OUR DECISION TO TRAVEL THE WORLD

We wrote this article before our trip around the world. Actually, we always update all of our articles on world travel planning . But we leave this one exactly as we wrote it – with a few comments afterwards. So have fun reading in our heads before the trip around the world:

In our first travelogue we wrote about Vietnam and the famous culture shock that everyone is talking about only that it wasn’t waiting for us there, but back in Germany – that’s the sentence with which the travelogue ends. And it basically goes on like this:

So after 3 weeks in Vietnam last year we were at Düsseldorf Airport, got on the bus and drove home. Our own four walls welcomed us, our own bed, our own bathroom, at home. Knowing: In a few days work and university will resume.

We put our backpacks in the apartment. And somehow the air seemed tense. We were very quiet (which we are seldom) sat down, looked around, as if we were thinking at the same time: “Hm. So here we are. Return. At home. ”Emotionless.

No thought of “Well, wash your clothes first! Have a shower! And we have to shop for the week! What do we have in the fridge? ”
We just sat on the chairs at the table. At the bottom of the jeans there was still sand from the Vietnamese island. Like refusing to understand that we’re back. Friends would often say “Yes, it’s always like that after the vacation!” That was different. Completely different. And much more intensely.

Now we know: what was in the air was simply the beginning of understanding what we really want.
We have started to uncover our deep desire, buried under everyday life, and to take it seriously: We want to travel the world. Thank god we got that!

YOU ARE CRAZY!

People are different.
A short sentence.
That says everything.

It is important to make this clear to yourself again so as not to let the thought get to you in the first place: “You are crazy. Better find a job, then you’ll have peace of mind, a smooth résumé and live a more relaxed life! ”Such sentences are unnecessarily discouraging. Just because the majority thinks that way doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone.

There are people who have the “Finally! At home! ”- feeling. Be happy that life is back to normal. And that’s exactly why you’re so satisfied. Just like there are people who would not give anything to come home after work in the evening, to have a secure income and thus to enjoy their evening carefree.

And then there are those who would give away exactly that – for a trip around the world. Because they are plagued by wanderlust every day and get goose bumps at the idea of ​​camping by the lake with the mountains in the background and cooking their canned food over a fireplace in Iceland! We belong to that.

Oh yeah, and then there are guys like baseball player Daniel Norris . Who earns millions and still prefers to live in his VW bus. Great guy!

Do you have a guess that you’re the kind of guy we are?
Regardless of whether you are currently studying or already in the middle of your job.
Do you long for the world and traveling?
That you are afraid to regret never daring?

THEN THIS WILL SURELY SOUND FAMILIAR TO YOU:

“Is that really supposed to be the only point of work? So that at some point I will get a pension, then have the free time, but may no longer be able to fulfill my true dreams? ”

“Work is there to finance my life but I use it to finance something in which I have to put my plans and dreams behind because of work – that’s a vicious circle.

“It pulls me out. I want to see how other people live, I want to get to know cultures and not experience them from documentaries – I want to see the world. With your own eyes. ”

Thoughts of someone who is stuck in the office job and someone who is just doing his master’s degree at university. Every day. And we started to question more and more. If you also have such mind games, be sure: They pile up, become more and more present and louder.

YOU ARE WELL ON YOUR WAY TO SEEING WHAT YOU REALLY WANT

It’s a process. After all, you don’t just throw away everything you’ve built up so far. But that’s no reason to ignore what’s slumbering inside you. Because plans, goals and dreams change, just like us humans. And yes, that’s okay! Just because when we were 15 or 20 times we decided to have XY as our career choice, it doesn’t mean that this will change and that you can tackle new dreams.

And here it is important to first become aware of this: that you might really want to turn the dream into a plan. We have now decided to do this! And once you get there, the buts are waiting for you, rubbing their hands and grinning.

YES, THOSE FAMOUS NASTY BUTS

We’ll lovingly call them the bosses. You just have to face them, otherwise this whole thing with fulfilling your lifelong dream would be a little too easy. If you had to localize them, we would say: They seem to stand at the limit of the system in which we live and wait there for you as soon as you try to break out of your mind. After all, it’s the system we learned from an early age. That this is how you live your life.

Here are the buts that awaited us:

I want to travel! but the money!

Doing an office job for work will never make me happy.
but that’s just the way work is. It’s just not fun for everyone. I shouldn’t pretend to be like that.

I would like to start right after graduation! or: I would like to quit and do what makes me really happy!
but that is too risky and unsafe. Salary, a secure job.

Security is not as important to me as being able to do what I really want and what really fulfills me!
but that is perhaps too naive. Security and regular income in life are important. I shouldn’t underestimate that!

Yes. How do you approach it now?

CHASE YOUR DREAMS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

Jaaaaa … of course, the sentence always works. You almost miss it because it’s so worn out. This is a mistake. Because let’s be honest: Almost all grandparents in the world agree on the point: “Do something with your young years before it’s too late! Otherwise you will only regret … ”

So – WHY the hell do we listen to these people so little? We buy and give away postcards, coolly designed, of course, with such wisdom for their birthday, it feels like every second person has something as a cover photo on Facebook and maybe also as a status on WhatsApp. But that’s where it stays. “Nice sentence, that’s right somewhere. I like! ”And that’s it.

