your life to work, and you may as well travel while you're young. In any case, Australia's economy is picking up now, so there's a good chance of getting work over there, and while you're away things might pick up a little here.

krudler

wasper wrote: »

Every year the job is stressful. It will not get easier if you take off to Australia
& resume work again.
If I was you, I would wait till there is a light at the end of the tunnel so too speak. You might come back to a no job & have a different type of stress.

Its that kind of logic that means people wind up chained to a desk for years cursing not ever taking a chance and doing something, a job is a job, thats it, pays the bills and lets you live comfortably, a career is no replacement for life experience.

A good friend of mine is constantly being given out to for having no "career aspirations" and not "knuckling down and getting with it" when it comes to working in mundane jobs most people hate, but he's lived on 4 continents and spent years travelling and meeting amazing people and seeing amazing things,put it this way ,one monday morning I got an email from him, I was just after sitting in traffic for an hour getting to work in an office smelling of b.o and recycled air for a company I despise more and more with each passing day, he spend the day before this trekking up a hill to a Buddhist temple in a forest outside Kyoto in Japan, which one of us is being more productive with their lives?

OP, just go, get out and dont look back as you'll only regret it in years to come when you curse the fact you never saw the places you wanted to

dearg lady

Ariella Tiny Lobster wrote: »

I'm not in a similar situation really, but I think what you really need to ask yourself is what would you regret.

I did a little travel, did it late although I was between jobs (nice euphamism) and I was quite nervous about doing so as I am kinda of a homebird. But what made up my mind was knowing that I would really regret it had I not done it. That doesn't make for a happy worker and I think most HR depts realise this. My brother works in a very large company that are making cutbacks, but he was given a break and assured his job would be there, so at the very least, talk to HR.

Worse case scenario, HR say you wont have a job to come back to. Then its all down to balance, would you regret not having travelled or losing your job as the price of travelling.

I know what my answer would be but only you can know your own.

good advice, why not ask HR for unpaid leave? Many companies would be happy to have someone off the books for a while!

Travelling is an unbelievable experience, but it's important to have money to pay the bills too... My personal opinion would be don't borrow to go on hols, save instead, but I'm funny about stuff like that

PhysiologyRocks

You could always travel later. Life doesn't end at 40! If security is an issue, perhaps wait until things improve financially.

Everyone tells you'll regret it if you don't travel. But you could regret it more if you do.

dearg lady

PhysiologyRocks wrote: »

You could always travel later. Life doesn't end at 40! If security is an issue, perhaps wait until things improve financially.

+1 on this too! There are things in life that would limit your travel ops, but it's not something you HAVE to do when young. I met people on the backpacking trail in their 40's and 50's, and they were having a ball!

KathleenF

Hey OP - I'm in the same situation - am working this year and was offered a job for next year too. But I've decided I'm heading away for six months to travel with my BF. There will always be far more reasons to stay and work than to go - financial being the obvious one - but life is short and there are no guarantees - you could die tomorrow etc!! I'm saving all this year - hoping to have 24k saved by the end of the year - spend about 10k travelling and then have the rest to keep me going while I look for a job at the end of 2011.
My parents think I'm mad but are starting to come around - either way I'm heading off - as other poster have said you'll be working long enough. And even if I don't get a job on returning then I'll either work abroad for a while or keep travelling. I don't want to look back in ten/twenty etc years time and not have the time/money/health to go travelling. Go for it I say!!

LegacyUser

I gave a very good job about 18 months ago to go travelling and was a bit worried at the time that i was going to throw my life away. spent a year in Canada, travelled central and south america and now in australia. I'd be lying if i said i don't get feelings of regret every now and then but overall I wouldn't swap the last 18 months for anything. I'm in my 20's and couldn't see myself having the same amount of fun on the backpacker trail if i was older, in 40's say. people you meet, partying, the exotic women, the sights. it was absolutely amazing.
the itch to travel will never go away so i'd say do it now while you're young and have the energy.
When I make it back to ireland, i'll have to settle for a less paid job than my last but will definitaly have been worth it.

LegacyUser

Just my 2c. I'm still on the road. I gave up a job I was in for 5yrs. Really good job aswell, I was at the top of my ladder and all I had to do was sit around and wait for the pay increments each year. But in the end I wanted to travel so I packed it all in after saving for a year and hit the road.

I'm 27 and coming back home soon to search for a job. Not particularly worried to be honest. I wouldn't have changed this for the world. If you want to do it now then do it now. You're always gonna hit a wall in your goals, the trick is to climb over the wall and keep running. There's a whole world out there.....

