Comments on: When to Quit Traveling http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/ Sell your crap. Pay off your debt. Do what you love. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:50:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Sunshine http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/comment-page-1/#comment-32972 Sunshine Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:10:05 +0000 http://manvsdebt.com/?p=4315#comment-32972 Ayngelina, I know exactly how you feel. I made the same goals to move away and travel and then ended up having to come home. Since I have been home I have been working effortlessly to try and create a lifestyle/work option that will allow me to still have a travel-centric llifestyle. I am getting ready to launch a freelance writing website.. sunshinewrites.com and hoping that this will help me on that path. I fight the urge everyday to buy the next new gadget, or new clothes or anything that will get in the way of my goals. Materialism is very commonplace in America...and Canada and seems to dominate mindsets and daily thinking. I am hoping to not get sucked in so that I can keep to my goals! I would really, really like to hear the explanations people gave you on how to approach this new lifestyle. Have you been able to travel? What kind of freelance work do you do? Adam- Great post as always and thank you so much for sharing insights into your daily life and struggles. It shows that you are human like the rest of us with the same struggles. You don't put on airs like so many and make it seem 'too good to be true.' I appreciate your honest approach. Ayngelina,
I know exactly how you feel. I made the same goals to move away and travel and then ended up having to come home. Since I have been home I have been working effortlessly to try and create a lifestyle/work option that will allow me to still have a travel-centric llifestyle. I am getting ready to launch a freelance writing website.. sunshinewrites.com and hoping that this will help me on that path. I fight the urge everyday to buy the next new gadget, or new clothes or anything that will get in the way of my goals. Materialism is very commonplace in America…and Canada and seems to dominate mindsets and daily thinking. I am hoping to not get sucked in so that I can keep to my goals! I would really, really like to hear the explanations people gave you on how to approach this new lifestyle. Have you been able to travel? What kind of freelance work do you do?

Adam-
Great post as always and thank you so much for sharing insights into your daily life and struggles. It shows that you are human like the rest of us with the same struggles. You don’t put on airs like so many and make it seem ‘too good to be true.’ I appreciate your honest approach.

]]> By: Ayngelina http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/comment-page-1/#comment-32315 Ayngelina Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:54:49 +0000 http://manvsdebt.com/?p=4315#comment-32315 After 18 months of traveling slowly I also burnt out and just announced I was coming home. It was such a tough decision to make and then announce because I had become part of a nomadic blogger community and felt like I had failed a bit. But I've been back a month, have figured a way to do freelance work and travel in between and it feels like better balance for me. I am scared too, I'm surrounded by people who buy new things have nice homes and I don't want to get up in it. I had to really think about buying $80 winter boots, but I'm in Canada it has to be done. All I could think was that was 3 days travel in Central America... But once I announced it I was surprised at how many people reached out to explain that I don't need to be nomadic to have a travel-centric lifestyle and explained how they approach it. I was thinking all or nothing but there's lots of room in between. After 18 months of traveling slowly I also burnt out and just announced I was coming home. It was such a tough decision to make and then announce because I had become part of a nomadic blogger community and felt like I had failed a bit.

But I’ve been back a month, have figured a way to do freelance work and travel in between and it feels like better balance for me.

I am scared too, I’m surrounded by people who buy new things have nice homes and I don’t want to get up in it. I had to really think about buying $80 winter boots, but I’m in Canada it has to be done. All I could think was that was 3 days travel in Central America…

But once I announced it I was surprised at how many people reached out to explain that I don’t need to be nomadic to have a travel-centric lifestyle and explained how they approach it.

I was thinking all or nothing but there’s lots of room in between.

]]> By: Laura http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/comment-page-1/#comment-21356 Laura Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:27:34 +0000 http://manvsdebt.com/?p=4315#comment-21356 This is a great post and I find your honesty really comforting. Thank you. This is a great post and I find your honesty really comforting. Thank you.

]]> By: I Kicked Ass in 2010… Watch Me Do It Again in 2011… http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/comment-page-1/#comment-20015 I Kicked Ass in 2010… Watch Me Do It Again in 2011… Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:30:09 +0000 http://manvsdebt.com/?p=4315#comment-20015 [...] When to Quit Traveling [...] [...] When to Quit Traveling [...]

