11 ms·

Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel around the World

94 points by onreact-com 17y ago

Tichy 17y ago
Doesn't really say why, or does it? I am not a big traveler, so I am probably wrong, but in a way, traveling seems kind of passive to me. Sure, you get to see lots of things, but seeing (and learning) is passive. How am I going to change the world doing that? I would need some kind of spin to it, like at least being a successful travel writer or something. Otherwise, what are the USEFUL experiences to make? Would be great if some travelers could share what useful experiences they made? Although one thing in the article made me think: I'd really like to visit Sillicon Valley, experiencing the culture there might actually be useful to me.
- edw519 17y ago
  How am I going to change the world doing that? By planting seeds that you have no other way of getting into your brain. You can reap the (currently unknown) harvest later.
  - Tichy 17y ago
    Not saying you are wrong, but could you give some examples? There are always zillions of options in life - to choose one, a little more than "currently unknown" would be nice? Is traveling better than working on a startup?
    - edw519 17y ago
      Is traveling better than working on a startup? Great question. I don't know. I have done both, but a lot more working than travelling. Building stuff is as much creative as it is scientific or task oriented. That creativity has to be fed somehow. For me, putting myself into a situation I'm normally unaccustomed to really gets the juices flowing. Travel is great for that. I have done very little international travel, but I have done a lot of RVing. Although I never actually did much work while out on the road, I was never more relaxed and introspective. Often couldn't wait to get back to work to try something out. Reading, surfing, and watching video are all good methods of feeding your brain. But nothing comes close to actually being there.
    - mattm 17y ago
      This is one of those things that is incredibly difficult to explain to people that haven't done it, while the people who have, instantly get what you're talking about. I disagree with the author that you shouldn't just travel, but you should actually live in different places. You hardly learn anything from staying in a place for a few days but you learn much more if you stay in a place for at least a few months. Living abroad challenges you in ways that are very hard to find at home. Everyday things like buying groceries or ordering food in a restaurant become challenging (as long as you don't go to an English speaking country). You start to discover beliefs that you didn't even know you had because the local people believe and act in totally different ways. You're always questioning 'why?' Why do people push to the front here and not line up properly? Why do people shake your your hand again when they see you even though you've met them a bunch of times before? Why do people not understand sarcasm like in North America? Why do the people sit around drinking coffee all day? Why is this person giving me a gift? What are the reasons behind this? Why did that person say they would do something when it was obvious they weren't going to do it? Is this representative of the whole culture or just this one person? Why do so many people believe in superstitions and tradition? and so on... You start to recognize your own culture and, especially upon returning home, start to see things that you don't really like about your own culture - things that you weren't even aware about before. Living in another country is a great opportunity to learn more about yourself, about others and have a rewarding experience consisting of ups and downs.
      - ilamont 17y ago
        "Living abroad challenges you in ways that are very hard to find at home." Totally agree. Once you've done a job interview in another language, or worked with foreign colleagues, you'll have new insights into the way companies work in your home country and confidence to tackle things you wouldn't have dreamed of doing before. One downside to living abroad: In some industries you lose some networking juice and connections that you would have otherwise built had you stayed at home. That's mainly a concern for people who work in industries which don't value overseas experience or connections.
      - Evgeny 17y ago
        "Living abroad challenges you in ways that are very hard to find at home." True. On the other hand, who can honestly say that he has exhausted all possible ways to challenge oneself at home?
    - mmphosis 17y ago
      Is traveling better than working on a startup? Stop comparing. Do both, do neither. During the dotcom craze, I "traveled" to a foreign country and worked at a startup. The experiences were very rewarding. Your mileage may vary. Advising people to travel is a bit like giving advice to learn Lisp. And, I know that hearing "well you just don't get it unless you do it" is not very helpful. But, I am learning Lisp anyways. As Krishnamurti says, "Don't do what I do."
- phicou 17y ago
  For US citizens, Peace Corps is one way to meet both of those goals. For people from other countries, there are similar organizations in many countries, and some that accept volunteers from almost anywhere (such as VSO and UN Volunteers). Volunteers spend a long time in their host country, and really get to see things in depth (not just the tourist view). Volunteers also get a chance to "change the world". Usually not in a particularly grand way, but a little education and inspiration can have a lot of ripple effects. Of course, being based overseas, and having a fair amount of vacation time, volunteers also have opportunities to visit other interesting places and countries near their host sites. Getting a reasonable living allowance and government-sponsored benefits sweetens the deal, but of course it doesn't offer nearly as much freedom as simply quitting your job and hopping on a plane.
  - Tichy 17y ago
    That is not traveling in my book, though - it is staying abroad. I have no problems with working in another country. I certainly agree that it is worthwhile to experience another culture at least once. I am not so sure about more than once, though.
    - potatolicious 17y ago
      IMHO "staying abroad" is the best form of traveling. You're not going to be steeped into the cultures of others until you live amongst them. Staying at the Hyatt and visiting all the mandatory sights by tour bus is probably the worst and least rewarding traveling experience money can buy. In college my internships took me all across Canada, staying in each place 4 months at a time. All of those experiences have been invaluable to me, and taught me far more than any sort of vacation I've ever taken.
- mcxx 17y ago
  Travelling is anything but passive. I can't really explain why, but travelling along with reading are in my opinion best ways to learn. I guess it's that you experience new cultures. You talk to people, you learn. You see how and why stuff is done differently, you learn. You also learn from your mistakes, you learn to adopt to current conditions with whatever resources you have for your disposal, you discover new tricks, etc.
- skolor 17y ago