Goodluck in your decision.

aliocroc

Lads,
Im the EXACT same! I'm 26, in my job since college (3 years) and I dont hate it-its grand i suppose-its just-Im sitting in work everyday and can see the career prospects ahead of me in but I really cant see the point in working all your life for work-i want to work to live, not live for work!

This is my thinking and ive decided in the last 2 weeks to just do it (though i still havent talked to work about it yet but and i still havent booked anything but im giving the next month to deciding my destinations and plan!)-but-

Why not?
Seriously-list the reasons-if you're like me, no kids, no gfriend, no mortgage, no real assets aside from my car which can sit and wait for me cos in fairness-its not worth selling at this stage with the car market the way it is, im renting, my folks are young enough to look after themselves without relying on me every weekend, this recession will come and go, like every other one-you could come back to a new job market, a new prospect-if i dont come back to work I'll use it for college and do something i really want to do, or I'll do a charity thing-I'll get work if i want it-seriously-if you have no commitments-how important is work anyway? Once you can get enough to feed, clothe and house yourself you can get by! There is work out there though so no matter where you are in the world-you wont starve, and aside from all that-what are you gonna tell your grankids when your old and wrinkly? "Nah, didnt bother with that travel lark, was too busy!!!" Balls to that lads-the more people I talk to the more I realise how lucky I am to be able to do it, I need a story, i need to have an experience more than the pub, training and the odd temporarily memorable moments! Talking to a guy in work 2 years older than me with 2 kids a wife and no way to hit the road for another 15 years!

Ok-I know thats alot but I heard something a while back and yeah, it sounds a bit cheese but its kinda whats hit home-

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page!

Im starting reading from Jan 2011!!! Only question is-I'll be on my own for it-anyone have a reccomendation on if thats a good idea?

ztoical

PhysiologyRocks wrote: »

You could always travel later. Life doesn't end at 40! If security is an issue, perhaps wait until things improve financially.

Everyone tells you'll regret it if you don't travel. But you could regret it more if you do.

I agree there is nothing stopping people of any age traveling...my grandparents are 90 and still go away every year but they go on holidays it's very hard at 40 + to pack up and travel for several months to over year. The general rule of advice is to do the less developed countries when your younger....alot of south east asia and south america is pretty hard going on the knees. Not saying there aren't plenty of fit 40, 50 or 60+ people who'd have no issue with that sort of travel but the truth is you don't know where you'll be in 30 years time, you could blow your knee out tomorrow and make it so much more difficult to make that trip. I've done a fair bit of travel and a number of places I know I'll go back to but it will be different going back when I'm older. I back packed across the states and canada, mainly sleeping on trains and a couple of nights in some really cheap hostels....fantastic time but not something I would repeat even now. Did something similar in Korea, just went off by myself and crashed anywhere I could find space....again fantastic time and memories but wouldn't do it that way again.

You also don't know if some of the things you want to see will be there in 10, 20, 30 years time. I went to New Orleans twice, before Katarina and after and I was so glad I'd been able to see it before. They might rebuild but it will never be the same.

iguana

ztoical wrote: »

You also don't know if some of the things you want to see will be there in 10, 20, 30 years time. I went to New Orleans twice, before Katarina and after and I was so glad I'd been able to see it before. They might rebuild but it will never be the same.

The flipside of that of course is that they may build something even more awesome after you've been there and you never get to go back.

There are pluses and minuses either way. The thing is that now the rules from a few years ago don't really apply anymore and the economic situation needs serious consideration before a decision is made. I do wonder how the people who are saying would feel if they had come back from travelling to five years of unemployment. If that unemployment along with the debts accumulated while abroad meant that you would probably never, ever own a house. If they ended up spending the next 20 years in a job so much worse than the one they gave up to travel for.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't travel. They may very well find that the trip puts them on a completely different, better, life path than they had ever anticipated. Or they could prioritise their job and stay but end up being made redundant. But the fact is that things have changed and unemployment is very high and rising, so this kind of decision needs to be more carefully thought out than it did before.

Chet Zar

aliocroc wrote: »

Lads,
Im the EXACT same! I'm 26, in my job since college (3 years) and I dont hate it-its grand i suppose-its just-Im sitting in work everyday and can see the career prospects ahead of me in but I really cant see the point in working all your life for work-i want to work to live, not live for work!

