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3 year plan; ...travel the world?
Topic Started: Jul 30 2006, 06:16 PM (757 Views)
The 89th Key
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Ok, perhaps it's the two glasses of wine I just drank, or perhaps it's the idealistic and quite frankly unrealistic epiphany I occasionally have...but is this a bad or dumb idea?

In the next year, I'll work, pay off any remaining credit card debts, get in shape.

The next year after that, I'll save money, stay in shape, get updates on all doctor and dental appointments, etc...

...and MOST IMPORTANTLY in the third year, travel the world indefinitely.

I dunno, I wouldn't mind traveling to a country, living there for a year or two, then moving to another country, and then returning to the same country or going somewhere else. The bottom line is I would love to just travel the world. Learn the basics of many languages, know many little cities and have friends everywhere.

I could do that until I was 60 or so....not that it would necessarily last that long...

Is this a dumb idea or should I generally go for it?

Not that having a family, working in the US, etc...is a bad thing, quite the opposite really. But I think given my current relationship status (single), health status (pretty healthy), and financial status (positive)....that this would be the perfect time to do this.

I started a thread a couple months ago about something similar, but I'm more serious this time.....your thoughts are welcome.
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George K
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Finally
Oh, to be free and unfettered as you are....!

Go for it. One of my most valuable experiences is my 5 weeks in Austria when I was young. It sticks to me this day.

From a practical standpoint, however, my concerns are financial.

1) Income during your sojurn
2) Job afterward
3) Health coverage (though, at your age, not as big a concern, but you never know)
4) Security and safety
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Steve Miller
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Bull-Carp
Go for it! :thumb:
Wag more
Bark less
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DivaDeb
HOLY CARP!!!
Absolutely do it, 89th. I have LOTS of people I want you to meet....just everywhere. You should do this. The more you go, the more you know. I'm excited for you already!
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The 89th Key
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Thanks everyone!

George, good points. I could work small jobs for a steady flow of income. The following job and security are both valid points, but ones I wouldn't really worry about. And the health coverage is a good point, and would depend on where I would be going.

Deb...I think it would be cool to have a great list of connections, photos, local knowledge, etc....of people and places all over the world.

Again, I think I'm being a tad idealistic, but at the same time...I have to ask myself, WHY NOT? WHAT IS HOLDING ME BACK?

Nothing!
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bachophile
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HOLY CARP!!!
here is a suggestion.

take a bartender's course.

u get an international certificate.

then u travel to wherever u want, hopefully a warm tropical clime. secure a position as a bar tender (most exotic countries wont give a fig for work permits etc...and u get payed off book) and u work until u r bored. then move on.

u get food from the bar, and the drinks r on the house, so to speak.

meet interesting people. and u will get laid.

then again, u can skip all that and work as u do in exotic maryland.

your choice.

"I don't know much about classical music. For years I thought the Goldberg Variations were something Mr. and Mrs. Goldberg did on their wedding night." Woody Allen
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kentcouncil
Fulla-Carp
Definitely go for it! :thumb:

The only problem would be the income... even if you intend to work small jobs, the work visa requirements for different countries might be frustrating. Italy, for example, wouldn't be too much of a problem, but countries like France and Japan are more picky.
It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.

- P.G. Wodehouse
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The 89th Key
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bachophile
Jul 30 2006, 10:42 PM
here is a suggestion.

take a bartender's course.

u get an international certificate.

then u travel to wherever u want, hopefully a warm tropical clime. secure a position as a bar tender (most exotic countries wont give a fig for work permits etc...and u get payed off book) and u work until u r bored. then move on.

u get food from the bar, and the drinks r on the house, so to speak.

meet interesting people. and u will get laid.

then again, u can skip all that and work as u do in exotic maryland.

your choice.

Nothing is more inspiring than what you just said.

:sombrero:

KC - good point, too. We'll see what happens. Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow with the same enthusiasm.
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George K
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Finally
The 89th Key
Jul 30 2006, 10:08 PM
bachophile
Jul 30 2006, 10:42 PM
and u will get laid.


Nothing is more inspiring than what you just said.

You're such a pig.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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kentcouncil
Fulla-Carp
bachophile
Jul 30 2006, 09:42 PM
here is a suggestion.

take a bartender's course.

u get an international certificate.

then u travel to wherever u want, hopefully a warm tropical clime. secure a position as a bar tender (most exotic countries wont give a fig for work permits etc...and u get payed off book)  and u work until u r bored. then move on.

u get food from the bar, and the drinks r on the house, so to speak.

meet interesting people. and u will get laid.

then again, u can skip all that and work as u do in exotic maryland.

your choice.

