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29 May 2013
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Location: Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
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I'm a secondary school teacher and I love my job. Not only is it, in my humble opinion, one of the most important jobs in society but it gives me the holidays to travel. I don't get paid as much as I thinkI should ( I've been teaching for 20 years and earn £31,000) but I certainly can't complain about the holidays. I'm off to Scandinavia for 5 weeks this summer.
This thread has been really interesting and it's encouraging to see that 25% in this poll love their jobs. However it is truly depressing to see so many people seem to hate their jobs. I can't think of anything more depressing (apart from unemployment I guess)
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13 Jul 2014
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My two pennies worth
I agree, a very good thread:
Here goes, I'll keep it short and not bore you to death:
Joined the Navy at 15, spent my first 3 years on a ship (HMS Hermoine), my last appraisal from my divisional officer was "Cowie is a stormy Scotsman who likes his women and his drink, I recommend him for the Submarine service!"
So after 21 years on subs I retired (with a small pension), started working offshore on a Seismic research vessel, worked on 5 ships in the CGG fleet, 5 weeks on 5 weeks off, good salary, worked all over the world, currently on the good ship Viking in the Gulf of Mexico, due home August 1st. Pretty busy at times, straight 35 12 hour shifts.
58 now, hopefully I can retire in 2 years and do some seroius touring.
Great wife of 35 years, 2 sons and 2 grandkids.
Been to a few HUBB and GSER meetings and met a fantastic bunch of people, too maany to mention.
Thank you to all that know me (and have tasted my wares) 
Hope to see you soon. 
Jake
Seisobs
2012 1200 GSA
1977 Norton 850 Commando
Distiller of a fine brand of rocket fuel 
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12 Oct 2014
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Brighton
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Charity work, rubbish pay.
I'm a youth and community project manager and have worked hard all all my career in a very rewarding job, that I'm totally passionate about. However, Ive always worked for registered charities, on absolutely rubbish pay. I've travelled lots but always on an absolute shoe string and usually only for two weeks at a time, ....'mini adventures' if you like. It's kinda worked, but now I'm getting older, I want to travel more and work less, while I still can. Until the mortgage is paid off, I can't presently figure a way to do that. My house is a big part of my pension, so, it's a bit too hard to just sell up and go blow the cash (unless I wanna live on the streets in old age!). However, the way the politics and benefits system of the UK work (especially, if you work hard and you are a home owner), you just get shafted every which way. Feeling burned out and restless. To figure the way out, I'm on a journey, of sorts, I guess, but, not one in which I physically travel? For the first time ever, I've just negotiated some unpaid leave, for my next adventure, maybe, that's a possible way forward?
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20 Apr 2015
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Join Date: Apr 2015
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Work / Life balance
I always figured that I would have some kids and then see the world later on when they were old enough. Now, I have a job that is not too bad 4 days a week and I don't work too hard. The problem is that although I get to see the kids I don't have the big cash and holidays are infrequent.
Trying to balance everything is really hard and if I took a job that paid really well, the kids would never see me and we would drift apart - which is the last thing I would ever want
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14 Sep 2012
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Location: Garstang, Lancashire, UK
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Quote:
Originally Posted by *Touring Ted*
This interests me.....
I always assumed most people hated their jobs. I've never found a job I liked.
Some have been better than others and some are fine for a while.
BUT !!! As the majority of people actually spend most of their waking lives at work, isn't it more important that you actually spend that time not wanting to jump out of the top window ?
Is this why more and more people are throwing it all in, jumping on the bike and heading around the world ?
Discuss !  |
Do I like my job? On the whole yes, but I dont get out of bed going woohoo its work again. There's moments when I despair of the bureaucracy, indecision and Politics, and others when I feel completely deflated and fed up with it all. But most of the time the challenges of the job, intellectual stimulation, working with others, achieving results against all the odds and so on make it very satisfying. I am a civil servant doing a job I couldn't explain to you (not secret, just hard to convey the complexities of IT commercial strategies in government to an outsider). My work is very flexible, I dont have set hours and am mostly left to my own devices. I am measured by results, not time spent at the desk, although I do far more than the set hours - because I want to, not because I have to. I have been a civil servant 30 years and had many roles but most of that time has been like this.
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28 Jan 2013
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Nieder-Olm, Germany
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin
Do I like my job? On the whole yes, but I dont get out of bed going woohoo its work again. There's moments when I despair of the bureaucracy, indecision and Politics, and others when I feel completely deflated and fed up with it all. But most of the time the challenges of the job, intellectual stimulation, working with others, achieving results against all the odds and so on make it very satisfying. I am a civil servant doing a job I couldn't explain to you (not secret, just hard to convey the complexities of IT commercial strategies in government to an outsider). My work is very flexible, I dont have set hours and am mostly left to my own devices. I am measured by results, not time spent at the desk, although I do far more than the set hours - because I want to, not because I have to. I have been a civil servant 30 years and had many roles but most of that time has been like this.
