Would you travel forever? - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

bibowj · 10-04-2007, 04:14 PM

So I got to thinking...

..well this board, that video, and my upcoming around the world trips have got me thinking...

Im 33 at the moment, Im military and will retire from it in 7 years.... and all of that will be in Japan ( i move there in Feb)... Im young, and in shape and a very healthy guy and I speak several languages... so I got to think , my military retirement is $1800 a month for the rest of my life. With a ESL cert and my previous college degree's I could realistically go from country to country teaching for the rest of my life...
For example start in Thailand and teach for a year or two, got to China for a year , then I could hop to several SA countries and do the same.

This is all assuming that I dont get married and settle down in the next few years, but If I dont.... I think Im going to live this life...

What do you all think? Would you travel forever if you could?

**TheJake** · 10-04-2007, 04:18 PM

dude I just started seeing the most amazing girl ever and I am scared to all get out that I will "settle down." In fact that idea makes me want to flee the relationship but then I look at a couple like Marc & Roxy and all is well in the universe again.
Don't ever "settle down." Ever. It's the devils way of keeping people ignorant. Travel is a lifestyle, albeit a different one. The great desire is to move.

**expatben** · 10-04-2007, 04:50 PM

Thing is, I want to settle down, I do very very much but I don't think I can. I dunno why there is something in me that just has to travel.

**juliagulia** · 10-04-2007, 04:58 PM

I mean, I think it's possible to be in a relationship and not settle or stay down. It just takes more work, is all.

**freespiritz** · 10-04-2007, 05:10 PM

I totally think there's a way to be sort of physically "settled" but still have that traveler mindset. I think I'm always going to need to go trippin' to some extent though.

**joe7f** · 10-04-2007, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by juliagulia

I mean, I think it's possible to be in a relationship and not settle or stay down. It just takes more work, is all.

If you meet your mate on Travelpunk sure... who's single?

I wouldn't want to travel forever. Doing it once in a while is what makes it special

Does anyone else think you can't travel if you don't have a home?

--Joey

**LostFarmboy** · 10-04-2007, 05:28 PM

Hmmmm, I think it depends on your definition of travel. If by travel you mean backpack around at a million miles an hour type stuff, I probably couldn't handle that forever, a few years maybe, but not forever.

But, if by travel you mean live in a different country for a few years then move on to the next (as your original post indicates), then yeah, I could possibly handle that for an extended amount of time.

As for the getting married part, if you meet a girl who also enjoys travelling then there's nothing to say that you can't have your cake and eat it too.

**marc873** · 10-04-2007, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJake

dude I just started seeing the most amazing girl ever and I am scared to all get out that I will "settle down." In fact that idea makes me want to flee the relationship but then I look at a couple like Marc & Roxy and all is well in the universe again.
Don't ever "settle down." Ever. It's the devils way of keeping people ignorant. Travel is a lifestyle, albeit a different one. The great desire is to move.

Ah Jake, thanks bro! I am definately lucky in that dept. Rox loves to travel as much as me. Having a common bond with your partner makes a big difference. In a sense, we are permanent travelers. We tend to move and live somewhere for a few years, then move on to the next place. Albiet, if it was jumping from country to country, that would be MUCH better. We have talked about LONG term travel 3-5 years, but are currently just going for a couple months a year. Although we do plan on opening a Pension somewhere in Central America at somepoint.
I guess to answer the question. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would be a full time traveler for life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**DC_Jessica** · 10-04-2007, 06:30 PM

LFB you read my mind. I'm in an international/intercultural thing at the mo' and the one thing we've both kind of "understood" is that we could go other places and "settle" for a year or more at a time. He's in Morocco for two months (26 days now - eep!), and we agreed that unless/until we had kids that he would be doing that for 1-4 months every year or every chance he was able to. And that frees me up for something more extensive as well. Plus, getting used to is, we've been apart so much that we know that there won't be any cheating or forgetting when we go away.

I like travelling for vacation. Even if that means up to a year (or maybe a little more), but I would never want to totally take away how special that is to me by country hopping for my WHOLE life, or at least my whole mobile life. I use it as an opportunity to disconnect a bit from my over-accessible existence and don't call anyone too much (sometimes at all), so I could never do it indefinitely.

**lost in texas** · 10-04-2007, 07:39 PM

I love to travel, but I wouldn't want to move around indefinitely. Don't get me wrong, I plan to travel as often as I'm able to, but I also think there's something to be said for putting down roots, being involved in a community and deciding to call somewhere home. Maybe it's because I moved constantly as a kid, it just doesn't appeal to me.

**IDDQD** · 10-04-2007, 07:43 PM

No. If travel forever means constantly moving my home from country to country...absolutely not. I would love to keep going on trips to visit different places around the world for the rest of my life. But living all over the place is a different story.
I may still live in a few more places but i know myself. I know Ill be aching for a real residents with a real home feeling.

