How Travel Improved My Life Back Home
It’s been a while since I went on a long term backpacking trip in a remote place like Punta Del Diablo in Uruguay. By “remote” what I really mean is no one I know has ever been here. Why? Because it’s hard to get to. From New York, you need a 10 + hour a flight and then an 7 hour bus at the minimum. And besides, there are so many cool places in South America that don’t require so much: Buenos Aires, Punta del Este & Patagonia for example (at least you’ve heard of Patagonia before).
Punta del Diablo is a place full of “backpackers” (long-term travelers) or people in the region (who live in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil etc.).
Before this trip, I had been trying remember why I promised myself I needed to travel long term again before I “settle down.” When you’re in the default world, you get sucked into the lives of everyone around you. Who think that they need to sacrifice their day to day lives sitting in an office. That they have no other choice. That they need health insurance and savings and a 401K and to pay rent. That they need to become a slave to the way society wants us to be. And if they don’t do those things, they’re failures.
It’s just not true.
As a native-english speaking American, we have so many other options.
Just travel, just go. Stay in a hostel and you’ll see. You’ll meet people on vacation all the time. Who realize that in many other countries, if you get sick, you just go to the clinic and pay $50 to see the doctor. That you don’t need insurance. That someone will house you for free for a year, pay you and feed you in exchange for “work” which consists of sitting at a desk welcoming friendly travelers from all over the world to the wonderful beach paradise you live in . And on top of that, 3 months in, you’ve learned Spanish fluently (so much for taking classes for 10 years that didn’t get you anywhere).
In the past 4 years, I went from having a job that was not fun in any way although somewhat better than a lot of what I saw people doing around me to a job I love where I can work remotely, make my own schedule, and travel the world if I want. A job that’s actually doing something good for the world. That challenges me. That pays me well enough that I buy anything I want (mind you, Prada bags are not part of that list of things I want).
But even with the luck and opportunity and fortune I have, I still think, I could be on vacation the whole year or two years and not blow through my savings if at all.
I see people live this life. I see them all the time when I’m on that road. They call their jobs “work” (they put their hands in quotes as they do it) if they have jobs at all.
And all that is not to say that I’m going to quit my job tomorrow. What it is to say is that no matter what I do, I know that I could have their life if I really wanted it. And because of that, I don’t care about impressing anyone. I’m willing to take risks in my job and in my life. If I’m not making myself completely happy and doing what I want to do, than why would I continue when one of my other options is living on a beach somewhere?
If something in the normal world is stressful, I don’t let it be. If I feel overworked, I relax. The world can wait. It’s not that serious, whatever it is. If I want to spend an hour doing yoga from 10am to 11am I do it. Life doesn’t have to be a sacrifice. That’s what society wants us to think. I’m not sure how it came to that. I have other options, why stress? I’m either happy or I’m out. So guess what boss: deal with it. And you too, clients: deal with it. Or let my happiness shine on you (because that’s the net effect). Take pleasure in interacting with someone who doesn’t let people tell her what to do and cares most about respecting you and being a good person.
So just go. Just go. Sell all your shit and go. At the very least, you’ll come to the same realization I did. The default world is just one world. Don’t let it suck you in. You don’t need it.
