It’s finally here. The day has come, and I’m so nervous
No, not my wedding day. That was last weekend. And while that was amazing and incredible and well worth 18 stressful months of planning, I wasn’t nervous at all. What’s there to be nervous about? Stressed, sure, but not nervous.
No, this is far more nerve wracking. Today is the day I quit my job to go on a year long travel adventure.
Today is the day it finally becomes “real,” this decision I have made to give up a comfortable life, with a job I enjoy, friends I love, and a tiny little treehouse apartment that I adore – all to throw caution to the wind and go travel for over a year. With no income. With no “home” to speak of, or come back to. No job lined up. No “next steps” clearly defined. Just travel.
Is this the opposite of practical? Have I given in to my wanderlust?
I’ve been asking myself this question a lot. I asked myself the day I booked our one way plane tickets to Cartegena, Colombia, heart pounding as I clicked through the JetBlue website. But I thought, I can always change my mind, if I want.
I asked myself again as I booked more and more hostels – but I can always cancel them, if I want. I asked myself when I bought the travel insurance to cover our trip (VERY practical of me, of course) and I’m pretty sure that was non refundable.
But somehow this was the Big One. Telling my boss, who I respect and really like, that I am quitting the job she essentially created for me, terrifies me more than this trip does.
Sometimes I have moments where I’m scared to go on this crazy adventure. I look around our cozy little apartment, where we have made a cozy little home (I’m not exaggerating on the “cozy little” part, it’s freaking teeny) and think, am I crazy to be giving all of this up? To give up coming home from work, putting on my sweatpants, sitting on the couch, watching Netflix, and eating a delicious meal that my husband cooked for me? That’s the dream, right there.
Am I crazy to be giving up a job that I actually enjoy, that pays me enough to live a comfortable life – enough to save for this trip for both my husband and I? Am I crazy to say goodbye to all of our friends here, whose relationships I’ve been growing over the past 4 years living in the Bay Area? And to leave behind my husband’s family, who live a few hours away? Am I crazy to give up my spot in the Bay Area, the most expensive area in the country, where I managed to finagle a rent that is actually affordable, and am located within 2 hours from every kind of environment imaginable, with unending adventures and easily accessible weekend trips to take, right here in Northern California? Am I crazy to ask my husband to give up his newfound passion for teaching urban high school to come with me on a really long vacation? I’m a little bit crazy, right?
Sometimes these doubts keep me up at night, imagining all the things that could go wrong, all the mistakes I could be making, all of the privileges I am throwing away – doubts turn into worry, worry turns into guilt. Will I be able to find a job when we get back? Will I ever earn this much money again? What kind of first world, financially privileged person gives up a good job like this? Am I abusing the privileges I have been given in life? Am I forcing my husband to turn down his dream job? Will we ever be able to come back to the Bay Area? Will we ever be happy with our “normal” lives again, the way we are now?
But part of being practical means weighing risk and reward. The biggest risk would be to miss this little opportunity of time that we have right now: newly married, young(ish), in good health, no kids, no car, no mortgage, few belongings, not much tying is down …. this is the best time for us to travel. The big timeline we are keeping in mind is kids: I’m 26, so I have plenty of time, but I want to spend a few years travelling, my husband and I both want a masters degree (well, he does, I’m considering it), and then we need to be stable and settled before we take the plunge and lock ourselves in for the next 18 years. By my calculations, that means I need to travel RIGHT NOW or risk an expensive and difficult pregnancy in my mid-late 30s.
The reward: doing something I’ve dreamed of for years, something my husband and I both had on our respective “let’s do this!” lists, but which would be so, so easy to turn into “I wish we would have done this when we could” when we’re old, in poor health, making far less money, or otherwise unable to take off and go travel for a long period of time. I’m going to be checking so many items off my bucket list in one fell swoop: Macchu Picchu, Patagonia, the Appalachian Trail, 7 countries… that’s a lot of reward.
So I know what I am doing is what’s right for us, right now. All those doubts will have to be quieted for a little while. Because after I quit, there is no going back. There’s only packing up our stuff (I’m currently devouring posts like this one about backpacking light) moving it to storage while we travel, and then … taking a deep breath, and diving in.