  I'd really like to visit Sillicon Valley, experiencing the culture there might actually be useful to me. That right there is the way to find useful experiences. It sounds like your thing isn't "Go see the Grand Canyon" or "Go to the Eiffel Tower". Instead, you're the kind of person who would "Go to Chaos Communication Congress" or "Go to Hacking at Random". Traveling doesn't just mean going to see touristy places. Try contacting a few people in the industry you like, see if you can arrange for them to show you around their business, and just show up there.
- tel 17y ago
  Traveling, like most other activities, really is contingent on how much work you put into it. Traveling passively is easy to do and essentially useless. You go somewhere else, rapidly seek out the things that make you comfortable, and then sit there bothered by how these approximations don't quite make you as comfortable as you would have been if you never left. You might go try the tourist gig a little, snap some pictures to prove to your friends and family you were wherever, and then go and hide some more. It seems hyperbolic, but go to any practically and hostel in a developed city worldwide and you'll find a group of Americans doing just that (not to mention other debaucheries). Traveling actively is basically the exact opposite of that. It takes research, bravery, spontaneity, social skill, and a boat load of curiosity. When you travel like this though you can paint yourself into entirely new environments and see the ways you expand, you can look back into the ways you live normally and then pick and choose the parts you like the most. In this way you can actively change your own world and certainly put yourself in a better place to continue making positive changes. Most immediately: you'll soften your bias and become aware of the biases of others, you'll understand the traditions of your culture and be better able to interpret their necessity or value, you'll become experienced in some other culture able to interpret things through a slightly different point of view. Together these things can be used to vastly improve your home or can become skills to help you change the world. Of course, if you want to travel and at that very moment do some active changing, you may want to try something like Peace Corps, Doctors/Engineers Without Borders, or other world health initiatives. You should be careful though because if you don't have the experience which can let you isolate your own cultural biases a little then you may get connected with some group which will inhibit your ability to learn. In my opinion, this is the trap which things like mission trips fall into and, as an effect, they may become some kind of mixture of harm and benefit.
- AlisdairO 17y ago
  For me, what I get out of travelling (which I don't do often enough) is experiencing a foreign culture. I don't enjoy travelling from place to place and seeing the sights - it's always been a hollow experience to me, except perhaps for those momentous sights that have an impact a picture really can't convey - think the Grand Canyon of Niagara Falls. It seems such a waste to me when people visit somewhere, and make little attempt to truly experience the culture.
- ryk 17y ago
  I solo road tripped the lower 48 and it was one of the best learning experiences of my life. A few of the lessons that can be applied to entrepreneurship that had nothing to do with what I saw but rather the journey: Flexibility, adaptability, and dealing with uncertainty - Things never go as planned when long-term traveling to the point that sometimes it is better not to have a plan, but rather pick a general direction and adapt. Same goes for your business plan, especially when developing new technologies in unproven markets. You don’t know enough to be able to plan out the details. A lot of times the random unplanned things end up being the best. Run with random even if you don’t understand it. Dealing with the highs and the lows – One day you’re on top of the world feeling accomplished after you hike up a mountain. I’m queen of world! The next day it is raining, your feet are covered in blisters, you’re feeling run down, you have a cold coming on, your tent has a leak, and you are alone in the middle of nowhere eating yet another granola bar. But eventually the sun while shine again, your cold will go away, and you’ll be on your next exciting adventure. Kind of like – One day you are full of enthusiasm for your new feature that is going to change the world! The next day (make that weeks) you are dealing with bugs, angry customers, anxious investors, getting no sleep and living in a dump eating yet another bowl of beans and rice. Fortunately something good will happen eventually to balance it out if you can ride out the storm. Life is cyclical. *Going solo is crazy hard at times...you need to build a team that compliments and balances – I solo road tripped and camped most of the time. I totally recommend solo travel because it will stretch you way beyond your limits and you’ll experience tremendous amounts of personal growth because it is crazy hard at times. But eventually you’ll get sick of going it alone - worn out from shouldering all the work and having no one to celebrate with except some strangers you just met. You need a team (travel companions or founders/partners/employees) that compliments each other. My typical group travel adventure goes something like this - I’ll lead a kayak expedition in the Everglades, get everyone there and paddling through the mangroves with alligators, but I’ll forget to pack lunch. As cool as it would be to have another rockstar kayaker along what I really need is someone who can make sandwiches. And not just the crappy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I would throw together. Like fancy sandwiches with Dijon mustard made by a rockstar sandwich maker. Those are just a few things I learned (or at least reinforced) through traveling around the country that can be applied to entrepreneurship. I could write more but that is all I have time for right now and all the talk of Dijon mustard sandwiches is making me hungry for lunch.
oink 17y ago
“I don’t have money to travel.” Fair enough if it’s true, but for many people who say this, it would be better to say, “I’ve chosen to spend money on a lot of other things, so now I don’t have money to travel.” Shall we never forget the lovely Victorian ethic that the poor have only themselves to blame.
- cubix 17y ago
  I don't see how this Victorian ethic applies. He's not talking about the poor, but rather those who have "chosen to spend money on a lot of other things", i.e. the middle-class.
  - oink 17y ago
    The argument suggests that your net worth is mostly your own choice and has little to with circumstances. My point is that this flawed notion is responsible for other, more noticeably flawed notions.
    - dagw 17y ago
      No his argument suggests that the distribution of your net worth is mostly your own choice, which it on the whole is.
  - elcron 17y ago
    He assumes you make more than $2 a day. http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/you-are-incredibly-rich/ http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/you-are-incredibly-rich/
    - run4yourlives 17y ago
      And given his audience is probably 80% American, he'd be right.
- mziulu 17y ago
  Well, he did say "Fair enough if it's true", fwiw.
zaph0d 17y ago
The question is not about "Why" but about "How". How would I get the money to travel around the world exactly?
- dagw 17y ago
  By prioritising it higher than any other non-essential cost you have. I know people who have saved up for 6 month round the world trips while working in various menial low paying jobs. The question is, like for most things, is how badly do you want it. Of course it helps if you don't have a family to support.
