Life After Backpacking

On a travel site (geared towards backpackers) that I frequent, the question "Is there Life After Backpacking?" was posed. It is a brilliant thread that was posted on Mon 31 August 1998, 11:37 Tasmanian Standard Time and, has 206 posts responses on it (I was #206). The posts are from people who have traveled extensively, sharing experiences from when they traveled and feelings that they have now that they are no longer on the road. It is a great thread and the feelings about travel that are posted are similar to how I feel about it (as one of the posters stated, is kind of like "group therapy" for returned backpackers). Below is the post I added…..

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What a brilliant thread this is. I found it purely by chance. I usually hang out on a different branch and accidentally selected this one. I decided to read a bit about India anyway. I am glad I did, as I found this at the bottom. I downloaded and read the entire thing and share many of the same feelings about travel as many of you do. I have yet to visit India, but have traveled and backpacked a lot (USA, Canada, Mexico, and Europe)

I am an American and am 33 years old. Until 1998, I was a victim of the USA working system, which only allows two weeks of holiday (vacation) per year. That was all I knew, so, even though I wasn’t happy with it, I didn’t think that there was anything I could do about it. I became complacent.

In early 1998, I realized I had enough. I was not happy with my life or myself, and hated my job. Just getting up and going to work was a big chore. So, I quite my job of six years, sold everything, bought a backpack, a train pass, and a one way ticket to London. I was off to see the world (although, I loved Eastern Europe so much that I crossed the rest of the world off of my list for the time being). It was the best thing I ever did.

It was a great time. I stayed in hostels and rode trains and busses all over the place. I went as far north as Norway, as far west as Ireland, as far south as Greece and as far east as Bulgaria. I visited a total of 21 countries over the course of the year. I met up with a lot of good people from all over the world to travel with. I was finally in charge of my own life! However, money doesn’t last forever.

I returned to the USA in December of 1998. I knew that I would go through "post travel depression", as I felt it starting already, just by thinking of returning to the country of my citizenship. So, I chose to move to a different part of the USA. I decided that I would live in Philadelphia, as I had rellies in the area. It was some place that I had never lived and I thought that being in a different part of the country would help my "post travel blues." I was right.

I found a decent job that would enable me to save money to travel again and also give me enough to survive. I was able to arrange my job so that the most I worked on Fridays was four hours, if I went in at all, so I could travel. I spent most of my weekends seeing sights, going to museums, attending festivals, etc. I lived there until November of 1999. I was able to see a lot of the East Coast as well as explore Philadelphia (which is a fantastic place). I also spent a lot of time in NYC. My "post travel blues" were placated by day and weekend trips. Don’t get me wrong, the "post travel blues" were still there, as some days at work I still wanted to take off and catch the next train to anywhere, but with traveling on weekends, the blues were more manageable. However, I still had a longing to travel overseas again.

To cure that, I took a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) class in October of 1999 and received a certification in that as well as a designation from NALATIE (the North American Licensing Authority for Teachers of International English). I now teach English in Poland and am very happy.

I am sharing this with you in hopes that it will be able to help someone. I took a risk by leaving my job and selling all to travel. I thought I would be happy, but there were still doubts in my mind. I am glad that I did it, as I am more than happy. My family thought that I was crazy, however, they came to understand my point of view after a few months. They are now 100% behind me. Some rellies are even coming to visit me in Poland shortly after my classes end in June ! They would have never thought of visiting this country before I moved here. After that, I will spend the summer backpacking the Baltics; then return to work in September.

I now lead a non-traditional life. I don’t have a mortgage, car (public transportation is great in Europe), or even credit cards, nor do I make a lot of money. However, to me, to travel is to live. I have learned so much about life and different cultures, as well as about myself that no amount of money could ever replace. I have never felt this free and happy before.

I want to give encouragement to those who may be thinking about taking a risk like I did. If you have a good plan in mind, GO FOR IT. Also, for those that are going through the "post travel blues", I want to let you know that, as far as I have found, there is no cure except more traveling. However, maybe what worked for me will work for you. Move to a different part of whatever country you may live in! If you live within the European Union, you have many other cultures you can move to, work in, and learn about (I would give anything to have an EU passport). Also, for those that may want a career that will let you travel, become teachers. You’ll get holiday time all summer, at Christmas, winter breaks, etc. and will have plenty of time to travel.

Finally, I just want to let all of you know that as far as I can see, there IS life after backpacking. Although, I am not sure that I am qualified to say that. What I mean is that I guess, technically, I am still backpacking. After all, I don’t own much more than will fit in my backpack, however, I have "landed" for a while. I am still traveling a lot around Poland on weekends and every holiday I get, but I have a steady job as well. I will backpack other countries for the summer, but will return to teach again when the school season starts. So, am I still backpacking or not? It doesn’t really matter to me, as I am happy. I hope that all of you will find happiness as well.

Cheers and happy travels.

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