This is my thinking and ive decided in the last 2 weeks to just do it (though i still havent talked to work about it yet but and i still havent booked anything but im giving the next month to deciding my destinations and plan!)-but-

Why not?
Seriously-list the reasons-if you're like me, no kids, no gfriend, no mortgage, no real assets aside from my car which can sit and wait for me cos in fairness-its not worth selling at this stage with the car market the way it is, im renting, my folks are young enough to look after themselves without relying on me every weekend, this recession will come and go, like every other one-you could come back to a new job market, a new prospect-if i dont come back to work I'll use it for college and do something i really want to do, or I'll do a charity thing-I'll get work if i want it-seriously-if you have no commitments-how important is work anyway? Once you can get enough to feed, clothe and house yourself you can get by! There is work out there though so no matter where you are in the world-you wont starve, and aside from all that-what are you gonna tell your grankids when your old and wrinkly? "Nah, didnt bother with that travel lark, was too busy!!!" Balls to that lads-the more people I talk to the more I realise how lucky I am to be able to do it, I need a story, i need to have an experience more than the pub, training and the odd temporarily memorable moments! Talking to a guy in work 2 years older than me with 2 kids a wife and no way to hit the road for another 15 years!

Ok-I know thats alot but I heard something a while back and yeah, it sounds a bit cheese but its kinda whats hit home-

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page!

Im starting reading from Jan 2011!!! Only question is-I'll be on my own for it-anyone have a reccomendation on if thats a good idea?

Sooo so true - all of that!

smaaaa

ye i do clerical in a hosp and im in dept up to my eyeballs and cant get time off work would love nothing more to hop on a plane but im gonna just try keep saving (think i be only doing ot for an escape and i do always think the year will fly and u back to square one like my friends

mojesius

go go go! Then when I finish this course, I can take your job, save up money and piss off for a year too! Everyone's a winner.:D

LegacyUser

Lads, Thank god there are people thinking like I am.

I have money saved (can save allot more if I want but have a good set amount) and honestly I see no point to stay in Ireland (poxy is not the word for whats going on at the moment).


If you can, bail, I know 2 guys who have done what everyone is talking about at the moment and they are enjoying every minute.

Go for it and don't look back

LegacyUser

I genuinely feel sorry for the people who advise against travelling here, it makes me sad how fearful some people are of not having everything comfortable at all time in their lives. I have friends just like this who are in their early 20's, working in jobs they hate but doing so coz "I'm afraid to leave". Ok they have more money than me in their accounts but I have already done way more in the line of travelling than they have. I'm not trying to sound arrogant but I have far more and better stories about things I have done around the world and the people I have met than their 1 week off in Spain or something.

What I am trying to say is you cannot possible imagine just how good travelling can be if you have never done any! I still have loans that I scrape to pay back but it has always been worth it! The way I look at it is life is short and when you feel the desire to do something you should always do it. Then again people are different and I have nothing against anyone who does not want to leave their jobs for fear of their future security but I just could never see myself in that position unless I was in a serious relationship or something. Jesus its only a job, its just money, you don't love it and it does not love you so if you want to travel then go! Otherwise you'll be 30 still grinding it out and wish you'd lived more in your 20's. On saying that you are NEVER too old to travel and people travel at all ages so don't feel like you have to go 2moro. Stay another year if it means having more money to go places or having some savings to come back to. But definitely don't forgo travels because of fear of the future, life is way too short and you never know what will happen in the future anyway so enjoy it now when you can.

0verblood

Get up and get the feck out of Ireland!

Was in a stressful job, I saved up, sold my car and many of my belongings, and flew to East Africa by myself. I've been here 5 months now, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. I'm going to have a gander at Kenya next. Every morning I wake up so happy to have come to Africa. When I think back to where I used to work I get sick. After Africa I fly to South America.

Don't go to Australia. Too many Irish people go there. The culture is too similar to ours. Try out something different. Go to Uganda it's amazing, and if you're feeling a bit lonely - they have an Irish pub called bubbles o learys! I've met only two Irish people in here in 5 months. They all go to fecking Australia and hang out and drink with their Irish friends, tis a fecking shame. That's not "seeing the world".



By the way it is true what some people here are saying, you can travel at all ages. In the backpackers hostel in Kampala I met an old german guy in his late 50s, he's a taxi driver back in Frankfurt, and you know that taxi drivers all over the world are the exact same, just daycent auld fellows. So here he was hanging out with the backpackers, checking out Uganda. He was getting ready to go to Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, bussing it all the way, no planes no trains. You meet some amazing people while travelling. My drinking buddy for two weeks was a Mexican journalist who worked for National Gegraphic and Esquire. We had some crazy adventures around the Ugandan capital. I met a young american man who had just cycled from Kinshasa, Congo to Kampala, Uganda. Took him three months. He relaxed in Kampala for a while, fattened himself up a bit, mustered up the courage and he turned his bicycle around and went back to the Congo. EVerybody comes to Africa for some special reason.