  - jdrock 17y ago
    ..or I could work hard, get my startup to exit, and travel as much as I want for the many years in life afterward. Why does travel have to be done when I'm in my 20s/30s/etc.?
    - skolor 17y ago
      It doesn't, but it depends on what you want out of life. If you want to have a successful business, traveling all the time isn't for you. If you want to see the world though, putting it off until later isn't going to help you any. The longer you put of traveling, the less you'll be able to do, and the more entrenched you will be in your work.
    - dagw 17y ago
      Travel isn't, in my opinion, something you should 'have done', it's something you should be doing. I'm not a big fan of the take a year out, travel the world, then tick it off your list. Travel anything from a week to a month every year until you're too old/sick to get out of bed. My 86 year old grandmother recently flew across the Atlantic to visit family. The world is not a static place. That thing you really want to see might not exist a few years from now. You can visit the same city a half dozen times and have a half dozen different experiences of the place because the world has changed it between visits. I'd rather take a few long weekends every year than save up for one big trip sometime a decade from now, but that's just me.
djb_hackernews 17y ago
I quit my great developer job in January to be a ski bum in Wyoming. I just got back from West Africa. It will be worth it if I don't end up living out of my car. Timing.
mattmaroon 17y ago
His fiscal argument, that we could afford it if we reshuffled our priorities to buy fewer iPods and more plane tickets, is wrong because buying iPods doesn't require us to quit our job.
- jasonkester 17y ago
  No. Buying fewer iPods allows you to quit your job. If you live like a college student for just a few years after leaving college (keep the shit car, live in a cheap studio, don't buy stuff you can't afford) you'll soon find you've got $50,000 sitting in the bank. I mean look at it, they're giving you $5,000 every week now to work at this job, when they used to be charging you money to go to school. If you can't find the willpower to save a few pennies at that point, there's something seriously amiss. Anyway, you'll find that your tolerance for a crap job goes way down when you have $50k sitting around and no car payments or mortgage. Spending $10k of it hitching across Africa for a year starts to seem like a good idea. So yes, by reshuffling our fiscal priorities, we can definitely make travel more doable. I know this because I've done it.
idlewords 17y ago
That site nags for your email address with a modal full-page overlay, so you can receive more of these 'insights'. Avoid.
- vicaya 17y ago
  That's what noscript is for.
mtts 17y ago
Meh. Travel is overrated. The chances of you actually learning anything of substance by running around from one exotic country to another are very slim indeed. Staying in another country for a substantial amount of time, on the other hand, is of course an entirely different matter but travelling for the sake of travelling, while pleasurable in and of itself, does not teach you anything you couldn't have learned from a brochure about the places you're visiting.
- fredBuddemeyer 17y ago
  certainly longer is better but every trip offers a chance to learn something - and not the trivia that can be found in brochures. traveling supplies a nearly complete change of context for your brain and if it is turned on change will certainly occur (i.e. growth). differences in customs, architecture and language are extremely inspiring.; many of the best lessons are indirect and stem from thought provoking experiences akin to brainstorming rather than the accumulation of data.
- jklubnik 17y ago
  I disagree. How much you learn is dependent on how willing you are to put yourself out there, even if only for a brief period of time. While I prefer to travel for longer periods of time, I certainly will not knock a two week trip through Europe. You can learn and experience a lot with the right attitude and outlook. To attempt an analogy fitting for this forum, saying that it "does not teach you anything you couldn't have learned from a brochure" is like saying there is no sense in starting your own company when you could simply work for one that already exists. Creating a company is much different than working for a company. Much like being in a place is a lot different that reading a brochure about it. All the things that make creating a company a valuable experience are the same things that make traveling a valuable experience: all the little details, the hurdles, the hassles, taking a leap, getting there. I also recommend the following essay by Pico Iyer: http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/why-we-travel-20081213/ http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/why-we-trave...
  - b1tr0t 17y ago
    I've lived in six different countries and traveled to dozens. I agree that some travel expands people's horizons. Some people gain more from the experience than others, depending on their willingness to really see new perspectives. But my experience with "endless travelers" on the whole does not incline me to think they have access to any kind of special enlightenment that isn't accessible to everyday people who travel far less. In fact, the I've-been-on-the-road-for-a-year types you run into in hostels are often narcissistic overindulged wankers for whom the travel is more about dick size and proving how "different" they are than some mechanism for truly expanding their horizons. Their travel is about their personal insecurity, not the "deep" journey they want you to believe it is. I'm not knocking travel in general, but nor do I in any way believe that someone who HAS traveled a great deal is more world-wise, intelligent or self-assured than someone who has not.
jdbeast00 17y ago
i think the main excuse I use to not travel is that I have a very stable job currently (federal govt). Its a risk that I would have to accept that when I return I would have difficulty finding employment.
antidaily 17y ago
I know someone doing this. He worked for a software company in SF and quit a year ago. He's been an extra in a bollywood film, stayed with monks in some temple, volunteered at an orphanage outside of Kathmandu, etc. His pics and stories show up on facebook every couple weeks. For the record, he has no idea what he's going to do for money when he gets back. But maybe he won't come back.
- Ixiaus 17y ago
  Money is overrated, it is pretty easy to survive in the world. Consider that coming from a western country, you have command over the English language, an education more than half the world doesn't have, and a passport. 60% of the people the world alone would kill just to have your passport. That's awesome your friend is doing that, I traveled through India myself. Money is easy.
dkasper 17y ago
I guess I agree minus the quit your job part. Why not travel around the world several times a year without quitting your job? Or wait until you're between jobs anyway. Unless you have a crappy job you want to quit anyway, I see little reason to quit a job in order to travel.
raamdev 17y ago