Posted Image
It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.

- P.G. Wodehouse
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The 89th Key
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George K
Jul 30 2006, 11:10 PM
The 89th Key
Jul 30 2006, 10:08 PM
bachophile
Jul 30 2006, 10:42 PM
and u will get laid.


Nothing is more inspiring than what you just said.

You're such a pig.

Maybe I'll give some lucky Italian chick my V-Card(tm). :D
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
Quote:
 

Quote:
 

and u will get laid.

Nothing is more inspiring than what you just said.


Then don't screw up your financial future too badly, if that's important to you.

(Travel is massively important to women though so you will have that going for you.)

(though it's equally easy to tell a bunch of made up travel stories, you can save yourself the cost of the plane ticket that way. Not that anybody ever does that.)
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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The 89th Key
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Horace, got any good stories that have worked? ;)
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
Isaac, GO! :thumb:
You're young, you're smart, and you're ambitous. And you have nothing holding you down. Go. Enjoy. :wave:
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The 89th Key
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Sue, I would travel the world 5 times over just to be where you are. :hearts:
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
Ahhh, well that just made my day. :hug:
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dolmansaxlil
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HOLY CARP!!!
89th - find a high-end hotel chain that has places all over the world. Get the bartending cert like someone else suggested. Go be a bartender in one of the hotels. Then, when you get bored, as them if you can go work for them somewhere else.

My cousin, when he first graduated from chef school (yeah, I'm sure there is a real name for this, but whatever) did that, and ended up working at Chateau Lake Louise (Alberta), then a year in Australia at a resort, then a year in Switzerland at another resort, then a short stint in Iraq, then on a cruise ship that went from Athens to a bunch of the Greek Islands then to Istanbul. He did that circuit until he got caught sleeping with his boss's daughter. *snicker I can't remember where he is now - somewhere in the Caribbean, perhaps? But he can basically go anywhere in the world. I would assume that you may be able to jump around as a bartender like that as well - and because it was all one company, they dealt with all of the paper work, working visas, etc. He just had to show up.

EDIT : Oh, the other bonus was that with this particular arrangement, he got to stay at the hotels and eat there. Not sure the bartenders would have the same plan, but depending on the company, they just might. So he would work obscenely long hours for a certain number of days, then have a certain number off. Most of them switched around their days off with each other so they'd have long breaks. So he'd work pretty constantly for 3 weeks, then take a week and a half off to go travelling around wherever he was. And since his room and meals were provided when he was working, he was able to save a tonne of money even though he didn't get paid a whole lot.
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

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The 89th Key
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Cool story Dol. Although one aspect I would enjoy would to NOT be part of a corporation - AKA, if I live in Scotland, I live on my own terms, 100% independent. It's definitely a lot more secure financially to be with a company, but I'm not sure that would be what I would want.
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Friday
Senior Carp
That is a great 3 year plan. :thumb:

There are many things you can do that will allow you to travel and work. I did it through nursing where they would send me all over the world teaching women/children's health issues. One friend did it through ski resorts, and yet another through diving. They would work during their respective seasons and then just hang out after their season ended. I've known some people to just get "jobs" once they were someplace they liked. And yes, bartending and cooking.

Or you could just travel. You have many many options 89th.

If you have an itch to do this, then you should do it.

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apple
one of the angels
the best time to travel is before you accumulate possessions and responsibilities
it behooves me to behold
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Do it, man.


Some of the best years of my life were the expat years.


I like the bartender idea - you should also get ESL certification - you can always get a job doing that too.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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The 89th Key
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Ok, it looks like the only question left now is....which country to live in first? :P
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
The 89th Key
Jul 31 2006, 09:20 AM
Ok, it looks like the only question left now is....which country to live in first? :P

All I know is don't choose Zimbabwe or Cornwall.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
Do it.


Just do it.
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Optimistic
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HOLY CARP!!!
There are really good "around the world" plane ticket deals. I don't know the details, but I met a British couple who were traveling every continent minus Antartica over 14 months, with the dates and exact countries and other such details kept very flexible. The total cost in airfare was something ridiculously cheap, like $2500 or so.

Look into it!

Oh, and if it hasn't been mentioned already, look into the Peace Corps.
PHOTOS

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.
- Mark Twain


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot
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