When is the right time to travel? The answer is a simple one, never! Throughout your life, there will always be excuses and reasons why you shouldn't travel because it isn't the 'right time'.
Before I booked my one-way ticket to India I had dreamt about quitting the 9-5 to travel the world for years and always came up with excuses of why I shouldn't go. My career, the mortgage, my family and money were the common excuses that kept appearing. I knew I wanted to travel the world but kept telling myself, "next year Kate, next year", but the years flew by and I realised that unless I took the leap and stopped making excuses it was never going to happen.
So, I did it, I stopped thinking about the negatives of quitting my job and started to think about the positives and what I would gain from the experience. Changing my mindset was enough for me to build up the courage to book my flight to India and continue to travel for 9 months.
Everyone's circumstances are different but if you want to travel long term you have to make travel your priority. You will have to make sacrifices in a financial, professional or social way and so you need to dedicated and committed to making your dream a reality.
Life is short and the years seem to fly by quicker and quicker and so why shouldn't you spend your time how you want, while you can. A lot of people say they will go travelling when they retire but personally I didn't want to wait that long and the uncertainty scared me. It is impossible to know what your financial situation is going to be or if your health will be on your side to travel long term.
If you can't find it in you to take the risk and book that trip of a lifetime, then you need to think if you really want it that bad. You need to question what is holding you back? Until you determine what is holding you back, you won't be able to try and get over the problem.
I once read the following quote which perfectly summed up 'why there is never a right time to travel'.
"There’s never a right time to travel in our lives. When we are young, we have the energy and the time, but not the means. When we are middle-aged, we have the means and the energy, but not the time. And when we are old, we have the time and the means, but not the energy."
I agree with the quote, as we get older the reasons holding us back change and so you really need to ask yourself how you would feel in the future if you don't go, rather than waiting for the right time to travel...as it doesn't exist!
Has that inspired you to think about what is important to you? Here are some helpful guides and posts if you are tempted to take a career break:
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