]]> By: Carol http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/comment-page-1/#comment-17804 Carol Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:23:44 +0000 http://manvsdebt.com/?p=4315#comment-17804 Great open post! I hear you about the tug of familiarity and family...how those two go together do they not! I am at the other end of the spectrum...older, maybe wiser with grown child and grandchildren. I want to travel and share those travels with my grand-kids, but when they are a bit older. I think 3.5 and 9 months is too much for me and my daughter would never let me. But I am all for experimenting in living and working elsewhere if I can get the work visas to do so. I am considering Australia because I have a friend there. I am also considering Spain and South America because I have lived in Latin America before and speak Spanish quite well. I am inspired by your perseverance, your openness to the rest of us and your thinking out loud...too many of my generation just clam up and don't say much. Keep up the good work and keep us all aware...it is OK to be scared, I am way older than you and I still get scared! Bless all three of you! Great open post! I hear you about the tug of familiarity and family…how those two go together do they not! I am at the other end of the spectrum…older, maybe wiser with grown child and grandchildren. I want to travel and share those travels with my grand-kids, but when they are a bit older. I think 3.5 and 9 months is too much for me and my daughter would never let me. But I am all for experimenting in living and working elsewhere if I can get the work visas to do so. I am considering Australia because I have a friend there. I am also considering Spain and South America because I have lived in Latin America before and speak Spanish quite well. I am inspired by your perseverance, your openness to the rest of us and your thinking out loud…too many of my generation just clam up and don’t say much. Keep up the good work and keep us all aware…it is OK to be scared, I am way older than you and I still get scared! Bless all three of you!

]]> By: Announcing Our Next Adventure: 2011 U.S. RV Tour http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/comment-page-1/#comment-17078 Announcing Our Next Adventure: 2011 U.S. RV Tour Mon, 13 Dec 2010 19:07:05 +0000 http://manvsdebt.com/?p=4315#comment-17078 [...] we made the decision to return home (back to Indiana) from Thailand. I blogged openly about our back and forth between full-time traveling and “settling down”. It was a hard decision, but after 6 [...] [...] we made the decision to return home (back to Indiana) from Thailand. I blogged openly about our back and forth between full-time traveling and “settling down”. It was a hard decision, but after 6 [...]

]]> By: Justin Mussler http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/comment-page-1/#comment-16939 Justin Mussler Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:40:01 +0000 http://manvsdebt.com/?p=4315#comment-16939 Gary, Stability can happen anywhere, can't it? I know many families who work the 9-5 and stay local and are really unstable. I don't think travel or life abroad needs to imply instability or late bedtimes, that is vacation. Travel is not neccesarily vacation, just a new schedule. I think back to when I was 8 and I none of it seems that imporant. I am sure I would have been happy anywhere if i was with those I care about. My happiness was dictated by my parents. Unhappy parents tend to rub off their children and vice-versa. Baker's travel lifestyle may actually afford more stability and time with his child. I don't think he does this too make money nor should anyone else. In the end, you won't know until you try and it if you spend some time considering it, it is really quite practical. I may even argue that living a mobile lifestyle is more affordable and stable than our conventional American lives. Something to think about. All the Best. Gary,

Stability can happen anywhere, can’t it? I know many families who work the 9-5 and stay local and are really unstable. I don’t think travel or life abroad needs to imply instability or late bedtimes, that is vacation. Travel is not neccesarily vacation, just a new schedule.

I think back to when I was 8 and I none of it seems that imporant. I am sure I would have been happy anywhere if i was with those I care about. My happiness was dictated by my parents. Unhappy parents tend to rub off their children and vice-versa.

Baker’s travel lifestyle may actually afford more stability and time with his child. I don’t think he does this too make money nor should anyone else.

In the end, you won’t know until you try and it if you spend some time considering it, it is really quite practical. I may even argue that living a mobile lifestyle is more affordable and stable than our conventional American lives.

Something to think about.

All the Best.

]]> By: Gary Howard http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/comment-page-1/#comment-16937 Gary Howard Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:16:32 +0000 http://manvsdebt.com/?p=4315#comment-16937 Well. Very well written, and very entertaining. As a single parent of an 8 year old, doing something such as you have done has crossed my mind quite a bit. BUT...I owe my child everything, and that does include stability of some kind. I always find myself laying in bed at night wondering about that balance. Children certainly do benefit from having a set schedule(such as bedtimes). What would be in it for selfish old me is the idea of living life away from the American culture-Europe I have considered for instance. Are they doing it better overseas? Would I really miss things about this culture? Having said that, I love being kept busy, but being best friend to my child is more important than making tons of dough(although that might come in second or third!). Well.
Very well written, and very entertaining. As a single parent of an 8 year old, doing something such as you have done has crossed my mind quite a bit. BUT…I owe my child everything, and that does include stability of some kind. I always find myself laying in bed at night wondering about that balance. Children certainly do benefit from having a set schedule(such as bedtimes). What would be in it for selfish old me is the idea of living life away from the American culture-Europe I have considered for instance. Are they doing it better overseas? Would I really miss things about this culture? Having said that, I love being kept busy, but being best friend to my child is more important than making tons of dough(although that might come in second or third!).