I have plans in place to do exactly this beginning of next year. But let me clarify: I plan to backpack, living on the bare minimum and traveling mostly by foot and train and using a plane only when absolutely necessary (like when I visit my parents). It's possible to travel and live in many countries around the world for <$300USD a month -- at least that's what I've gathered from my initial research. I don't have a family to support or a girlfriend so once I quite my job I'll be quite free of responsibilities. How will I pay for it? Well, the little on-the-side web hosting company I started 5 years ago, which I haven't put any effort into growing, is already close to providing me enough monthly income to live comfortably in many third-world countries. But I won't be a tourist. I want spend anywhere from 3 - 12 months in an area, learning the culture, the language, the local customs, and meeting and making new friends. I want share my knowledge (mostly technical) and use my skills (technical and carpentry) to help the community where I can. Since I enjoy writing, I plan to maintain a blog about my experiences with the hope that it will help others gain new insights and see that the world is a much bigger place than the 1500sq mile box that most of us live in. Why? Because I just feel it's what I need to do next in my life to continue growing. I've been living in the same area (Northeastern United States, Boston, MA area) for the past 27 years. Science has proven that the best way to stimulate new growth in the brain is to expose it to new and unfamiliar things. My brain is entering the age where many brains begin to settle into a rut... and it feels like my brain is beginning to atrophy.
- mattm 17y ago
  Definitely go for it. FYI, my monthly expenses while living in a city outside Shanghai was about $400 per month. I think $300 would be pushing it in a lot of places. I would budget $500 just to be safe and to not have to restrict your lifestyle that much.
  - raamdev 17y ago
    Thanks!
cturner 17y ago
I think you should get a job that pays to send you around the world. Has worked for me, YMMV.
MicahWedemeyer 17y ago
* "I like staying at home." - This is another way of saying, "I'm afraid of change and different experiences."* Bullshit. I find travel very stressful, and none of it is due to fear of change and different experiences. It comes from living out of a suitcase, having to re-buy all the toiletries and crap I have at home but forgot to bring, and being away from my wife and dogs who I enjoy spending time with. Just remember: don't like != am afraid of I don't like buttermilk biscuits. That doesn't mean I wake up sweating in the night screaming that they're coming to get me.
- minsight 17y ago
  I never found that buying forgotten toiletries and crap was a very stressful experience.
- yef 17y ago
  Travel is stressful, no doubt. But the stress of travel can be minimized with some planning. For example, use a checklist to make sure you pack your toiletries. Print out all your travel related information and keep it in a folder. Dress in such a way that streamlines your way through security. As for the wife and dog, I'm of no help. :) It sounds as though your travel is work-related, though, so maybe there's some added stress by association.
- jasonkester 17y ago
  You're not doing it for long enough. Every trip abroad has one week of suck at the beginning and one week of suck at the end. You need to acclimate & buy toothbrushes when you get there, and you need to stress a bit about the real world before you come back. That's a given. So given that, if all you ever do is little 2-3 week trips then pretty much all your time abroad is smack in the middle of that suck zone. Imagine, however, that you went away for 9 months. Now that little bit of suck that you describe is relegated to a noise at the ends. In the middle lies the good part. And it really is that good. Sounds like you've never actually committed, so you've never reaped the rewards. Give it a try sometime and report back!
jamesjyu 17y ago
Wow, this guy has a pretty aggressive modal popup that promotes his other articles: http://img.skitch.com/20090902-kcw6ah5sr6mkpk786ny6sq95d.jpg http://img.skitch.com/20090902-kcw6ah5sr6mkpk786ny6sq95d.jpg Appears when you scroll down past the article to the comments area.
zyb09 17y ago
Doesn't really sound like fun. What exactly am I supposed to do at theses places? Yay, I'm sitting alone in my hotel room in Shanghai, now what? Walk around mindlessly and take a look at the surroundings? Gets boring fast I guess. Go into a bar and try to talk to strangers in english? Hmmm.. don't know, maybe I am too uncreative for that.
anonymousDan 17y ago
One problem with traveling he fails to address is the interruption to your career. What if leaving your job for a while means you miss promotion opportunities? What if by the time you get back someone else has picked up on your startup idea?
- dannyr 17y ago
  If interruption to your career is important to you, don't take a vacation at all. Spend all your time working so you'll get ahead and get promotion. I used to worry about my career a lot and I ended up burning out easily. Traveling for me was a good way to take a break and get a new perspective on things. I take a few months off to travel every 2-3 years and then I get re-energized and ready to get back to work. Yes, when you travel, your career will be interrupted. But what is the trade off? For me, it was experiencing other cultures. Being in unfamiliar places took me out of my element and I believe has made me tougher. Adjusting to different social environments is not easy.
intellectronica 17y ago
Another option is getting a job (or inventing one) where you get to travel a lot. Traveling as a tourist can often feel uncomfortable and give you a wrong sense of the places you visit. Traveling in order to collaborate with people is a more complete experience, and you don't have to put life on hold to do it.
zupatol 17y ago
So any reason for staying at home is a lie? Many people get a sense of purpose from doing things that are done more easily by staying in one place: write a book, build a house, educate yourself, create a company, raise children, withdraw from society...
conorh 17y ago
I did this recently. Just got back last month. I quit my job and went traveling for over 7 months, through South America, across by freighter to South Africa, and by land up through Africa to Egypt. It was the best experience of my life. I was hugely nervous about doing it, but it was something I had always thought about doing. Naively I didn't expect to learn much, just that I'd have an interesting time, but I ended up learning a lot about myself (on top of everything that I learned about the countries I traveled through.) Long term travel gives you the luxury of distance and time to think clearly, something you do not have very often in life. On returning I've readjusted my priorities and I think I know better now what really makes me happy. I hope that everyone gets a chance to do something like this. It is a luxury (although it really doesn't cost as much as you'd think), but an amazing one that is well worth it. I also have some excellent stories :) Let me tell you about the desert in North Sudan...
Guatejon 17y ago
This guy has an interesting take on travel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICrV68KIbg0&feature=PlayList&p=9F5CBC529DCEF31E&index=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICrV68KIbg0&feature=PlayL...
known 17y ago
I prefer to live and work for at-least 6 months instead of continuous travel. This way I can empathize with local culture, socio-economical and political conditions.

