Life is a big adventure and we all make our best to create it our way. We believe that life should be filled of beautiful discoveries. The Sunday life edition was created to share stories of people that inspire us on many aspects of life. Our first article is introducing Laurence and Joas, two friends of ours, that created the online magazine Off to Places and left home to travel around the world about a year ago!
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TRAVELLING AROUND THE WORLD FOR A YEAR, AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM
After two years of discussions, planning and savings, Joas and I (Laurence) left Montreal a year ago.
We left with the idea of travelling around the world for a year. Here we are today, with our minds full of possibilities, ready to extend our trip for a second year.
Many people are wondering how we’ve managed to be on the road for so long and how we are able to continue. Here is an article that summarizes, according to our personal experience, how to take a trip around the world for a year or so.
THE PREPARATION
Unlike what people might think, putting things in place to leave everything behind is not that complicated. Of course, it takes determination, motivation and a lot of work, but it's quite possible.
Financially, it takes discipline to be able to save enough money depending on the budget around the world that you choose. Then, don’t forget to determine what your sources of income will be abroad (if you need them).
For our part, we took a working holiday visa in Australia for several reasons. This country fitted right in our itinerary, the visa was easily available to Canadians and offered the opportunity to work at a fairly high hourly rate.
Moreover, you will have to find solutions to have someone babysit your dog, rent your condo, give up your car lease and maybe store your furniture. Oh and you will probably have to quit your job too (this is often the scariest part, but trust me, you will survive!).
Once all that was settled, we flew to London on July 19th 2017 with a one-way ticket.
THE JOURNEY
After 4 months in Europe and Morocco, 5 months in Australia and 3 months in Indonesia we started thinking about the " when should we go home "?
Neither of us had a real desire to finish our adventure. We fell in love with this opportunity to live abroad by working all around the world. And since we were already on the other side of the planet, why not take the leap a second time and continue? One day, if we get tired of it, we’ll just go home.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE INCOME?
We cannot say we had our dream jobs in Australia. However, we can say that we grew as persons by doing work that we would never have done at home, that we took risks and tried new ventures. It also allowed us to save enough money for an extra 6 to 8 months of travels. For my part, I also learned to let go of work when arriving home at night. I now get what "work life balance" means and I intend to apply it to my lifestyle for the rest of my life.
Apart from our working holiday visa, we also have some freelance contracts. Nothing that allows us to fully meet our expenses on the road, but enough to cover the few expenses we still have in Montreal.
There are TONS of options available all over the world to work on the road as a freelancer, whether it’s through your personal contacts, companies abroad, websites designed for that and exchange-work platforms . All in all, there will always be an opportunity to work, you just need to be determined and open minded.
OFF TO PLACES - THE PROJECT
When I explained to Joas my big idea to travel around the world for a year, he said: "OK, BUT under one condition ...": To have a project that we work on while traveling, through which we can develop new skills, knowledge, expertise and bring something to people through it. That's how Off to Places was born.
On the road, we meet solo travelers, retirees, cyclists, sailors, families of five, couples with newborn babies, van travelers, in short, an array of inspiring souls. The common point of all these people is that, like us, they are long-term travelers. They’ve put their life "work, sleep, repeat " on pause to explore other possibilities.
Our mission with Off to Places is to share the story of these travelers, because there are so many adventurers living this lifestyle and everyone has a unique way to achieve it. Together, we can draw inspiration from each other to live the life we want, whatever it is.
www.offtoplaces.com
@offtoplaces
