Should my passion for travelling make me feel guilty?

LegacyUser

Bit of a strange post title I know, but basically I've been feeling slightly guilty lately due to my interest in travelling. I'm 24 and I went on my first solo trip last year and loved it but had to return home early due to illness. I got a job when I returned but it is on a temporary basis and the contract ends at the end of December. Already I've started planning another solo trip when the contract runs out though, most likely a 6 week trip. I spend a good bit of time looking up places to go, flights and getting excited. My focus when I receive my paycheck every month is always "I hope i'm putting aside enough money for my trip". Also, i'm not fully qualified in my career yet and need to pass plenty of exams for that to happen. This has caused feelings of guilt in me lately though. Should I be reassessing my priorities and putting all energy into finding another job as soon as this one finishes, focusing solely on becoming qualified fully in my field like everyone else is? Is it bad that I think more about the trip than my present situation in life (which is not ideal in terms of social life)? Or am I just overthinking this? Cheers for any views.

iusedtoknow

are you happy with this way of life? If the answer is yes. Then...no you shouldn't feel guilty.

You're actually being more sensible with your money than people that drink it away on a Friday night and go to work on a Monday morning wondering where the weekend went.

You are working towards a career goal, you are paying your own way to do things your own way. It may not be sustainable in 10 years to still be doing it, especially as you get into your career, but while you can...you should do it!

I actually love the planning of a trip as much as actually doing it. Even when I travel for work (which unfortunately is far more often than for pleasure) I like planning my off time so that I get the most out of it.

beano345

Not at all op,I'm 34 have a decent job and still plan on jacking it in next year to take off travelling and see were I end up,I'm actually addicted to the buzz of planning a trip and then taking off.I'll probably spend the rest of my life operating this way: come home,find a job,get p*ssed off of home,take a notion to travel,save and set the wheels in motion,I really do live by the notion you only live once!

“The world is a book, and those who don't travel only read one page.”


“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

ivytwine

You remind me of my cousin OP. At 20 or so she moved across the world (she's an Aussie) and worked her way up to a really good job in London, starting at the bottom. And she has been EVERYWHERE! Thailand, skiing in Austria, New York, Japan... These are just the places I can think of off the top of my head.

None of us have ever seen her as selfish. I really admire her wandering spirit. She's packed more into 30 something years than many have packed into 80. If you have the bug, go, explore, see all you need to see and have a great time. We'll be a long time dead as the old saying goes so make the most of now.

Tokyo

I don't think that you are overthinking it at all OP - I think it's good that you are considering all of the pros and cons of your situation. To put things in perspective, I'm 34 now, and have been lucky enough to travel and live in other countries for most of my life. I also had a career in Engineering, which I walked away from in order to travel long-term, largely because I found myself staring out a window and wishing that I were the other side of it - not good for me, and not good for my chosen profession - so I left.

Make no mistake - people are going to tell you that you are selfish. They're going to tell you that you are throwing it all away. That you should be thinking of settling down, so on and so forth. A large amount of the comments that you will be on the receiving end of will be from people who are envious of the fact that you are doing something that they wish they had the courage to do themselves - to walk away from it all and see the world. And people generally only see the exciting side of things - a new country every month, or you sitting on a beach somewhere while they are stuck at home. They don't see the saving that you have to do, or the things you have to give up on in order to travel, the lonely times overseas, the times where you'd just like to be back home with your friends, etc. But at the end of the day all we can all do in life is what's best for ourselves, and if you feel that travelling is what you need to do, then I say go for it. Otherwise there's a good chance that you will live a life of regret for not doing it.

If you feel that travelling is something you will want to do long term, have you considered following a career path that might allow you to do that? Many people I know teach overseas - something that allows you to save money while living in a different culture, and contracts are generally short enough that when you get tired of a place, you can move onto another location and apply your skillset there instead.

Rubberchikken

If travel is your passion then dont feel guilty.
Maybe in time you'll combine the two, travel/career. How great would that be?

Too many people never find something they are passionate about, some people never go out there to discover the world so let that guilty feeling go and enjoy your life!

Thomas D

You can travel and not harm your career prospects. I've been all over the world and have not missed a beat in my professional life and that has given me even more freedom in my 30s to travel or live somewhere else.

stargazer 68

Not at all OP. I have travelled a lot too and then brought my children with me from the time they were 3 months old (they are now 21 and 16). We have been right across the globe and it certainly has never held me or them back.

Both can hold their own in conversations about several religions, cultures, geography etc and can speak a little bit of lots of languages including Thai. All this has been gained from travelling, meeting new people and new experiences.

FURET

I wonder if it would be possible for you to somehow have the best of both worlds.

By all means, continue to plan for your travels. But if possible, why not look towards working from a more central location and taking advantage of that. For example: See about getting a job in Qatar or the UAE. These countries are great springboards for exploring east Africa and Asia.

Grandpa Hassan

Travel is everything to me. I would sooner spend my money on experiences than physical possessions (cars etc) or wasting it on booze. I don't understand those that focus on their career in order to build up physical possessions. I don't waste my holidays on random days off, but plan them to take long weekends for shorter haul trips around the nooks and crannies of Europe, and have broken my career about every 5 years to take off for a while. Next long trip will be Patagonia.

There was a big survey in the UK Times a few months ago about what people remembered of their life as they were coming to the end. And interestingly, the top thing by a mile, more than personal achievements or physical possessions, was experiences and things they had seen. The conclusion of the survey was that travel experiences are the thing that stays with you in your old age.

I genuinely think that anyone who criticizes you for travel being a life priority wishes that it was them that were travelling

Emme

Life is for living. If you're free to travel go to as many places as you can. You won't regret it.

FURET

You might want to assess your long-term situation though. Focusing a little more on your career now could pay dividends later in terms of higher salary and better benefits - which you could then use to travel more extensively.

scallywaggles

You seem to know what you want from life, traveling and to set up a career, and by the sound of it you know you can pick up jobs and qualify in your chosen career while you travel as well, so go for it! Take the life less ordinary, don't just follow what others are doing because that is what they want out of life, not what you want. I'd agree with others as well though, if you want traveling to be a bigger part then look into how to achieve that, but you might find that you discover that as you go along. I met many people while traveling with all sorts of lifestyles, great for getting ideas from, even if it is just the idea that what you want is achievable, it gives you the encouragement to pursue bigger dreams.