Lady in Waiting
If you are going to travel around the world, it requires patience.
I hear from many people who want to travel, but they have to wait for the right time to begin their journey. Sometimes they have to wait for money, for a school degree, banking enough time off, for a wedding, for a child to leave the nest, or for work reasons. If you don’t have the patience to sit it out and wait for these things, then I can guarantee that you won’t have the patience to survive the rest of the world like India, SE Asia, and certainly Eastern Africa.
Due to financial reasons, I couldn’t just quit my job immediately and then start planning my around the world travel. Lord knows I wanted to as I was miserable in my day to day life and knew that I had to make changes. Once I did some research and ran my financial numbers, I knew I had to wait for about 2 years before I could really leave my job. Two years is a long time to wait for something as exciting as around the world travel, however it was a necessary part of the preparation process.
What can you do while you wait for the perfect time to escape?
Guide Your Decisions:
Make a trip to your local bookstore and wander through the travel section. I could spend hours in the travel section of a bookstore. Looking thru guides and glossy photo books; reading about festivals all over the world and plotting my own itinerary and dreaming of what is to come.
Read Travel Blogs
The travel blogs are plentiful these days and I can guarantee that with a little research you can find one that ‘speaks to you’ and your situations or style of travel. This is a great chance for you to ask questions and get to know others who have done what you are planning to do! Don’t just read them, engage the bloggers in conversation; we love that! Don’t know where to start? I have a lot of great travel blogs listed on my Link page and of course don’t forget to check out Briefcase to Backpack – it will inspire you!
File it!
Use the above ideas to start a file of research. Cut our clipping, save website urls, bookmark guide books and start jotting down notes about what you want to do and where you want to go. Get organized!
Get Digitally Educated
Odds are that when you do launch into your trip you’ll want to record it digitally via photos or video. So why not use this waiting period to learn one of these skills or improve upon what you may already know. Take a photography class or video editing class and finally learn how to use your camera(s) BEFORE you are on your trip fumbling with the controls and trying to read the user manual.
Speak the language
Why not start to embrace your international wanderlust and brush up on or learn a language of one of the countries you intend to visit. It will most certainly get your excited about your upcoming travels, and you’ll learn more about that country through simply becoming more in tune with the language.
Start Your Own Blog
Start to record your journey; many people blog about their travels, but few people blog about preparing for their travels. You may inspire others by blogging about your preparation mentally and physically.
Consider this ‘waiting period’ as your training for future travel; if you can work at perfecting this skill, then you will be on the road to a good travel experience!
And of course listen to travel podcasts
Of course!!! Especially Amateur Traveler Podcast! Honestly – that’s how I found your podcast – as I was waiting to travel – that was way back in spring 2006 – it was a great way to prepare!
it is a great travel write-up.thanks
Before my first trip, I purchased a backpack and just kept it in my room right next to my bed during the time leading up to my departure. Every morning I saw that backpack when I woke up and I couldn’t help but see it every time I was in my room. This helped me stay focused on my travel goals and maintain my excitement. It was almost as if having that backpack made my travels already seem somewhat real.
What a great idea to ‘hold a carrot out in front of you’! I never thought about doing that – but I love it!
Great tips. Before I went away to Germany, I started my travel blog and I have to tell you, it was so exciting for me to plan via the internet connection. Some people sent me emails or commented on suggestions and I had not left the country yet! Also, having a blog helped me focus on what I really wanted to see once I was in Europe. It was also a way for me to educate myself on Swabian everything. I did extensive reasearch and logged it all on my blog. It worked wonders. Kept my excitement levels high, was a place for fellow travelers to guide me and a reference tool once I was actually in DE.
Sherry,
These are all such great tips! Most of these I actually did myself in that waiting period. About 8 months before I left, I had 23 Lonely Planet guide books stacked up in my room. I raided the library and would just flip through one of them randomly at any given time. It helped me to narrow down my route and also to get a brief cultural or history lesson. I’m, um, also kind of a library geek so I would read travel themed books. Playing the waiting game is tough, especially when you’re in a job you hate (that was me!) but planning, researching, and engaging other travelers in conversation helped the time go by quickly!
I also had a stack of LP books…they were my pride and joy!
Oh Sherry this post is perfect for today, as I sit at my desk, counting down the days until I can finally give notice. I’ve been planning this trip for almost two years now and I am so ready to go, learning to sit still and save money has been an epic lesson in patience.
I’ve passed the time largely by reading and planning, and writing my own blog which has helped me more than anything else I think, to stay motivated.
I’m under the 6 month mark now and it feels so very close!
Well, as it gets closer it goes faster and faster and then at some point it flips…you feel like you are leaving tomorrow and you aren’t ready! Strange how our brains play tricks on us like that! Yeah…only 6 more months!!
We started planning our RTW trip over 3 years ago, have traveled for a year and been back for 6 months, and I still gravitate to the travel section of a book store IMMEDIATELY. It’s like instinct. I don’t even think about it. Then it was exciting, and now, well, it kind of sucks. So if patience is anyone’s problem and you just can’t wait to set off on that trip, just remember, you’ll be home from that trip someday.
Oh – so very true. I’m currently home and don’t have a plan to get out of the country on the horizon…it’s driving me nuts! Maybe I’ll go spend the day at the bookstore tomorrow!
Great lessons and tips. Travelling slowly and with enjoyment and not getting frustrated by little bumps in the road is the most priceless of all travel lessons.
Good advice. Patience, preparation and education are the keys to any successful trip – long or short.
I wish I did more language study before I left on my trip, but then I thought I was going to be encountering so many languages why even bother. But I think learning one would have been really cool and enhanced the experience in that particular country.
I had NO idea the blog I originally started to just keep family and friends abreast of what I was doing would turn into all of this!
Setting little milestones and goals along the way and celebrating each one helps chop up a big wait
Good tips, although patience is not my long suite. I also think patience should be done in moderation. People put impediments in the way of long-term travel. There are a thousand reasons why you cannot go, and most get stuck in that mire. Sometimes, you just have to DO IT!
I spend my time between trips, loving life at home. I have friends who live to leave, but not me. As much as I enjoy the stimulation of travel, I need the solitude that home provides. Creating the right mix is my challenge.
As for ideas for when I’m ready to go again, inspiration is everywhere – books, online, friends, magazines, a conversation at the coffeehouse. That’s the joy of it.
I’m itching to get away, the winter in Bristol is so dreary – I’m spending my time reliving memories of past trips throuh my blog posts