Today marks 12 months since I stopped working in the IT industry …
… and we started travelling full time. So much has happened since then.
We have:
Stayed in 45 different places in 9 countries
Taken 20 flights and 4 boat trips
Completed a 15,000 km (9,000 mile) roadtrip from the far south of Australia to the far north of Australia
Taken 20,000 photos
Survived 1 wedding
In the spirit of my favourite philosopher (Robert Fulghum - All I Really Needed to Learn I Learnt in Kindergarten) and in no particular order, these are some of the things that I have learnt/relearnt in these 12 months:
The most memorable and meaningful things generally happen by accident in between the things that you plan. Allow Time For Serendipity.
Having lots of 'stuff' is over-rated - you really don’t need that much stuff. Once gone, it is rarely missed. Often, buying 'more stuff' is just a substitute for needing a new experience.
Stop….and just appreciate this moment, right here, right now……often!
A smile and pointing/sign language will get you through nearly every situation when you don’t have a common language.
With the possible exception of Italian plumbers when discussing leaky toilets - but that’s another story.
Further to the above, 10 words in the local language will open almost any door. It is so worth the small effort.
When travelling as a couple, knowing what stresses each other is important - plan your world to allow for this rather than trying to 'fix' theirs.
Lots of time together is great for long meaningful conversations - but time apart is also important.
I need lots of time and the right environment to figure out what I think……and Coffee.
The best coffee is still in Melbourne.
If you have a working smartphone, a passport and a credit card, there aren’t too many travel problems that can’t be solved.
Never be afraid to pivot - sticking to a planned course of action when it is not right any more is dumb. Pivoting to something better is not failure but wisdom.
If you are thinking of a pivot - you probably should have done it already.
The speed at which you travel is almost as important as where you travel.
There are still places where we are not fully comfortable travelling - and that’s OK.
Changing your address rarely solves your problems.
Your life is never going to be without problems to solve. Solving your current problems just leads to a new (hopefully better) set of problems to solve. (Thanks to Mark Manson for this one.)
Having large amounts of freedom to choose from a huge variety of options can be almost as stressful as having limited freedom and very few or no options.
Choose carefully and choose deliberately.
Pay very close attention to what makes you happy. If you don't know what makes you happy, then do experiments to figure it out. When you do figure it out, choose more of that.
You are the only one responsible for your happiness.
Never be complacent about the future, never take it for granted.
Along the same lines, the medium/long term plan is almost certainly not going to work out the way you currently think it will. And that's OK. But don’t let that stop you making the best plans you can.
When it seems like bad things are happening, remember that most probably, down the track, you will see how this was actually a good thing.
Being healthy (both physically and mentally) takes work. The older I get the more work this seems to take.
I cry a lot at weddings.
The world (especially government agencies) is not really set up for people who don’t have a permanent address. (Thanks Josh for lending us your letter box!)
And it isn’t set up for people who do not have access to a printer, either!
Having a personal label, that you are comfortable with, is important.
This one is still a work in progress for me. I keep trying new labels….'Traveller', 'Nomad', 'Houseless', 'World Explorer' (but never ever 'Retired' 🥴)……and none of these really sit quite right.
I thought maybe I could avoid a label altogether, but in our world we often end up in conversation with people that we have just met, and some form of 'what is your label' always seems to be one of their first questions.
The up side of not having a straightforward answer, for random people we meet, to the standard 'where is home' question, means that conversations tend to have a great starting point. After one of these conversations recently - their response was 'I want your life'!
Our finances work. Minimising Australian expenses and living on the returns from our house/superannuation investments does work. (Thanks Ellie and Corey for making this happen.)
There are so many more ~ but that’s for another time. (Maybe over a coffee in a far flung corner of the world?)
I wonder what the learnings will be from the next 12 months?
Cheers
David
PS - back in the suit again for the first time in 350 days.
I love this so much!!!! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and your journey.
Nice list David! Awesome pic with your boys.