I often dreamed about just packing a backpack and jumping on a train or plane. But for over a decade there was always something in the way. First a religion, which turned out not to be real. Then a marriage, which in a big way also turned out not to be real. Then a job, which I did enjoy, but eventually I did pack it in to travel.
Now I'm married again, with two kids we help care for and an apartment, so it's not really practical to set off again. That saying about how the things you own own you is so true. I've spent very little on recreational stuff this year (corona's partly to blame) but renovating the apartment has taken up a lot of both time and money. Having a family is what i'd wanted and planed for, but I still fantasize about it being just me and a backpack every now and then.
As you point out, you have no job, housing or family to tie you down, so you're already very well suited to the travelling life. Have you ever tried workaways? I used that site when travelling the world for a year and it keep costs down hugely while helping you meet a lot of people you'd never have met just as a tourist for a few days. I gave myself a 10K budget for the year and came in just under it, and that's with moving every two or three weeks and doing a load of touristy stuff too. I reckon if I stayed in one place for a month or two at a time I could easily stretch the same budget out to two or three years.
Unfortunately corona will have no doubt have put the dampeners on a lot of peoples travelling lifestyles, as I imagine workaways are reluctant to take on new travelers right now, and quarantine is likely to be a problem. I knew one guy (he spent a year teaching in Korea to top up his finances) who was cycling the whole world but reluctantly had to call it a day in Mexico when corona hit and borders started getting shut down. He hopes to pick it up again for his last two continents, South America and Africa, in a couple of years. Thought it sounded like your kind of thing so here's a link to his site. http://selfpropellingparticle.com/
I'm in two minds about that sort of WWOOF/Workaway type thing. I don't really want to travel and then work somewhere as a sneaky non-immigrant immigrant because then i'm getting the worst of both worlds - i'm working (instead of traveling) but not contributing to the place i'm living (via taxes) either. It feels somehow a bit exploitative, working for free or less than minimum wage as a tourist. On the other hand, a lot of my friends have done it and say it's a great way to meet people and see parts of the country that you wouldn't normally be able to get to without a car of your own.
There is definitely still stuff happening despite the pandemic. Seasonal harvest work is kicking off (or just finished), and it seems likely that outdoor winter resort work is still going to be a thing. I still have a buddy wwoofing a couple hours south of here. I think rural areas are a fair bit more blasé about the virus than the big cities, mainly because it seems to spread much less intensely out here.
That cycle tour is neat. I am pondering if cycle tour might be a thing for me. It seems to avoid some of the bigger stresses of being on foot (problems with law enforcement and dangerous weirdos) while still avoiding going full-out with buying a vehicle or being stuck only going where the Greyhound goes.
Now I'm married again, with two kids we help care for and an apartment, so it's not really practical to set off again. That saying about how the things you own own you is so true. I've spent very little on recreational stuff this year (corona's partly to blame) but renovating the apartment has taken up a lot of both time and money. Having a family is what i'd wanted and planed for, but I still fantasize about it being just me and a backpack every now and then.
As you point out, you have no job, housing or family to tie you down, so you're already very well suited to the travelling life. Have you ever tried workaways? I used that site when travelling the world for a year and it keep costs down hugely while helping you meet a lot of people you'd never have met just as a tourist for a few days. I gave myself a 10K budget for the year and came in just under it, and that's with moving every two or three weeks and doing a load of touristy stuff too. I reckon if I stayed in one place for a month or two at a time I could easily stretch the same budget out to two or three years.
Unfortunately corona will have no doubt have put the dampeners on a lot of peoples travelling lifestyles, as I imagine workaways are reluctant to take on new travelers right now, and quarantine is likely to be a problem.
I knew one guy (he spent a year teaching in Korea to top up his finances) who was cycling the whole world but reluctantly had to call it a day in Mexico when corona hit and borders started getting shut down. He hopes to pick it up again for his last two continents, South America and Africa, in a couple of years. Thought it sounded like your kind of thing so here's a link to his site.
http://selfpropellingparticle.com/
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There is definitely still stuff happening despite the pandemic. Seasonal harvest work is kicking off (or just finished), and it seems likely that outdoor winter resort work is still going to be a thing. I still have a buddy wwoofing a couple hours south of here. I think rural areas are a fair bit more blasé about the virus than the big cities, mainly because it seems to spread much less intensely out here.
That cycle tour is neat. I am pondering if cycle tour might be a thing for me. It seems to avoid some of the bigger stresses of being on foot (problems with law enforcement and dangerous weirdos) while still avoiding going full-out with buying a vehicle or being stuck only going where the Greyhound goes.
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