M any of us want to go travelling and experience different cultures, but the trappings of everyday life can pen us in and hold us back. With the mortgage, friends and family, it can be very easy to put on hold what you really want to do with your own life in order to keep everyone else happy.
This very nearly happened to me, but after much work, I managed to find a solution that let me set sail and find myself, while also keeping everyone else in my life happy. One of the main concerns from my immediate family when I mooted the idea of going travelling for a while was that I would not come back at all. With this in mind, I felt that ensuring I still had something at home to come back to would not only provide myself with a bit of security should my trip not go as planned, it would also go some way to reassuring my worried mother that I intend to come home at some point!
With this in mind, I decided to let my house as a holiday home. This meant that my mortgage was covered for me while I was travelling, allowing me to put any lingering financial worries from home out of my mind and concentrate solely on making the most out of the experience.
I returned from my travels around Europe, South East Asia and South America completely inspired, and decided that I wasn’t going to return to my old stuffy office job from back before I left. Instead, I have set up my own business in the hope that after the first few tough years have passed, I should have a few more opportunities to get away and travel to get myself inspired all over again.
As you can see, I know first-hand how difficult it is to drop everything you know and live without responsibility for a few years in a far-off land. When I returned from my adventure, the house I had worked hard for was still in perfect condition, and I returned a new man full of fresh ideas and with a new-found vigour for life. So if you are struggling to decide whether you are told old to go travelling or have too much to lose, take my advice and just do it! You won’t regret it.