]]> By: Lee Miller (zenbuzz) http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/comment-page-1/#comment-16142 Lee Miller (zenbuzz) Thu, 25 Nov 2010 16:51:00 +0000 http://manvsdebt.com/?p=4315#comment-16142 Baker It seems that I'm coming into this conversation somewhat late but I felt motivated to leave a comment. I am new to getting your newsletter so I don't have the complete picture of the reasons for your urge to travel. I've traveled to enought european countries that on my last European trip in 1985 I made the decision that I was done with foreign travel because I wanted to see all that America had to see. I had traveled all of the western states in the 1970's by motorcycle and bedroll over a period of three years. This has given me the perspective that I'm missing much by not seeing all that America has to offer. In this article I don't get a sense of focus on what you are seeking. My travels were about finding out about myself, who I wanted to be and what I liked and wanted out of life. I decided that I had one simple but elusive goal in life - that was to be happy. I now live everyday in happiness. I ask you and others what more could a person seek than to be living a life of happiness and bliss? I wish the best for you and your family on your adventures and living life fully. Lee Baker

It seems that I’m coming into this conversation somewhat late but I felt motivated to leave a comment. I am new to getting your newsletter so I don’t have the complete picture of the reasons for your urge to travel. I’ve traveled to enought european countries that on my last European trip in 1985 I made the decision that I was done with foreign travel because I wanted to see all that America had to see. I had traveled all of the western states in the 1970′s by motorcycle and bedroll over a period of three years. This has given me the perspective that I’m missing much by not seeing all that America has to offer.

In this article I don’t get a sense of focus on what you are seeking. My travels were about finding out about myself, who I wanted to be and what I liked and wanted out of life. I decided that I had one simple but elusive goal in life – that was to be happy. I now live everyday in happiness. I ask you and others what more could a person seek than to be living a life of happiness and bliss?

I wish the best for you and your family on your adventures and living life fully.

Lee

]]> By: Christina http://manvsdebt.com/quit-traveling/comment-page-1/#comment-15633 Christina Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:25:06 +0000 http://manvsdebt.com/?p=4315#comment-15633 That's a very inspiring post, Baker. And I think a lot of people feel the same way, they're stuck in the same kind of dilemma. But like many other commenters before me, I think there are so many shades of grey if you want, that lie between settling down near your family permanently and being completely on the road. If you decide to stay in your location for a while, then always remember that doesn't have to be for good, and that you are consciously making that decision - you're not being forced into it. During that time, why don't you become couch surfing hosts, wwoofing hosts or welcome international travellers in some other form or style, so that the foreign, exciting, new stuff comes to you instead of you travelling out there. Find joy in showing visitors around and discover your own area in doing so. Or, you could become serial expats. Just take a long-term view on things, like choosing your favourite countries you'd like to explore one day, and then deciding on living in country A for 2 years, then in country B for 5 years, etc. etc. That creates more stability, is less exhausting and probably cheaper and lets you not only discover but truly live there. I only just discovered your blog and am looking forward to reading much much more! I especially enjoyed your New Zealand posts :) That’s a very inspiring post, Baker. And I think a lot of people feel the same way, they’re stuck in the same kind of dilemma. But like many other commenters before me, I think there are so many shades of grey if you want, that lie between settling down near your family permanently and being completely on the road.

If you decide to stay in your location for a while, then always remember that doesn’t have to be for good, and that you are consciously making that decision – you’re not being forced into it. During that time, why don’t you become couch surfing hosts, wwoofing hosts or welcome international travellers in some other form or style, so that the foreign, exciting, new stuff comes to you instead of you travelling out there. Find joy in showing visitors around and discover your own area in doing so.

Or, you could become serial expats. Just take a long-term view on things, like choosing your favourite countries you’d like to explore one day, and then deciding on living in country A for 2 years, then in country B for 5 years, etc. etc. That creates more stability, is less exhausting and probably cheaper and lets you not only discover but truly live there.

I only just discovered your blog and am looking forward to reading much much more! I especially enjoyed your New Zealand posts :)

]]>