94 points by onreact-com 17y ago

Tichy 17y ago

Doesn't really say why, or does it? I am not a big traveler, so I am probably wrong, but in a way, traveling seems kind of passive to me. Sure, you get to see lots of things, but seeing (and learning) is passive. How am I going to change the world doing that? I would need some kind of spin to it, like at least being a successful travel writer or something. Otherwise, what are the USEFUL experiences to make? Would be great if some travelers could share what useful experiences they made? Although one thing in the article made me think: I'd really like to visit Sillicon Valley, experiencing the culture there might actually be useful to me.

edw519 17y ago
How am I going to change the world doing that? By planting seeds that you have no other way of getting into your brain. You can reap the (currently unknown) harvest later.
- Tichy 17y ago
  Not saying you are wrong, but could you give some examples? There are always zillions of options in life - to choose one, a little more than "currently unknown" would be nice? Is traveling better than working on a startup?
  - edw519 17y ago
    Is traveling better than working on a startup? Great question. I don't know. I have done both, but a lot more working than travelling. Building stuff is as much creative as it is scientific or task oriented. That creativity has to be fed somehow. For me, putting myself into a situation I'm normally unaccustomed to really gets the juices flowing. Travel is great for that. I have done very little international travel, but I have done a lot of RVing. Although I never actually did much work while out on the road, I was never more relaxed and introspective. Often couldn't wait to get back to work to try something out. Reading, surfing, and watching video are all good methods of feeding your brain. But nothing comes close to actually being there.
  - mattm 17y ago
    This is one of those things that is incredibly difficult to explain to people that haven't done it, while the people who have, instantly get what you're talking about. I disagree with the author that you shouldn't just travel, but you should actually live in different places. You hardly learn anything from staying in a place for a few days but you learn much more if you stay in a place for at least a few months. Living abroad challenges you in ways that are very hard to find at home. Everyday things like buying groceries or ordering food in a restaurant become challenging (as long as you don't go to an English speaking country). You start to discover beliefs that you didn't even know you had because the local people believe and act in totally different ways. You're always questioning 'why?' Why do people push to the front here and not line up properly? Why do people shake your your hand again when they see you even though you've met them a bunch of times before? Why do people not understand sarcasm like in North America? Why do the people sit around drinking coffee all day? Why is this person giving me a gift? What are the reasons behind this? Why did that person say they would do something when it was obvious they weren't going to do it? Is this representative of the whole culture or just this one person? Why do so many people believe in superstitions and tradition? and so on... You start to recognize your own culture and, especially upon returning home, start to see things that you don't really like about your own culture - things that you weren't even aware about before. Living in another country is a great opportunity to learn more about yourself, about others and have a rewarding experience consisting of ups and downs.
    - ilamont 17y ago
      "Living abroad challenges you in ways that are very hard to find at home." Totally agree. Once you've done a job interview in another language, or worked with foreign colleagues, you'll have new insights into the way companies work in your home country and confidence to tackle things you wouldn't have dreamed of doing before. One downside to living abroad: In some industries you lose some networking juice and connections that you would have otherwise built had you stayed at home. That's mainly a concern for people who work in industries which don't value overseas experience or connections.
    - Evgeny 17y ago
      "Living abroad challenges you in ways that are very hard to find at home." True. On the other hand, who can honestly say that he has exhausted all possible ways to challenge oneself at home?
  - mmphosis 17y ago
    Is traveling better than working on a startup? Stop comparing. Do both, do neither. During the dotcom craze, I "traveled" to a foreign country and worked at a startup. The experiences were very rewarding. Your mileage may vary. Advising people to travel is a bit like giving advice to learn Lisp. And, I know that hearing "well you just don't get it unless you do it" is not very helpful. But, I am learning Lisp anyways. As Krishnamurti says, "Don't do what I do."
phicou 17y ago
For US citizens, Peace Corps is one way to meet both of those goals. For people from other countries, there are similar organizations in many countries, and some that accept volunteers from almost anywhere (such as VSO and UN Volunteers). Volunteers spend a long time in their host country, and really get to see things in depth (not just the tourist view). Volunteers also get a chance to "change the world". Usually not in a particularly grand way, but a little education and inspiration can have a lot of ripple effects. Of course, being based overseas, and having a fair amount of vacation time, volunteers also have opportunities to visit other interesting places and countries near their host sites. Getting a reasonable living allowance and government-sponsored benefits sweetens the deal, but of course it doesn't offer nearly as much freedom as simply quitting your job and hopping on a plane.
- Tichy 17y ago
  That is not traveling in my book, though - it is staying abroad. I have no problems with working in another country. I certainly agree that it is worthwhile to experience another culture at least once. I am not so sure about more than once, though.
  - potatolicious 17y ago
    IMHO "staying abroad" is the best form of traveling. You're not going to be steeped into the cultures of others until you live amongst them. Staying at the Hyatt and visiting all the mandatory sights by tour bus is probably the worst and least rewarding traveling experience money can buy. In college my internships took me all across Canada, staying in each place 4 months at a time. All of those experiences have been invaluable to me, and taught me far more than any sort of vacation I've ever taken.