**marc873** · 10-04-2007, 08:06 PM

Oddly but Good for me, my pack and the road feel like home.

**lauren313** · 10-05-2007, 02:24 AM

Nah, I couldn't travel forever. I like having somewhere to call "home" too much. In the future I'd love to move to New Zealand, but could only ever live there for 2 or 3 years maximum, simply because England is my home. I like being relatively close to my family (although I've lived in various places in England, I know they're only a short, cheap train or car ride away).

If I had the time, and the funds, I could probably travel solid for a couple of months every year, but that's not gonna happen!

**simply_angelic** · 10-05-2007, 05:27 AM

Yes and no. No, I could not backpack for the rest of my life, getting jobs at hostels and bars as I go to sustain myself, then get up and leave on the fly no matter what. I think that just as a steady life in one country will get old, so too will the life of a nomad.

However, I plan to travel for the rest of my life (as you hope to...except I'd start a little earlier). I hope to do conservation wildlife when I graduate uni and the beautiful thing about specializing in a field like that (as it is most definitely NOT the money) is that I can find ways to research and work in so many different environments and work on a per-term basis. So while I wont be travelling in the vacation sense of the word, I might spend a year in Thailand, then 6mo in Ghana, then 2 years in Brazil (or something like that....kind of like what tumble does whenever her husband gets a re-assignment). And find a life partner somewhere along the way, who will hoepfully be as into travel as I am

bibowj · 10-05-2007, 06:18 AM

i think being that Im military has had a effect on me lifestyle wise... well.. no Im wrong. Growing up, me and my mom moved around to allot ...I must have went to 5 high schools in 4 states... so then i joined the military and was stationed at various bases overseas (spain, greece and italy) ...so now its in my genetics I think...
As soon as Im involved with someone semi serious i get that panic of not being able to MOVE around... I guess ive never met anyone that has been like me in that sense..

**simply_angelic** · 10-05-2007, 06:28 AM

Yeah, maybe it's because I changed schools a lot as a kid, and friends...I just tend to be totally fine with getting up and leaving.

Although when you look back it can be kind of sad. I've always wondered what it would be like to have those crazy long-term friends that you've known your whole life. Maybe it's just something I've never known therefore it's something I can give up more easily?

I am a very independant person though. While I don't fully panic in a relationship (because I am also one of the most chill people I have ever met....most of the time) I will just drop a guy right away if I dont feel it. Like if they get past the 2nd date, they're in crazy good territory. But essentially I will need someone who has a career that is flexible and is willing to make it flexible with me. (which apparently is difficult to find)

bibowj · 10-05-2007, 06:37 AM

I wonder if americans are just less flexible about living that lifestlye... cause i NEVER meet girls that want to travel allot... but I do meet aussies that do and cancucks....

man i do miss living on the Canadian border

**simply_angelic** · 10-05-2007, 06:55 AM

Yeah, Canadian girls do rock, I'll give you that one

It's possible your theory is correct...that seems to be Jake's motto on the women in Pheonix anyways (but as he's got a girlfriend now perhaps his views will have changed?

)

I know that Canadians are definitely very open to travel. We all want to travel at least a little in our lifetimes & definitely think it's cool when other have gone awesome places, (not 100% sure about aussies but from those I've met it seems pretty damn likely they're the same). But most people still want the same American (yes american, but in Canada) dream when it all comes down to it. The big house, good paying job, nice stuff, nice car, husband/wife & kids in a stable environment. You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't want that. Hell, even a little bit of me wants it, because that's what we're all taught to want. I know that in the end though, I wont be nearly as happy or satisfied in life if I do settle for that lifestyle though. And that's what keeps pushing me.

I think anywhere you go you're going to have that. Most people just cant understand the desire to live a life of travel. They want vacations, not a whole new lifestyle, every year or 2.

**TheJake** · 10-05-2007, 08:13 AM

Don't be jealous laura! She's into traveling and though she hasn't done much of it, she'll be capable of handling it!

It's not really difficult for me, this question, I can't see myself ever being content for more than a few years anywhere and I need the next trip to think about. Even if it's a life like WWM's. I would love that. My dream bit would probably be to own a big ship/sailboat to live on. All the benefits of a house, ie tax breaks, comfort, familiar, on the other hand totally mobile. That would be perfect for me. Then I want to have a job that I can do anywhere, my own operation. I am still thinking through plans on that but I have a couple of pretty solid ideas that I just need to set in motion.

DrGonzo · 10-05-2007, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc873

Oddly but Good for me, my pack and the road feel like home.

I couldn't agree anymore. Granted I've only been doing the backpack thing since the beginning of June, I've never felt so alive and in tune with the world, other people, and most of all - myself.

True, it is an INCREDIBLY stressful lifestyle. Not knowing where your going to sleep or if your even going to eat, but I can honestly say I've seen some amazing things and had some unforgettable experiences that most people my age could never even fathom.