In a figurative sense around the world travel is a fulltime job. You are always hustling. You are always planning. Always executing. Your mind is focused. Your employer wants you to think like a CEO…you’ll be thinking like a CEO during your travels. You are your own boss without worrying about when your next deal will originate, without worrying about making payroll or covering your expenses, without checking SigAlert or Waze for traffic on the way home.
Similar to any job, I took my travels seriously. The purpose of my trip was to visit places and have experiences that would not be possible in a standard one or two-week vacation. I was highly motivated to visit certain locations and dedicated myself to planning a great trip. I maintained a schedule of waking up early in the morning, visiting what I wanted to see first, then wandered in the afternoon. Unless there was a night-time specific travel activity, I went to bed before ten.
I developed a routine of reviewing the photos on my camera, keeping the good ones, and deleting the bad ones. Each night I uploaded that day’s best photos. I kept current notes about my experiences and added the information to my website. I maintained Excel travel schedules with daily itineraries. I included transportation timetables. I listed my future hotel reservations. Once a week I reviewed my finances and updated a schedule to evaluate my actual expenses to date and adjust my remaining travel expense forecast.
I learned about a location’s history as well as their politics, economics, healthcare, and education systems. I learned the country’s average annual income, literacy rate, and life expectancy. I knew whether the head of government was democratically elected or “democratically elected.” I read a piece of literature from one of the country’s top authors. I documented what I learned in a PowerPoint slide deck. I mixed in creative elements. I tried to break the routine and learn new techniques.
Full-time traveling was the best “job” I ever had. I was my own boss. I was my own company. It was an incredibly satisfying and rewarding experience. I felt like an entrepreneur and have tried to maintain that mindset since I’ve returned.
There was a point in my travels when the job shifted from a figurative sense to a literal sense. At some point, I lost the joy of discovering new places. I lost the joy of reviewing my photos. It became a chore to write about my daily activities. When you find yourself taking photos to write about photos…you’ll know your trip has turned into work. When I reached that point, I knew it was time to stop the travels.
Similar to any job, I took my travels seriously. The purpose of my trip was to visit places and have experiences that would not be possible in a standard one or two-week vacation. I was highly motivated to visit certain locations and dedicated myself to planning a great trip. I maintained a schedule of waking up early in the morning, visiting what I wanted to see first, then wandered in the afternoon. Unless there was a night-time specific travel activity, I went to bed before ten.
I developed a routine of reviewing the photos on my camera, keeping the good ones, and deleting the bad ones. Each night I uploaded that day’s best photos. I kept current notes about my experiences and added the information to my website. I maintained Excel travel schedules with daily itineraries. I included transportation timetables. I listed my future hotel reservations. Once a week I reviewed my finances and updated a schedule to evaluate my actual expenses to date and adjust my remaining travel expense forecast.
I learned about a location’s history as well as their politics, economics, healthcare, and education systems. I learned the country’s average annual income, literacy rate, and life expectancy. I knew whether the head of government was democratically elected or “democratically elected.” I read a piece of literature from one of the country’s top authors. I documented what I learned in a PowerPoint slide deck. I mixed in creative elements. I tried to break the routine and learn new techniques.
Full-time traveling was the best “job” I ever had. I was my own boss. I was my own company. It was an incredibly satisfying and rewarding experience. I felt like an entrepreneur and have tried to maintain that mindset since I’ve returned.
There was a point in my travels when the job shifted from a figurative sense to a literal sense. At some point, I lost the joy of discovering new places. I lost the joy of reviewing my photos. It became a chore to write about my daily activities. When you find yourself taking photos to write about photos…you’ll know your trip has turned into work. When I reached that point, I knew it was time to stop the travels.