mcxx 17y ago
Travelling is anything but passive. I can't really explain why, but travelling along with reading are in my opinion best ways to learn. I guess it's that you experience new cultures. You talk to people, you learn. You see how and why stuff is done differently, you learn. You also learn from your mistakes, you learn to adopt to current conditions with whatever resources you have for your disposal, you discover new tricks, etc.
skolor 17y ago
I'd really like to visit Sillicon Valley, experiencing the culture there might actually be useful to me. That right there is the way to find useful experiences. It sounds like your thing isn't "Go see the Grand Canyon" or "Go to the Eiffel Tower". Instead, you're the kind of person who would "Go to Chaos Communication Congress" or "Go to Hacking at Random". Traveling doesn't just mean going to see touristy places. Try contacting a few people in the industry you like, see if you can arrange for them to show you around their business, and just show up there.
tel 17y ago
Traveling, like most other activities, really is contingent on how much work you put into it. Traveling passively is easy to do and essentially useless. You go somewhere else, rapidly seek out the things that make you comfortable, and then sit there bothered by how these approximations don't quite make you as comfortable as you would have been if you never left. You might go try the tourist gig a little, snap some pictures to prove to your friends and family you were wherever, and then go and hide some more. It seems hyperbolic, but go to any practically and hostel in a developed city worldwide and you'll find a group of Americans doing just that (not to mention other debaucheries). Traveling actively is basically the exact opposite of that. It takes research, bravery, spontaneity, social skill, and a boat load of curiosity. When you travel like this though you can paint yourself into entirely new environments and see the ways you expand, you can look back into the ways you live normally and then pick and choose the parts you like the most. In this way you can actively change your own world and certainly put yourself in a better place to continue making positive changes. Most immediately: you'll soften your bias and become aware of the biases of others, you'll understand the traditions of your culture and be better able to interpret their necessity or value, you'll become experienced in some other culture able to interpret things through a slightly different point of view. Together these things can be used to vastly improve your home or can become skills to help you change the world. Of course, if you want to travel and at that very moment do some active changing, you may want to try something like Peace Corps, Doctors/Engineers Without Borders, or other world health initiatives. You should be careful though because if you don't have the experience which can let you isolate your own cultural biases a little then you may get connected with some group which will inhibit your ability to learn. In my opinion, this is the trap which things like mission trips fall into and, as an effect, they may become some kind of mixture of harm and benefit.
AlisdairO 17y ago
For me, what I get out of travelling (which I don't do often enough) is experiencing a foreign culture. I don't enjoy travelling from place to place and seeing the sights - it's always been a hollow experience to me, except perhaps for those momentous sights that have an impact a picture really can't convey - think the Grand Canyon of Niagara Falls. It seems such a waste to me when people visit somewhere, and make little attempt to truly experience the culture.
ryk 17y ago
I solo road tripped the lower 48 and it was one of the best learning experiences of my life. A few of the lessons that can be applied to entrepreneurship that had nothing to do with what I saw but rather the journey: Flexibility, adaptability, and dealing with uncertainty - Things never go as planned when long-term traveling to the point that sometimes it is better not to have a plan, but rather pick a general direction and adapt. Same goes for your business plan, especially when developing new technologies in unproven markets. You don’t know enough to be able to plan out the details. A lot of times the random unplanned things end up being the best. Run with random even if you don’t understand it. Dealing with the highs and the lows – One day you’re on top of the world feeling accomplished after you hike up a mountain. I’m queen of world! The next day it is raining, your feet are covered in blisters, you’re feeling run down, you have a cold coming on, your tent has a leak, and you are alone in the middle of nowhere eating yet another granola bar. But eventually the sun while shine again, your cold will go away, and you’ll be on your next exciting adventure. Kind of like – One day you are full of enthusiasm for your new feature that is going to change the world! The next day (make that weeks) you are dealing with bugs, angry customers, anxious investors, getting no sleep and living in a dump eating yet another bowl of beans and rice. Fortunately something good will happen eventually to balance it out if you can ride out the storm. Life is cyclical. *Going solo is crazy hard at times...you need to build a team that compliments and balances – I solo road tripped and camped most of the time. I totally recommend solo travel because it will stretch you way beyond your limits and you’ll experience tremendous amounts of personal growth because it is crazy hard at times. But eventually you’ll get sick of going it alone - worn out from shouldering all the work and having no one to celebrate with except some strangers you just met. You need a team (travel companions or founders/partners/employees) that compliments each other. My typical group travel adventure goes something like this - I’ll lead a kayak expedition in the Everglades, get everyone there and paddling through the mangroves with alligators, but I’ll forget to pack lunch. As cool as it would be to have another rockstar kayaker along what I really need is someone who can make sandwiches. And not just the crappy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I would throw together. Like fancy sandwiches with Dijon mustard made by a rockstar sandwich maker. Those are just a few things I learned (or at least reinforced) through traveling around the country that can be applied to entrepreneurship. I could write more but that is all I have time for right now and all the talk of Dijon mustard sandwiches is making me hungry for lunch.