2018 Edit: Wow, my first EVER post on the blog! I remember this day so well… both as if it were yesterday, and as if it were a thousand years ago in some distant alternate universe.
Our trip was amazing, but it ended up being NOTHING like what we had planned or expected. Here’s what happened on our year-long honeymoon. We had an amazing time, despite most of our honeymoon being a total disaster – like the time we tried to hike to Machu Picchu and totally failed, our decision to leave South America early, and scrapping our Appalachian Trail plans for an off-season trip to Europe to eat instead of hike.
But the most crazy and unexpected result of our trip wasn’t any of those disasters or scrapped plans. It was the success of our blog, Practical Wanderlust. When we returned to the Bay Area, I decided not to return to the corporate life I’d quit on this day just a year before. Instead, I made the decision to blog full time! I’m now a full time travel blogger – like, AS A JOB, which is nuts – and I’m absolutely loving it. You can follow along on my new adventure on our Instagram, or check out our blogging tips series for an inside look into what exactly a travel blogger does every day (I’m still figuring it out myself).
If you’re interested in reliving our year-long trip, here are some highlights:
- Our Year-Long Honeymoon: What Happened & How Much It Cost
- What Not to Pack for Long Term Travel: 10 Things We Wish We Did & Didn’t Pack
- Why we’re leaving South America early
- 30 Things Nobody Tells You About Quitting Your Job to Go Travel
- 30 Things Nobody Tells You About Long Term Travel as a Couple
Need some help planning your escape? We’ve created a Long Term Travel Checklist with everything you need to plan your adventure. We’ll also send our favorite travel tips straight to your inbox! Just sign up below.
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- Face Masks: Scientific consensus demonstrates wearing face masks protects both yourself and those around you from viral spread! We love these reusable face masks because they're ethically made with sustainable materials and budget-friendly.
- Booking Flights: To score flight deals, search on Skyscanner or Kayak. Money-saving tips: fly mid-week or on the weekend; fly carry-on only on a budget airline; and take red-eyes or early morning flights.
- Accommodations: We usually stay in mid-range boutique hotels or private rooms in hostels. We use Booking.com to book hotels (we love their flexible cancellation policy) and Hostelworld to book hostels (low deposit, easy change/cancellation, and excellent reviews). Depending on the destination, we also love staying in AirBnBs. We've also used TrustedHousesitters as both hosts and travelers.
- Travel Insurance: We always, always, ALWAYS buy travel insurance for international trips, and we STRONGLY suggest it - visit our Travel Insurance Guide to find out why. We recommend either World Nomads or SafetyWing for international travel insurance.
- Vaccines & Meds: We use the travel guides on the CDC website to research recommended medications and vaccines for international trips. We always recommend getting every vaccine recommended by the CDC! You can get them at your primary care doctor's office or a walk-in pharmacy.
- Tours: We love booking guided tours, especially food tours and walking tours, to get a local's perspective and a history lesson while sight-seeing! We book our tours using Viator and GetYourGuide.
- Transportation: We use Rome2Rio to figure out how to get from place to place using public transit. When we book a rental car, we use Kayak to find the best deal.
- Luggage Storage: Whenever we're checking out early or taking advantage of a long layover, we use Stasher or LuggageHero to safely store our luggage while we're running around. On Stasher, you can use the code PW10 for 10% off your booking!
- What to Pack: Here are the travel essentials that we bring on every trip. We also have packing lists for hot weather, cold weather, and many more. Take a look at all of our packing guides!
Anna Lawrence says
I was looking for some inspiration/support re telling my boss I am quitting my great job. So thank you for this post so long ago, Perfect for me to read I can really rleate. What happened when you did this? You said this is what you were most nervous about. Im guessing it went pretty well
Lia Garcia says
It went fine, actually! My boss was super understanding and supportive, and we’ve continued to stay in touch. When I came back from my trip, we discussed me coming back, but ultimately I decided to keep blogging – and the result is what you see on our site today! This was the day that changed my life forever 🙂