Make your way in the world
 

On this subject of the modern British family and it's current tendencies:
The best quote I recall on this was from an acquaintance of mine as he went to live abroad following his divorce. Regarding his grown-up kids (in their late teens from memory) --


"I've given them a good education and good manners, the rest is up to them".

Once you've done it.....
 

You always wonder why the f*ck you ever came back. I do. I worked in Thailand for almost a year, teaching scuba diving on Koh Tao, a tiny island north of Koh Samui. I earned barely enough money to live on, and mostly subsidised it with money i had in the bank in England. And never in that year did i get out of bed in the morning miserable, bored, fed up with life...never! You can worry about how it will effect you when you're old, and take the safe route of being comfortable in retirement, when having done nothing with your life. My dad has enough money, yet at 64 all he does is work, because he has nothing else to do. That is not going to happen to me. I would rather take the risk now, while I can, then wish i had when i cant. When you get old all you want is to be dry and warm, and have food on the table..... thats enough. So what if you have half a million pounds in the bank when your 70.... its only going to someone else.. eventually.
So I'm gonna go and do it while i can.... sod the future, I'll deal with that later.
I took this view on life when, on new years day 1997, i got a phone call telling me my best friend had dropped dead... He was 25.
You never know the future, so if you want it, do it, and f*ck the consequences.

My Plan
 

I've enjoyed reading everyones contribution to this thread. Its nice to know that real people are out there traveling, or planning to travel, and its not just the rich guys. To the rich dudes, more power to you, I'd be doing the same thing if it were me. Anyway I'm in my early 30s, got a wife, kids, and a plan. I'm active duty military, which has allowed me to travel 13 European countries on motorcycle so far, which now caused an ADV travel addiction. I can waste hours just thinking about my future RTW trip. Very non-productive, but at the same time it helps me put up with all the crap that I get to deal with. While I'm not thrilled with my career (wont start complaining), it will allow me to retire at the age of 45( I still need to work), my youngest kid will just be starting college, and hopefully my investment that I've dedicated to this trip will come back from the -45% that its worth at the moment. This RTW trip has stopped being a fantasy, and is now a goal. Best of luck to everyone.

Tim

It is like anything in life, it depends where your priorities are. Traveling is top on my priority, so I get to travel while I'm young and healthy.
The nice thing is that once you have traveled for a year or more on a tight budget, you can eazily start any kind of job anywhere in the world earning little money and you will be used to spending as little as possible. You do not need that new car or bike, you dont need to have 10 sets of clothes, you dont need to have a 2 or 3 bedroom house. . . . You see what I mean.

Johan

Delay for the right reason
 

Well...put those boots on and have a go kicking - we didn't throw in the towel and disappear!!

Instead of spending May packing rucksacks we unloaded a small little boy to add to our collection of one :clap:

Both my wife and I are ecstatic and enjoying family life but clearly life on the road will have to be postponed for a while. I am finally taking my four wheel test so perhaps it may be a van around the world instead of a bike. The missus won't hear of a sidecar for her with the little 'un perched on the back....lol

Back to watching dvds and reading the books in between the nappies and bottle feeds....

MarbleStake

The true cost of it all.
 

It is amazing how many of these threads are actually very similar. I responded to a post only a few hours ago and then found this thread. This thread is roughly about finance. I have read many travelogue books and looked at as many blogs as I can and for me the one thing missing from ALL of them is costings. Some of them provide important information such as miles travelled each day etc. What I would like to see because it would help me greatly is a list of costings at the end of each section such as filled up with fuel 3 times today, spent XXX on fuel, stayed at campsite cost = XXX spent XXX on food and entertainment. Spent so much on ferry and had to pay xxx to border guards etc. Running totals like this would be of an enormous help to people trying to figure out if they can afford to go in the first place.

I know some will say it is not relevant because we all spend differently or inflation and travel exchange will alter over periods of time but all of these things can be factored. If anyone out there has already done this then please let me know the website url so I can figure out how little or how much is really needed. I am not asking for exact details but fuel, accommodation and general expenses are every bit as important as some of the stunning photos I have seen on some blogs. I guess a few others may find this helpful too. It may even help some people to plan their trip by avoiding expensive places in favour of what can be accomplished now and going back to expensive ones when finance allows.