oink 17y ago

“I don’t have money to travel.” Fair enough if it’s true, but for many people who say this, it would be better to say, “I’ve chosen to spend money on a lot of other things, so now I don’t have money to travel.” Shall we never forget the lovely Victorian ethic that the poor have only themselves to blame.

cubix 17y ago
I don't see how this Victorian ethic applies. He's not talking about the poor, but rather those who have "chosen to spend money on a lot of other things", i.e. the middle-class.
- oink 17y ago
  The argument suggests that your net worth is mostly your own choice and has little to with circumstances. My point is that this flawed notion is responsible for other, more noticeably flawed notions.
  - dagw 17y ago
    No his argument suggests that the distribution of your net worth is mostly your own choice, which it on the whole is.
- elcron 17y ago
  He assumes you make more than $2 a day. http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/you-are-incredibly-rich/ http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/you-are-incredibly-rich/
  - run4yourlives 17y ago
    And given his audience is probably 80% American, he'd be right.
mziulu 17y ago
Well, he did say "Fair enough if it's true", fwiw.

zaph0d 17y ago

The question is not about "Why" but about "How". How would I get the money to travel around the world exactly?

dagw 17y ago
By prioritising it higher than any other non-essential cost you have. I know people who have saved up for 6 month round the world trips while working in various menial low paying jobs. The question is, like for most things, is how badly do you want it. Of course it helps if you don't have a family to support.
- jdrock 17y ago
  ..or I could work hard, get my startup to exit, and travel as much as I want for the many years in life afterward. Why does travel have to be done when I'm in my 20s/30s/etc.?
  - skolor 17y ago
    It doesn't, but it depends on what you want out of life. If you want to have a successful business, traveling all the time isn't for you. If you want to see the world though, putting it off until later isn't going to help you any. The longer you put of traveling, the less you'll be able to do, and the more entrenched you will be in your work.
  - dagw 17y ago
    Travel isn't, in my opinion, something you should 'have done', it's something you should be doing. I'm not a big fan of the take a year out, travel the world, then tick it off your list. Travel anything from a week to a month every year until you're too old/sick to get out of bed. My 86 year old grandmother recently flew across the Atlantic to visit family. The world is not a static place. That thing you really want to see might not exist a few years from now. You can visit the same city a half dozen times and have a half dozen different experiences of the place because the world has changed it between visits. I'd rather take a few long weekends every year than save up for one big trip sometime a decade from now, but that's just me.

djb_hackernews 17y ago

I quit my great developer job in January to be a ski bum in Wyoming. I just got back from West Africa. It will be worth it if I don't end up living out of my car. Timing.

mattmaroon 17y ago

His fiscal argument, that we could afford it if we reshuffled our priorities to buy fewer iPods and more plane tickets, is wrong because buying iPods doesn't require us to quit our job.

jasonkester 17y ago
No. Buying fewer iPods allows you to quit your job. If you live like a college student for just a few years after leaving college (keep the shit car, live in a cheap studio, don't buy stuff you can't afford) you'll soon find you've got $50,000 sitting in the bank. I mean look at it, they're giving you $5,000 every week now to work at this job, when they used to be charging you money to go to school. If you can't find the willpower to save a few pennies at that point, there's something seriously amiss. Anyway, you'll find that your tolerance for a crap job goes way down when you have $50k sitting around and no car payments or mortgage. Spending $10k of it hitching across Africa for a year starts to seem like a good idea. So yes, by reshuffling our fiscal priorities, we can definitely make travel more doable. I know this because I've done it.

idlewords 17y ago

That site nags for your email address with a modal full-page overlay, so you can receive more of these 'insights'. Avoid.

vicaya 17y ago
That's what noscript is for.

mtts 17y ago

Meh. Travel is overrated. The chances of you actually learning anything of substance by running around from one exotic country to another are very slim indeed. Staying in another country for a substantial amount of time, on the other hand, is of course an entirely different matter but travelling for the sake of travelling, while pleasurable in and of itself, does not teach you anything you couldn't have learned from a brochure about the places you're visiting.

fredBuddemeyer 17y ago
certainly longer is better but every trip offers a chance to learn something - and not the trivia that can be found in brochures. traveling supplies a nearly complete change of context for your brain and if it is turned on change will certainly occur (i.e. growth). differences in customs, architecture and language are extremely inspiring.; many of the best lessons are indirect and stem from thought provoking experiences akin to brainstorming rather than the accumulation of data.
jklubnik 17y ago
I disagree. How much you learn is dependent on how willing you are to put yourself out there, even if only for a brief period of time. While I prefer to travel for longer periods of time, I certainly will not knock a two week trip through Europe. You can learn and experience a lot with the right attitude and outlook. To attempt an analogy fitting for this forum, saying that it "does not teach you anything you couldn't have learned from a brochure" is like saying there is no sense in starting your own company when you could simply work for one that already exists. Creating a company is much different than working for a company. Much like being in a place is a lot different that reading a brochure about it. All the things that make creating a company a valuable experience are the same things that make traveling a valuable experience: all the little details, the hurdles, the hassles, taking a leap, getting there. I also recommend the following essay by Pico Iyer: http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/why-we-travel-20081213/ http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/why-we-trave...
- b1tr0t 17y ago
  I've lived in six different countries and traveled to dozens. I agree that some travel expands people's horizons. Some people gain more from the experience than others, depending on their willingness to really see new perspectives. But my experience with "endless travelers" on the whole does not incline me to think they have access to any kind of special enlightenment that isn't accessible to everyday people who travel far less. In fact, the I've-been-on-the-road-for-a-year types you run into in hostels are often narcissistic overindulged wankers for whom the travel is more about dick size and proving how "different" they are than some mechanism for truly expanding their horizons. Their travel is about their personal insecurity, not the "deep" journey they want you to believe it is. I'm not knocking travel in general, but nor do I in any way believe that someone who HAS traveled a great deal is more world-wise, intelligent or self-assured than someone who has not.

jdbeast00 17y ago

i think the main excuse I use to not travel is that I have a very stable job currently (federal govt). Its a risk that I would have to accept that when I return I would have difficulty finding employment.

antidaily 17y ago

I know someone doing this. He worked for a software company in SF and quit a year ago. He's been an extra in a bollywood film, stayed with monks in some temple, volunteered at an orphanage outside of Kathmandu, etc. His pics and stories show up on facebook every couple weeks. For the record, he has no idea what he's going to do for money when he gets back. But maybe he won't come back.

Ixiaus 17y ago
Money is overrated, it is pretty easy to survive in the world. Consider that coming from a western country, you have command over the English language, an education more than half the world doesn't have, and a passport. 60% of the people the world alone would kill just to have your passport. That's awesome your friend is doing that, I traveled through India myself. Money is easy.

dkasper 17y ago

I guess I agree minus the quit your job part. Why not travel around the world several times a year without quitting your job? Or wait until you're between jobs anyway. Unless you have a crappy job you want to quit anyway, I see little reason to quit a job in order to travel.