Not so long ago an article was circulating on the internet about a book: by Bronnie Ware, a palliative care worker who accompanied people to death on their deathbed, wrote about the 5 things the dying regret most * .

We pick two important quotes that she described:

“’I wish I hadn’t worked so much’ – Almost everyone worked too much and lived too little – because they were afraid of not making enough money or because of their careers.”
“We are free to choose. (…) Many patients only realize this at the end. They are stuck in old patterns and habits and the comfort of habit. ”

Here is a question that you can ask yourself again and again when you have doubts: “Would I regret it in old age if I didn’t dare to do it now?” Our answer is without hesitation: “And how!” It helped us a lot .

And the more often you answer this question to yourself, the clearer it becomes to you what you want and what you should do for it. Nevertheless, one would like to confront the doubts more specifically. We did.

THE FIRST BUT: THE MONEY
This but comes along strutting arrogantly and says something like “Yahahaaa…. Nothing works at all here without me! ”We grabbed the butt and took a closer look.

POINT 1:

All travelers agree: the cost of a trip around the world is often overestimated. When we read that, we had to think of Vietnam. A meal for two with drinks: € 3. An accommodation by the sea with a balcony € 6 / night (which, by the way, would be € 186.00 per month). The cost of living in many countries is incredibly cheap compared to Germany, so that this alone means that you spend less than you think at first when you think of the term world tour. And if you choose your travel destinations cleverly, it can make a big difference.

Now, after our world tour, we have put our total world travel costs online for 1 year while traveling – to the cent! The fact is: we couldn’t have invested our money better! In us, in memories, experiences and lessons for life …

POINT 2:

At the moment we are spending money on things that we need to lead a life that does not fulfill us in this form. Furnishing the home, clothes for work, fuel money for the car, luxury items to make us feel good and let us “switch off” from everyday life.

Such costs do not apply to a trip around the world. You always think you need a lot of money for such a trip around the world because you need so much at home. There is often a mistake in reasoning. It takes a lot less. And that less can then also be cheaper.

POINT 3:

You will not involuntarily live on the street. Either you travel with savings and see how far you can get, or you work on the go or you will meet people who offer you to sleep and eat in their surf camp if you give them a week’s support. There are countless travel programs and tons of other ways to make money while traveling. And who knows, there might even be a really good opportunity to earn enough income while traveling.

But on the subject of finances and how to calculate the cost of a trip around the world, we will come later in the planning!

THE SECOND BUT: THE RISK

Tim Ferriss, author and entrepreneur, wrote in his book The 4-Hour Week * that you should ask yourself the following question when you are faced with such a decision.

What would be the worst that could happen?
You would then notice: the consequences are often not that bad.

HM ok. We asked ourselves this question. Our answer: no more money.
We’d have to cut off our trip. Come back and don’t have a job.
Financial reserves used up, a gap in the résumé – in short: we’re screwed.

Most of them then stop thinking and realize that all of this is not a good idea after all. But if you think further, that’s nonsense. Because: You will return home with the same qualifications with which you started your adventure, plus the experiences you have gained in the world.

And this famous complete résumé and the great red paths that you should walk along are increasingly being replaced by thinking outside the box. Yes. The worst isn’t that bad.

So the only risk here is that you never dare.

THE THIRD BUT: DON’T ACT LIKE THAT

University and then work is also quite okay.

That is the simplest but. Here you just have to think radically: If we are not satisfied like this, we are not satisfied like this. Very easily. Our life – and we have to see that we like it. And we want to travel.

Through Central America, through Australia, over to the Philippines , then maybe to Mexico? No Chile ! We want to go to Chile. But then maybe it will be South Africa after all. (It wasn’t. But hey, we were in Namibia !)

We want to face challenges for ourselves, grow with them, throw ourselves into adventures and experiences and grab life by our heads! We don’t want to have to “switch off” from everyday life. But switch it on properly, turn it up and suck in! Even when writing, it gives you goose bumps!

AFTER THE WORLD TOUR

Looking back, we smile at these Abers. They weren’t difficult. They weren’t big. They were only in our eyes and in our heads. We tend to talk about these buts bigger than they actually are. And once you start to take the first steps … you suddenly start to wonder: “How could I think that it was an impossibility ?!” Really, dare … take it step by step, sit down, write down what to do, how much money you need and what the hell: go through this gigantic door that leads out into the world and be surprised, what she has in store for you – because that’s a lot! Promised!

SO: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

It became clear to us: We want the world tour! Woe to us, at some point we will regret never having done it. That’s it
“Yes, we were shortly before it … but then … we didn’t do it.” Ha, no.

And if everything goes wrong: Then we come back, richer in experience.
The other day someone posted on Facebook:

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are built for.”

I clicked like it.
Grinning

And now we read the article with an even wider grin.
We also recorded a podcast episode in which we tell in detail our feelings and thoughts about how we actually came to decide to travel the world! Make yourself comfortable and join us in our thoughts!