I am guessing that a budget of around 10 pounds per day might well suffice in some parts of Asia or perhaps South America but that will increase surely if you are in Europe or North America by as much as 400%? For the traveller with a limited budget it would make sense to avoid Europe for long periods and go somewhere cheap?

Apologies if anyone thinks I am talking out of my arse but if I don’t ask no one is going to tell me!!

People don't really write about it because it is soooo different to everyone. People have different tastes, do different things, have different opionions on value and comfort etc..

You need to know where you are going and for how long first mate, then you can start narrowing down the costs !

Cost always matter, especially when traveling. It would be better to save up on travel especially if you'll be leaving work for the longest time. As for my case, there always comes a time when I just want to leave home, leave work, leave everything behind. But that would be far from reality.

Seeing as it is nearly a year since the last post, maybe we need to revive this.
Found an interesting blog/book: The Art of Non-Conformity � Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel around the World

Why you should quit your job and travel around the world.

I can get my head around selling up stuff, saving like crazy, renting out the house and heading off. I can see living very cheaply when travelling, and I can picture the pleasure that can bring.

What I cannot see is what happens when you get back, money all gone and the desire to go again. And what happens when you hit the age when medical problems or what not means you've to stay put. it's not as much fun or as easy to live cheaply in Ireland as it would be in Tanzania, argentina or thailand. What happens then? anyone been there and done that?

Merv.

Hey Merv,
Think of it not like a trip, but as a lifestyle change. Do you need to "get back" Do you need to rent out the house, or can't you just get rid of it?

In the US as is my case. Medical expenses are outrageous. It is a benefit to bugger off and live somewhere with socialized healthcare. As we get older we do not want to settle down in the states as it's a liability. A couple years ago there was an aging couple living in their truck outside of a grocery store, bankrupted due to health expenses. That is how we are treated here.

Our plan is simple, give it a year see what happens. Perhaps 1 year will turn into 30...

There is a very good book by Tim Ferriss called 4 hour work week. Inside are hints and tips to make living your life..however you want it...work. Now for us travellers..that can mean being on the road and still bringing in an income (not that I've got to that stage yet!!) Not all ideas are going to work for everyone, but there are always some things you can implement. It also has a good webesite resource tool.

The 4-Hour Workweek and Timothy Ferriss

Cheers
Adastra

I'm finding that to travel the amount I want means working an amount I don't like at all while I can. The NHS cut my hours to three days a week, which was great until I decided I needed to get on the road again. In the UK if you have two jobs the second one gets taxed at a ridiculous rate - 33% even though it's minimum wage. I did the maths and I need to do 55 hours a week or thereabouts for a year. On the plus side this is making my desperation to leave all the stronger!
Luckily I have a nice short trip coming up to break the monotony - thanks to Adastra for that one!!

I am not really an experienced traveler but I know one thing: it would be absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to bring me back in the office and have me sit there from nine to five. I don't take it as I am traveling, this is just how I like to live right now. I do whatever I can to buy petrol and food, building and landscaping jobs mainly... and I am not a professional builder or landscaper. Having a house rented out or some other permanent income would be great but I don't have that luxury. In Europe and some other places helpx.net is a great way to save money and meet people... I recommend it to anyone.
Anyways, the best advice given to you was, start with a short trip. One to three months... you will see if you like it or not. Maybe you just need some thinking time and then a new job with less stress and more time for yourself.

I love how when after you travel, 1-3 months, is a short trip ;)

I'm now 7months in and now trading out my 07 BMW G650XC for a '75 XL350 in the States and heading back to Guatemala to hook up with mates on similar bikes to be able to keep riding for a longer time

on costs I've gone from spending $200USD for a night on a hotel in a booked out city and being too tired, wet and cold to care about the cost to being put up for free from people you meet on the road, the longer on the road you are the more contacts you make and it can get heaps cheaper