raamdev 17y ago

I have plans in place to do exactly this beginning of next year. But let me clarify: I plan to backpack, living on the bare minimum and traveling mostly by foot and train and using a plane only when absolutely necessary (like when I visit my parents). It's possible to travel and live in many countries around the world for <$300USD a month -- at least that's what I've gathered from my initial research. I don't have a family to support or a girlfriend so once I quite my job I'll be quite free of responsibilities. How will I pay for it? Well, the little on-the-side web hosting company I started 5 years ago, which I haven't put any effort into growing, is already close to providing me enough monthly income to live comfortably in many third-world countries. But I won't be a tourist. I want spend anywhere from 3 - 12 months in an area, learning the culture, the language, the local customs, and meeting and making new friends. I want share my knowledge (mostly technical) and use my skills (technical and carpentry) to help the community where I can. Since I enjoy writing, I plan to maintain a blog about my experiences with the hope that it will help others gain new insights and see that the world is a much bigger place than the 1500sq mile box that most of us live in. Why? Because I just feel it's what I need to do next in my life to continue growing. I've been living in the same area (Northeastern United States, Boston, MA area) for the past 27 years. Science has proven that the best way to stimulate new growth in the brain is to expose it to new and unfamiliar things. My brain is entering the age where many brains begin to settle into a rut... and it feels like my brain is beginning to atrophy.

mattm 17y ago
Definitely go for it. FYI, my monthly expenses while living in a city outside Shanghai was about $400 per month. I think $300 would be pushing it in a lot of places. I would budget $500 just to be safe and to not have to restrict your lifestyle that much.
- raamdev 17y ago
  Thanks!

cturner 17y ago

I think you should get a job that pays to send you around the world. Has worked for me, YMMV.

MicahWedemeyer 17y ago

* "I like staying at home." - This is another way of saying, "I'm afraid of change and different experiences."* Bullshit. I find travel very stressful, and none of it is due to fear of change and different experiences. It comes from living out of a suitcase, having to re-buy all the toiletries and crap I have at home but forgot to bring, and being away from my wife and dogs who I enjoy spending time with. Just remember: don't like != am afraid of I don't like buttermilk biscuits. That doesn't mean I wake up sweating in the night screaming that they're coming to get me.

minsight 17y ago
I never found that buying forgotten toiletries and crap was a very stressful experience.
yef 17y ago
Travel is stressful, no doubt. But the stress of travel can be minimized with some planning. For example, use a checklist to make sure you pack your toiletries. Print out all your travel related information and keep it in a folder. Dress in such a way that streamlines your way through security. As for the wife and dog, I'm of no help. :) It sounds as though your travel is work-related, though, so maybe there's some added stress by association.
jasonkester 17y ago
You're not doing it for long enough. Every trip abroad has one week of suck at the beginning and one week of suck at the end. You need to acclimate & buy toothbrushes when you get there, and you need to stress a bit about the real world before you come back. That's a given. So given that, if all you ever do is little 2-3 week trips then pretty much all your time abroad is smack in the middle of that suck zone. Imagine, however, that you went away for 9 months. Now that little bit of suck that you describe is relegated to a noise at the ends. In the middle lies the good part. And it really is that good. Sounds like you've never actually committed, so you've never reaped the rewards. Give it a try sometime and report back!

jamesjyu 17y ago

Wow, this guy has a pretty aggressive modal popup that promotes his other articles: http://img.skitch.com/20090902-kcw6ah5sr6mkpk786ny6sq95d.jpg http://img.skitch.com/20090902-kcw6ah5sr6mkpk786ny6sq95d.jpg Appears when you scroll down past the article to the comments area.

zyb09 17y ago

Doesn't really sound like fun. What exactly am I supposed to do at theses places? Yay, I'm sitting alone in my hotel room in Shanghai, now what? Walk around mindlessly and take a look at the surroundings? Gets boring fast I guess. Go into a bar and try to talk to strangers in english? Hmmm.. don't know, maybe I am too uncreative for that.

anonymousDan 17y ago

One problem with traveling he fails to address is the interruption to your career. What if leaving your job for a while means you miss promotion opportunities? What if by the time you get back someone else has picked up on your startup idea?

dannyr 17y ago
If interruption to your career is important to you, don't take a vacation at all. Spend all your time working so you'll get ahead and get promotion. I used to worry about my career a lot and I ended up burning out easily. Traveling for me was a good way to take a break and get a new perspective on things. I take a few months off to travel every 2-3 years and then I get re-energized and ready to get back to work. Yes, when you travel, your career will be interrupted. But what is the trade off? For me, it was experiencing other cultures. Being in unfamiliar places took me out of my element and I believe has made me tougher. Adjusting to different social environments is not easy.

intellectronica 17y ago

Another option is getting a job (or inventing one) where you get to travel a lot. Traveling as a tourist can often feel uncomfortable and give you a wrong sense of the places you visit. Traveling in order to collaborate with people is a more complete experience, and you don't have to put life on hold to do it.

zupatol 17y ago

So any reason for staying at home is a lie? Many people get a sense of purpose from doing things that are done more easily by staying in one place: write a book, build a house, educate yourself, create a company, raise children, withdraw from society...

conorh 17y ago

I did this recently. Just got back last month. I quit my job and went traveling for over 7 months, through South America, across by freighter to South Africa, and by land up through Africa to Egypt. It was the best experience of my life. I was hugely nervous about doing it, but it was something I had always thought about doing. Naively I didn't expect to learn much, just that I'd have an interesting time, but I ended up learning a lot about myself (on top of everything that I learned about the countries I traveled through.) Long term travel gives you the luxury of distance and time to think clearly, something you do not have very often in life. On returning I've readjusted my priorities and I think I know better now what really makes me happy. I hope that everyone gets a chance to do something like this. It is a luxury (although it really doesn't cost as much as you'd think), but an amazing one that is well worth it. I also have some excellent stories :) Let me tell you about the desert in North Sudan...

Guatejon 17y ago

This guy has an interesting take on travel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICrV68KIbg0&feature=PlayList&p=9F5CBC529DCEF31E&index=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICrV68KIbg0&feature=PlayL...

known 17y ago

I prefer to live and work for at-least 6 months instead of continuous travel. This way I can empathize with local culture, socio-economical and political conditions.