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Could have written this myself and would not know how to add to this great description of my own situation, other than that I am not a civil servant but since 18 years an in-house attorney formerly working in the automotive and now in the chemicals industry.
Cheers
Chris
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28 Jan 2013
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Location: Washington, DC
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My current job is OK I guess, but another thread on this forum has got me thinking that there could be some opportunities in banking, seems like a good gig. What do you guys think?
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14 Sep 2012
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Garstang, Lancashire, UK
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Quote:
Originally Posted by *Touring Ted*
This interests me.....
I always assumed most people hated their jobs. I've never found a job I liked.
Some have been better than others and some are fine for a while.
BUT !!! As the majority of people actually spend most of their waking lives at work, isn't it more important that you actually spend that time not wanting to jump out of the top window ?
Is this why more and more people are throwing it all in, jumping on the bike and heading around the world ?
Discuss ! |
Do I like my job? On the whole yes, but I dont get out of bed going woohoo its work again. It gives me a comfortable lifestyle, my kids have grown up in a safe secure place funded by my work. Mortgage paid, and now my children are nearly off my hands I am doing part year work (6weeks unpaid leave in a single block) to do a bit of travelling. I intend to increase the unpaid absence each year to fit in either longer trips or two or more trips per year. Work pays for this and means we dont need live hobo style on the road.
I am early 50s and can draw a pension from 60, but I will probably leave before then and set off on a indefinite trip while I can.
Good luck with your search for something that gives you what you want from life. It was children for me - the best thing that ever happened to me, they are wonderful in so many ways.
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14 Sep 2012
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what job
Face it no one wants to work. If I had a job I would work my boules orf, to get rid of my debts and mortgage, then I would sell this damn house which I have never liked, and all the crap I never really needed, THEN I would take my chances and hit the road. What could be worse than the life here in brokenland. I am suffering from depression , got type 2 diabetes, over weight, suicidal and pretty much unemployable, so if you like your job, then great, they won and you have convinced yourself that that is the right thing to do.
PS ignore me I am bitter, and the wrong side of a few whiskeys 
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14 Sep 2012
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Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Vancouver Island, Canada
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I taught English at a university on the Pacific coast of Mexico. It was truly a dream job: I loved working with the students, I enjoyed the lifestyle of a small, sleepy beach resort town, everything was great.... except the money. I took home about $1000/month. By local standards that was a very high salary - I spent maybe about $650/month and was able to put away a third of salary.
The trouble is that every time I got on a plane to fly back to Canada to visit family and friends, I'd wipe out the last 6 months of savings. After about three years of this, I realized that if I didn't want to keep working until I drop dead, I needed to return to a higher paying job in Canada and start saving for retirement.
That was five years ago. I have been working in IT since and have actually done a decent job of saving. I am on-schedule to take an early retirement in about 9-10 more years, and I will probably move back to Mexico and teach part-time.
The job I have now in IT? Meh. It's okay, nothing special, and pays the bills - but it will allow me to retire while relatively young and able-bodied.
__________________
Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250
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14 Sep 2012
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Yep! I'm pretty much in my dream job. As Austin said, I dont get up saying woohoo! but I have no objections in going to work.
I work in the mining industry. Lets face it, none of us could be doing any of this travelling without the mining industry (steel, copper, aluminium, molybdenum etc) as it would be hard to get places on a bike whittled out of wood. I work 7 days on, 7 days off so effectively I only work for half a year. I class myself as being "semi retired"
I have run my own business for the last 16 years and in the begining I worked 7 days a week, up to 16 hours a day but I got ahead, payed off the mortgage and put some away so that I can now enjoy my time off even more.
My job keeps me active and fit (both body and mind) and I enjoy (yes, enjoy)the stress/pressure associated with meeting deadlines etc.
It would be great if we could all find that one enjoyable, meaningfull task that we call a job but unfortuneately not all of us can.
I'm a lucky one! I'm happy!!
Marty
__________________
An idea comes suddenly and in an intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier experience.
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15 Sep 2012
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Well I'm a plumber by trade, I like my job but I hate the company I work for; they pay me a fantastic wage but for this, they treat me like shit.
I'm at the crossroads right now; I don't know whether to quit and do something completely different, emigrate to another country or just start up the bonneville and hit the road? :confused1:
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16 Sep 2012
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Location: Wirral, England.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fraser2312
Well I'm a plumber by trade, I like my job but I hate the company I work for; they pay me a fantastic wage but for this, they treat me like shit.
I'm at the crossroads right now; I don't know whether to quit and do something completely different, emigrate to another country or just start up the bonneville and hit the road? :confused1:
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Why not work for yourself ??? Everyone needs a good, honest plumber right ??
Or Volunteer with your plumbing skills. You'd be 'hot shit' in the third world offering professional first world plumbing skills.
