Not sure if 31 is young or not any more, but 3 years ago, I left everything and spent 1,5 year riding across South America. I had had a fairly decent job and some (about 5000 UK pounds) savings, didn't own a house though. Ran out of money in Argentina, found a job on a horse farm, carried on a few months later.

It was the best time of my life. Lots of wild camping, cooking my own food and so on, very minimal comfort, but it was the best thing ever.

Right now I'm back in the UK, planning the rest of my round the world bike journey. I'm stuck in a regular 9-5 job; my salary is pretty average, so I can afford to save about 600 pounds a month. That means I'll save about 7000 pounds a year; I'm also going to need a new bike, probably something like a Kawasaki KLE500, that's about 3000 pounds, so in the end I'll be left with about 4-5000 again.

And here's the weirdest thing: I am worried that it won't be enough to get me going. I want to go around Africa next and I always thought, I started off in South America with more or less the same amount, so that's what I'll do now as well-just go and wing it, find jobs on the way, volunteer, whatever. That's how I did it before, anyway. Why shouldn't it work this time around, right?

But suddenly, I'm not so sure. I also find myself a bit worried about safety in some countries as a solo female rider; I'm worried about visas and the carnet, and insurance (didn't need any of that in South America), and I'm worried about what will I do when I come back-I will probably have to start all over again, explain my CV gap, somehow find a job, to save money for Asia, Australia and so on...This is so NOT me, I didn't care about any of that before-I just left!

What the hell happened to me?..I was 28 when I left for South America, so I can't say I got very much older; I only spent 1,5 years back in Europe, so surely it isn't our Western cultural conditioning which tries to tell us the world beyond our borders and our 'safe' jobs and life insurance and mortgages is dangerous and unpredictable?..

So here I am, all worried and unsure, and at the same time going absolutely mental because I miss travelling on my bike so bad it drives me nuts sometimes. I find it ridiculous for human beings to spend 8 hours sat at desks at 'work' everyday, I find it absurd to waste my time on such trivial, meaningless activity - I'm talking about your average office/managerial jobs here mind you, not work that's actually meaningful like medicine, science etc-I feel caged and just barely able to breath sometimes, and when I remember a sunrise in the Peruvian Andes, or cooking spaghetti for supper over a camp-fire somewhere in the caretera Austral in Chile I just want to curl up in a ball somewhere and cry.

I wonder what happened to my balls - or rather, ovaries-of steel and how come it's so much harder to leave this time? Not like I have a family/kids, or debt, in fact I have absolutely nothing to lose, and yet I'm stalling.

Sorry for the long rant! I know I will eventually leave for Africa, and I'm 100% sure I will regret spending so much time on a silly office job, but wow it's difficult to get unstuck...

Very thoughtful and beautiful post!

I think many travelers feel this anxiety ... plus female hormones may be reeking havoc as well. Many women in your age range are about pushing prams and decorating the house. Domestic bliss and all.

I hope you can resist going down that path and get back on the road ... and get happy! But doubtful your S. American nirvana can be repeated. But once on the road I'm sure things will calm down ... but it will be a completely unique experience ... nothing like your first trip.

Africa (by accounts I've read ... never rode bikes there except Morocco) is tough in places. You've read Lois Pryce's book on her solo trip? Maybe start off with "easy" countries first? Work up to Class V zones later.
Join up with some riding buddies? It can work.

As we age I believe it's fairly "normal" to (GENERALLY) become less adventurous, less bold and more conservative when operating out of our comfort zones.

Same happened to me mid 30's. I ended up teaming up with riding buddies for security ... but now am back solo again at age 68. (going crazy as I age!)

I would look to save money on buying a bike. Is a used KLE really 3000 UKP?
Maybe start in S. Africa, buy a bike there to avoid Carnet fees. A nice 250 may be cheaper (and lighter) than the KLE.
Or ... go back to S. America and buy this bike:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ipa-peru-86755

!Que le via muy bien!

Haha Mollydog, fair play to you riding the world at 68!

I'm sure me being a wuss at the moment has nothing to do with female hormones though - I have zero interest in settling down and having babies! That's way, WAY scarier than Africa to me. And like I said, I got older, yes, but not much, so it can't be that either.

I guess I mostly blame the Western cultural conditioning: I travelled alone but never felt lonely on the road, whereas back home I'm not just lonely, I feel like a freak because nobody gets me-most people think I'm a weirdo/hobo/nutter for wanting to ride around the world instead of being stuck in a 9-5 in the illusional safety of a regular salary, shopping at Tesco and staring at all sorts of screens for most of the time. Apparently wanting to see the world for real, NOT through a screen, is not only weird but in fact quite mental, odd and best not to even be thought of/talked about because hey, look at that discount on ebay, let's go to the pub, turn the TV up, and just keep hibernating, right?

I feel like a complete alien.

But back to the topic: as I said I'm not going to be able to save much for my journey around Africa, so I'm hoping to work on the way. I've changed colours quite a few times, so my skill set is somewhat flimsy-journalist/horse whisperer/sales executive; I'm also pretty good at teaching languages. That's not much, but since I'm thinking about farm/ranch/hostel/bar jobs I reckon I should be fine.

Has anyone toured & worked in Africa? Is it relatively easy to find temp jobs there?

Thanks Pin! I'm not British, I'm actually Lithuanian, just living in England for the time being

Thank your for a very inspirational post. The more posts like this I read the more obvious it is I should simply leave instead of overthinking everything!

Bought a very detailed map of Africa, a tent and a sleeping bag, and did some bike repairs. I think I'm good to go

Hello Evergreen! I know exactly how you feel, I call it PTM (post travel melancholy). I recently returned home from south america after two years of travel and it is like a syndrome: i always catch myself reminiscing about my trip and I am planning the next one: AFRICA!
Africa or bust! I am hoping to start either by early to summer of 2019. im so excited!! Are you traveling already or where are you now?

If a person doesn't want to do that type of desk job then why do it? If you, or I, want that professional meaningful job then make it happen. It doesn't matter whether you want to ride a motorcycle around the world or have a meaningful job. You have to make it happen or it won't. Nobody ever got anywhere just sitting around hoping/wondering/wishing. And if those jobs weren't meaningful to the company that offered it to you or I it wouldn't be there in the first place.

Sounds like you are going through a mid-life crisis but you are awfully young to do that. I hope you are able to ride to your heart's content. I do wonder about all those folks that just seem to sell of everything and hit the road. How do they ever reintegrate into society? They may not be materialistic and not want to own a house, a car, or have high speed internet but then they'll have to go back to a subsistence lifestyle.

Here in the states I laugh at all the people who are anti-material item, anti-wealth and anti-just-about-everything-else-in-life-you-have-to-work-for. They are the ones who are always looking for help. Help which is a euphemism for money which of course they despise and won't work for but ask others for it all the time.

I can pretty much do what I want financially and the last thing I EVER do is HELP someone who has chosen to just take it easy and just kinda get by in life. Riding a motorcycle around at 25? Go for it! But since I was working my butt off in life at 25 don't expect me to share any of my wealth with you. I made sacrifices to get where I am if don't get to share in that adventure I won't pay for it.

I'll see if this post gets banned like my last one did.

NC