I think back to my friends in Ireland watching home and away while drinking tea every evening while the rain batters against the window and I feel sick. Go out every saturday to the same pub, then back to work for the week, then pub on saturday, then work....

At the time my friends are clocking in for another boring day at work I'm taking photos of lions, or trying to sneak a beautiful African woman out of a Church-Run guest lodge in the dawn light.


Check out my african pics on flickr if you want

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestphotgrapherever/

0verblood

ups double post.

ilovesleep

I posted in the australian forum a few weeks ago.

Its amazing how theres so much people here in the same situation.

I was offered a great job a few years ago. Between one thing or another now its so god damn stressful.

I suppose if you had asked me two or three years ago what I wanted I would have said a good job (i have that, kinda), save for a house, find mr.right/prince charming, settle down, and have babies. But now I've changed my mind. I dont want any of that or well just not now. Maybe when I'm older. I'm 27. Right now, I want to travel. Even if its just for a year or two. As another poster said- I want to take a break away from this stressful, hectic life that I have where I am constantly on go falling into bed at night with exhaustion, getting up early every morning where I do it all over again. I want to travel for a year before I spend the next 40 years working. I feel theres nothing here for me except for my job.

For anybody that has travelled, has anyone felt guilty for letting people down. My notice is going to be a huge shocker for everyone.

LegacyUser

Original poster here.

Thanks for all the responses! Its been great to hear all the different views.

Well I've taken the leap and its all booked, setting off in September!!
It will definitely be a big shocker for work, family etc but sure only young once, have to take the chance. Think I would regret it more if I didnt go!!

sun cream

this time last year i had the same itchy feet situation, i took off and left for canada, had a great year, but now i'm facing going home in the next two weeks to no job, no car (I sold it to contribute to year out fund), and have to start renting again?? just make sure you have plenty of money in the pot, and that some of that stays at home for when you get back!!

epgc3fyqirnbsx

patbud10 wrote: »

Original poster here.

Thanks for all the responses! Its been great to hear all the different views.

Well I've taken the leap and its all booked, setting off in September!!
It will definitely be a big shocker for work, family etc but sure only young once, have to take the chance. Think I would regret it more if I didnt go!!

You never forget or regret travelling. Best of luck OP

KittyeeTrix

patbud10 wrote: »

Original poster here.

Thanks for all the responses! Its been great to hear all the different views.

Well I've taken the leap and its all booked, setting off in September!!
It will definitely be a big shocker for work, family etc but sure only young once, have to take the chance. Think I would regret it more if I didnt go!!

Fair play to ya......

My eldest son is just 16 at the moment but I tell hima nd his siblings when they finish college to get out travelling for a year before they settle into any jobs here. Have fun when your young and carefree and you will have some great memories when your stuck in a boring old job later....

Best of luck in your travels;)

LegacyUser

I've been working in my job 4 years and earning very good money at it.
But just can't take the stress of it, better people then me have left before.

Now 28 and never travelled at all, never even been past the UK. Certainly never been to mainland Europe or the USA.

Handed in my notice at 5pm yesterday, gotta meet the boss this morning!
I've my round the world trip planned and plenty saved.

The recession certainly scared me having seeing my friends being made redundant. But feck it, I'm confident I'll get a job on my return and if it's not in my current area, sure any shop or hotel job can do me for a few months, there is work out there.

What a great thread, some many people in the same situation.

homerun_homer

Reading Ops mail was like reading something I’ve felt like posting many a time. I have money saved up from a few years of working so could do it at the drop of a hat but as much as I love travelling I have always had it in my head that I’d travel/live abroad with a friend who was also up for it. Not sure what way I’d deal with going abroad on my own, some days I think it’d be heaven and others I think I’d crack up. I like having alone time but I have some great friends that I’d miss, and the idea of having to find a new group of friends in another country is a bit intimidating also.

I’m 28, have a non-stressful, boring, unfulfilling job that pays very well and I wouldn’t miss unless I was in a job that was stressful and hellish. Too many people tell me I’d be shooting myself in the foot if I left it and didn’t land on my feet and that’s a whole other pressure.