Loading ...
My Decision To Backpack Around The World
Posted by Dave on April 18th, 2007
Excerpt from my journal, dated April 19, 2002:
Goals and Motivation
Goal: Find a new job
Motivation: So I can pay off credit cards
Goal: Pay off credit cards
Motivation: So I can begin saving money
Goal: Begin saving money ($12,000 to $15,000) while continuing to enjoy life
Motivation: So I can take a trip around the world by December 2006 (age 30)
Variables
- Raise at work
- Employer going public (selling stock options)
- Paying off car loan
You’ve probably deduced a few things about me already. I started writing in a journal in 2002. My reasons were unrelated to travel plans, however it served as a great outlet for that subject too. I’m goal-oriented, or at least began to develop an awareness of, and strength behind, that trait in 2002. I was unemployed and in debt. It would seem to be an odd time to consider setting such a grandiose goal as to eventually quit a job I have yet to obtain so as to travel around the world. There were a few other undercurrents in my life at the time though.
I had begun to re-examine my values at the same time I began to explore Buddhism. The confluence of thoughts lead me to place a higher value on international travel (experience) than materialistic wealth. As I recall, the epiphany was rather understated. It was a simple thought to myself, the power of which I would not realize until years later. Almost everything I write in my blog can be attributed to this affirmation, or clarification, in values.
Deciding to place a higher value on experience rather than material goods is not an easy task in the consumption-hungry society of the United States. It’s a challenge, though with practice, I miss the desire and attachments less and less. It all starts with an awareness of what you’re buying into and whether all that buying leaves you any happier than before. I’ve found backpackers tend to share this common value, as well as hippies! Enough about the serious stuff, let’s look at how scary my finances were in early 2002. Perhaps we can have a good laugh.
In March 2002, I had been laid off from my first job (at CareerBuilder.com) since graduating college. Between severance pay, vacation time, and unemployment benefits, I felt fairly comfortable in the short term given the enormous shock to my life. Unfortunately, I took some heart in the fact that all of the employees, from the CEO down, had lost their jobs at the hands of our parent company (Tribune and Knight Ridder publishing). Such was life when you worked for a technology company during the high-tech boom. At the time, my debt looked something like this:
- Student loans - $60,000
- Car loan - $17,000
- 3 credit cards - $5,500
- Total debt = $82,500
And I had the gall to think I could pay off the debt and build a surplus of another $15,000 (I later doubled this to $30,000). All together, we’re talking about $100,000.
Five years later, I’m executing the last few months of my savings plan, and am on track to reach my goals. It’s a great feeling, and I hope this series on how I got here can help others make their dream travels (house, Ferrari, etc.) a reality!
______
No matter where you are traveling, you’ll need discount hotels so you can save money for the sights! Whether you’re looking for pet friendly hotels or rv parks to camp out for the night there’s sure to be a great hotel for you! Find a great place to stay today!
Article Series - Saving for a Trip Around the World
Dare Me to do something fun, weird, or challenging on the road!
I’ve been very much the same just without as much debt or the job loss, but then on a lower wage it seems. It must have been 2004 I started looking in Buddhism and that lead me like you to giving travel a higher value. From about 2 years ago I’ve pretty much given up on buying gadgets and useless things like that and it has made a difference to my savings and I could possibly leave at the end of the year although I might leave it a litle longer.
Very cool! Yes, my desire to buy a plasma TV once they started coming down in price was almost non-existent because I established alternate priorities in my mid-twenties. It’s helped me get out of debt, stay disciplined about saving, and stick to my goals. And it’ll come in handy when global warming wreaks havoc on us, or we fall victim to the peak oil theory!
Peak Oil: Life After the Oil Crash
I’ve been absorbed in a bit of gloomy theorizing lately, which gives me all the more reason to travel now, rather than wait until “retirement.”
nice work to here your about out of the debt hole!
you will breath so much easier not having to worry about making payments while you are gone! its one huge less stress to deal with.
thats the reason I went to work in england, 3$ aussie dollars to the pound, I sent it all back home and cleared all my debt in no time
I think when you are away from home to work in another country, you concentrate more on working and saving naturally, as you have a sense of responsibility and don’t have to face expenses which you might have to face if you were home.
Good on ya, Dave! I’m pretty much in the same boat and it feels great to look at my spreadsheet every month and know that I’m that much closer to reaching my own goals.
[…] Dave at GoBackpacking is a Buddhist and it’s reflected in his posts about saving and his approach to money. It might seem that moving your priorities from material things to accumulating money isn’t exactly admirable but ultimately the move isn’t from one material thing to another but to what the money will eventually bring, it’s the difference between looking for happiness in having money and using money to help open the door to more meaningful happiness. […]
Dave, that’s really cool that you had that goal back then and are actually still pursuing it! I have this notebook from way back in highschool. I made a list of all the countries I wanted to visit and yay, i’m going to cross every single one of that list when we leave this December. I am so excited, and I bet you are, too! Yay for RTW trips!!!
Brooke -
You’re enthusiasm is infectious! It is a bit amazing to think about how I’ve remained on track. I’m sure I could’ve left sooner, however I didn’t want to decrease my standard of living substantially to save. I’m quite happy with how things have worked out though. A few extra years of wisdom will due me good on the road.