Just an idea 
__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.
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16 Sep 2012
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Location: Bellingham, WA, USA
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Actually, trying to transfer First World trade skills to Third World situations doesn't work very well at all: you never have the right tools, the parts and practices are all different, and local people can generally do it way faster anyway.
If I hated the people I worked for and felt they were treating me like shit, I'd be out the door. Being your own boss isn't for everyone or every situation, but where I come from a reliable plumber is a rarity, and it doesn't take one long to set up a thriving business.
All this talk about taking skills on the road is fine, but it really depends on where you go. Being an itinerant welder in Europe might be fine, but how are you going to make that work in Africa, Asia or Latin America? Same with small engine repair: does anybody really think they're better at this (using local tools, materials, and parts, of course) than that guy in the little tin shack by the side of the road? Notice how much you pay those guys to do a bit of welding or repair work? Can you survive on that sort of wage, even if you can find the work (and again, the tools, the materials, the parts)?
Mark
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16 Sep 2012
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Wirral, England.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by markharf
Actually, trying to transfer First World trade skills to Third World situations doesn't work very well at all: you never have the right tools, the parts and practices are all different, and local people can generally do it way faster anyway.
If I hated the people I worked for and felt they were treating me like shit, I'd be out the door. Being your own boss isn't for everyone or every situation, but where I come from a reliable plumber is a rarity, and it doesn't take one long to set up a thriving business.
All this talk about taking skills on the road is fine, but it really depends on where you go. Being an itinerant welder in Europe might be fine, but how are you going to make that work in Africa, Asia or Latin America? Same with small engine repair: does anybody really think they're better at this (using local tools, materials, and parts, of course) than that guy in the little tin shack by the side of the road? Notice how much you pay those guys to do a bit of welding or repair work? Can you survive on that sort of wage, even if you can find the work (and again, the tools, the materials, the parts)?
Mark
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There are a places (few and far between, I grant you) that work to western standards and charge western or 'almost' western prices.
I can name four motorcycle specific ones off the top of my head right now.
There are plenty of people with A LOT of money in the third world and they like to spend it...
But like you say. It doesn't have to be the third world. USA,Canada, Australia, NZ and think about the developing countries in the East. There is PLENTY of great travel out there and places like Canada and Aus are crying out for skilled trades, even now.
When I was in the Yukon a few weeks back, they literally couldn't pay people enough to stay out there and work.
People behind the bar were on $20Ph plus GENEROUS tips...
Unfortunately for me at the time, none of my qualifications applied and I didn't have a work Visa. Hence why I'm going to give welding a bash. Even if that doesn't work out then at least I can make and sell bespoke stuff from my workshop.
Anyway... We're getting off topic 
__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.
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Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)
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What others say about HU...
"This site is the BIBLE for international bike travelers." Greg, Australia
"Thank you! The web site, The travels, The insight, The inspiration, Everything, just thanks." Colin, UK
"My friend and I are planning a trip from Singapore to England... We found (the HU) site invaluable as an aid to planning and have based a lot of our purchases (bikes, riding gear, etc.) on what we have learned from this site." Phil, Australia
"I for one always had an adventurous spirit, but you and Susan lit the fire for my trip and I'll be forever grateful for what you two do to inspire others to just do it." Brent, USA
"Your website is a mecca of valuable information and the (video) series is informative, entertaining, and inspiring!" Jennifer, Canada
"Your worldwide organisation and events are the Go To places to for all serious touring and aspiring touring bikers." Trevor, South Africa
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Lots more comments here!
Every book a diary
Every chapter a day
Every day a journey
Refreshingly honest and compelling tales: the hights and lows of a life on the road. Solo, unsupported, budget journeys of discovery.
Authentic, engaging and evocative travel memoirs, overland, around the world and through life.
All 8 books available from the author or as eBooks and audio books
Back Road Map Books and Backroad GPS Maps for all of Canada - a must have!
New to Horizons Unlimited?
New to motorcycle travelling? New to the HU site? Confused? Too many options? It's really very simple - just 4 easy steps!
Horizons Unlimited was founded in 1997 by Grant and Susan Johnson following their journey around the world on a BMW R80G/S.
Read more about Grant & Susan's story
Membership - help keep us going!
Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.
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helps answer the question - Why Go? Inspirational stories by veteran travellers Greg Frazier (5 times RTW), Peter and Kay Forwood (193 countries), Tiffany Coates (Mongolia Mayhem) and Rene Cormier (University of Gravel Roads).
Get Ready! covers planning, paperwork, medical and many other topics! "Inspirational and Awesome!" See the trailer here!
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Motorcycle and travel books to inspire and inform you!
The definitive guide to planning your motorcycle adventure! This insanely ambitious 2-year project has produced an informative and entertaining 5-part, 18 hour video series. "The ultimate round the world rider's how-to!" MCN UK.
what job
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