Not a bed of roses

Many friends have commented that it’s envious that I get to do what I did – to take a career break for this RTW trip. It does seem like a dream come true for us to be able to do this but we’ll be lying that it’s all rosy and nice.

Sure, it’s been quite an adventure and for blue eyes, the adventure continues after Kuala Lumpur. But unlike work pressure, travelling stress comes in the form of entering a new country and adapting to a whole new environment. The uncertainty and risk is high – despite trying to prepare as much by reading and researching, we can never know for sure until we’ve reached a certain destination. There is always the question of directions, finding the place and looking for the best mode of transport in the most cost effective way possible.

Money is a great stressor, especially for me – for every country that we’ve been, I paid at least 3 times  in terms of my own currency – at one time, the ringgit was 3.3x against the US dollar and I almost had a heart attack when I saw my credit card bill! For blue eyes, the euro is 1:1 versus the US dollar so he didn’t feel the pinch as much as I did. I still don’t understand how people can travel for 1 year without being stressed financially.

Communications in Latin America posed a challenge for us as we didn’t speak Spanish. My half-past-six Spanish only managed to get us to ordering food and paying for goods. This limited our interaction with the locals, which I would have loved to get to know. Yea, we took 2 days of Spanish classes while in Guatemala but that wasn’t enough to hold a decent conversation. In Brazil, we were almost lost cos’ we didn’t speak a word of Portuguese except for “obrigado” which means thank you.

But regardless of the challenges that we’ve had, I would recommend such trip. Take the plunge and experience for yourself the scenario where all your senses are tested to the core. It’s not purely a holiday. It is about taking risks and learning to survive along the way. It is about managing resources and being resourceful in finding the best options that would save us money and time, while offering the most enjoyment. It’s true that money bought the memories and experiences that we’ve had, but it is definitely money well spent.

Mark Twain sums it up best for me:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”