Travel Long & Travel Slow

When I was 23, I booked a one-way flight to Australia. I was curious to explore the world, hungry for adventure, and sure as hell had no idea what I was getting myself into. I remember sitting in my parent's kitchen, debating traveling vs. starting my "real life" for months prior to booking my trip. Every day I had a new excuse as to why I should travel, and as to why I should apply for the full-time job in San Francisco instead. Excuses are easy: it's too expensive, what if I can't find a job when I get back, I don't have time, what if I run out of money; I can't.

You can. You can travel and it doesn't have to be expensive and you will find a job when you return and you do have the time; you're just telling yourself you don't. There is no such thing as the perfect time to travel. There will always be weddings and birthdays and nights out with friends and busy times at your job. Always. For the rest of your life these are things that will be happening, so the perfect moment is whenever you finally decide to take a chance on adventure and go. 

I decided to book a one-way flight because underneath the adulting, the excuses, the pressure to be practical...I really, really, really, just wanted to travel and I wasn't going to feel fulfilled until I gave myself the freedom to do it. So there I was, Australia-bound, wondering if I made the wrong choice to not get a full-time job...wondering if I would be able to survive with the money I saved...wondering where life was about to take me.

Worst case scenario: I would hate traveling and book a flight back home.

I'm not writing this article to tell you to quit your job, uproot your life and go. Truthfully, it's not for everyone. But if you're considering it, then yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Mostly, I'm writing this to tell you that it's totally possible to achieve your nomadic dreams because I was once the person saying it was too expensive, too scary, too risky, and too impossible to travel long-term.

I didn't spend months saving for trip. In fact, I booked my flight four weeks before departure because, well, spontaneous decisions! Prior to leaving however, I did get a working-holiday visa which would essentially make me eligible to have a job and an income just as an Australian citizen does. So I left from San Francisco to a world of unknown which I'd later realize was one of the best decision's I've ever made.

I had no plans beyond staying with a friend for a few days upon arrival in Sydney. As daunting as it sounds, having no friends, no job, and no plans became the beauty of traveling. I was forced to make friends, to go out of my comfort zone, to find a job, and to understand that having no plans equalled complete freedom and independence. I stayed in hostels and made friends with fellow backpackers (most of whom were also there on the working holiday visa). I traveled along the coast by bus and by campervan, and when I got tired of that, I settled in one spot to take up the "working" part of my "holiday." I worked at a restaurant for a few months and made more money than I was making at home. So much so, that I was able to only use my Australian bank account to live off of and not even touch the money I had at home in a U.S. bank account. When I was tired of working, I traveled some more, then worked again in a new city, then traveled some more. 

By the end of my 6 months working/9 months living there, I had nearly $10,000 AUD saved (not including what I was spending on rent/food/activities). I traveled up and down the East Coast, took three, week-long campervan trips, visited the Great Ocean Road, the Great Barrier Reef, saw kangaroos, took a 3 month trip to Asia after Australia, and became the best, most independent version of myself I had ever been. I made friends with travelers, lived with locals, owned a bike, had a job, belonged to a gym, and truly got to know what it meant to live and experience life in another country. 

I look back on my trip and reminisce on what it felt like to travel long and slow through another country. What it felt like to get to know the people, the places, the public transportation, and to go through the motions of everyday life outside of my comfort zone. Despite how the above is described, it wasn't all glamorous. Traveling is exhausting and living out of a backpack is hard. Some days I felt on top of the world, free as bird, and totally owned my reality of making my travel dreams come true. There were also days that I felt so homesick, that all I could do was cry and think about my hometown and baseball games and 4th of July and other quintessential American things. Everyday life happened behind all the idealized talk of travel; I got the flu, I got bed bugs, I felt lonely, I got involved in relationships, I stressed about money, and I felt all the highs and all the lows over the course of a year.

I look back and understand that this version of travel was so much more than sightseeing, picture-taking, and destination hopping. It was a trip that challenged me to become okay with being alone, to adapt to unfamiliar situations, to keep an open-mind, and to push past the point of homesickness to learn that I am strong and will get through it. I learned how to embrace the things that make me happy and learned that I am someone who is a total extrovert who also needs a decent amount of alone time to survive. When I look back, I realize the best memories didn't come from seeing the Opera House or visiting nice beaches. It was the hilarious times spent with my coworkers at the restaurant, 'family' dinners at the hostels, random encounters with people from every corner of the world, the feelings of equal excitement and nervousness in each new place, and creating a home in a place that was once just a pin on the map.

For my fellow peers thinking about extended travel: don't assume you need to save for four years before you can afford the freedom to roam. If you want to travel, go. As long as you have some money to survive, you will figure the rest out as you go. The "what-ifs" are questions you may never have answers to, but are also all probably questions that can only be answered by doing. Australia was never on my list of places to go -- but sometimes taking a chance on something new will surprise you in the best way possible.