Just curious... Just interested in what you guys do for a living! Do you have any particular career? Travelling is obviously quite expensive if its for a long period of time, do you have a really well paid job so can afford it? If you have a particular career, do you find it easy to give up your job and get another as soon as you get back? How do you students afford it? Sorry for all the questions, just interested in how people manage their travels! ------------------------- World champions 22nd November 2003 1. Well it depends on where you go. Last time I went it was for 10 months RTW and could have been way longer if I hadn't hit Western Europe for 7 weeks. To do that I worked for 4 months at two jobs (avg. ~60 hours/week) and then had almost a year of freedom. Rather than go back to school I took the money I would have madw and travelled. If you watch your budget travel is way cheaper than school. (Just remember to go back though, no matter how hard it seems at the time!) 2. i work in tourism i work 6 months a year hard the rest i travel i love it and it does includes going to cheaper countrys as i wanna stay away 6 months but its awesome i totally advice u to do same:-) ------------------------- sanne 3. i dont have any profession. i graduated high school last year and worked for 6 months. then i went to guatemala for 4 months. then i went back home and worked for 4 months. now im in mexico, and have been for 5 weeks. luckily, i have some great friends here! and i like my way, being able to choose so freely! its so liberating! ------------------------- good enough for the boys we date 4. Sounds fun, think i'd like to live like that! ------------------------- World champions 22nd November 2003 5. I started working after I graduated. We're now 5 years later, and I slowly started to realise that life was a bit more than a my job here. So I recently decided that the money I saved in the past years will be used to make a RTW trip of at least a year. My job, I really don't care about. No problem for me to quit it. I just look forward to my journey, and what happens afterwards I really don't know. We'll see... It's pointless anyway to plan the future so far ahead. Who knows what possibilities you encounter during such a trip... ------------------------- .:: A story never loses in the telling ::. 6. i am a physician. I take several vacations per year and focus on an area. This year I took two weeks in Spain, two weeks in Russia (Moscow and Petersburg) with my son and then 4 weeks in Russia (along the TransSiberian route to Novosibirsk and then into Altai) and I'm about to leave for 2 weeks in Europe (based in Geneva). Then another two weeks in December with my kids and my husband to Phoeniz, Arizona and environs. I use frequent flyer miles to travel. And I collect those by paying for college tuition for two kids plus other expenses. I work for myself and have a great guy who is always willing to cover for me while i am gone. I have been in practice for almost 20 years and my patients know my schedule and generally when I will be out of town. Plus I have an indulgent husband. ;-) Ruth 7. I'm a secretary. Don't get paid an exceptional amount, but I do know how to save. It takes me around a year to save for a one year RTW trip. I only work one job (here in Australia they tax you so high if you have two jobs that its simply not worth it). I have gym membership, I still buy clothes, I go out with friends once or twice a week, I have lunch with the girls once a week, and do all the usual stuff. But I don't have a car, I share a flat (apartment) with a friend, I don't have a mobile (cell) phone, and I live close to work so have no transport costs. For my between-trips holidays I go somewhere that's close to home but relaxing. BTW I don't get how students can afford it either. 8. I'm a PA to the head of legal in an animation company. Don't earn enought to travel but have money handed down from grandparent's wills which is taking me travelling- I figure that they wouldn't mind me spending it on that! 9. I work at a bank right now as an auditor and I'm taking advantage of a career change to travel. I am going back to school for psychology but decided to wait until next fall so I could travel for six months. I make decent money but I picked up a second job at a bar to save up quickly. By the time I leave (early January), I will only have saved and worked both jobs for about 7 months. I had zero savings when I started. The sacrifice of working two or three shifts a week has been totally worth it since I don't have to live like a pauper and can still go out with friends. 10. I work at a ski resort in North America for 7 months out of the year. As soon as our season is over (usually end of May) we have our tickets booked and we are off!!! Usually to Asia and a nice beach, you must save alot during the season, but it's worth it. 11. I'm a nurse. I work most weekends, do extra nights and occasional overtime. I also have a second job that I do anywhere from 1 shift a week to 4 ( depending on how energetic and holiday-hungry I am).The money adds up quickly. I've been fortunate to have 5 O/S trips in the last 4 years - some are for work related conferences, so I get some $$ back at the end of the financial yr. I work 12 hour shifts and have a reasonably flexible roster- using 2 weeks of leave and days off either side, I can have almost a month off at a time. A few sacrifices here and there add up. ------------------------- Everytime I hear the word 'exercise', I wash my mouth out with chocolate 12. I work managing youth welfare service contracts - helping homeless, abused or just plain overwhelmed teenagers mostly. I get paid an okay amount and can access pretty good paid and unpaid holiday entitlements, so I travel fairly often. Problem is, I like my job and it can be hard to make the time to take advantage of those good holiday perks! ------------------------- "There is no problem so complex that it cannot simply be blamed on the pilot" — Dr Earl Weiner 13. I also used to work in a bank and then in an audit company for 4 years. They are supposed to take me back when I come back, but if it would be right now, I wouldn t be starting this job again (I dont know what I woud do though...) I started saving 1,5 year ago and I hopefully saved enough to travel one whole year without working. But, I ve been on the road for 4 months now, and expenses are always bigger than the forecasts :) 14. basic thing : work some - save some - travel some ; i found out there was no point anymore aiming at a specific career, for downsizing is global (from unskilled labour forces to overpaid company executives...) and the System is difficult to beat... i chose, much to my fatehr's dislike, to have my kicks before this whole world goes down, to paraphrase Jim Morrisson, in other words not to let the system catch me and eat me alive ; trying to stay human ; besides that, it's getting difficult in europe (i'm from france) to escape racist phenomenons : try and find some news overview of how the polls have turned out in european politics in the last few years : right wing extremist parties rise in the turn-outs, tv, mass media and advertising has gotten us to be scared of the future, terrorists attack on western icons and the way world economy works (getting rid of local labour to enslave asian or african underpaid children, to name but a practice) has created a general atmosphere of losing grip ; i can hear my parents talk of how it used to be and how it's now + am trying to follow the news and trying to fit the pieces together ; what i come up with is something i don't really want to sign up for, so i'm looking for ways to escape the draft : i don't buy no useless stuff (tv or dvd or what do i know, new shoes every other week...) and definitely hope to find a place i'd feel confortable enough to live in, where people don't run in circles - it's a mad world and i'm trying to make a difference ------------------------- i only own my mind - i am mine (Pearl Jam) 15. i'm lucky in that my career involves travel. I'm an ESL(English as a Second Language) teacher and have taught in Korea, Taiwan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. During my time in these countries I have had plenty of time to visit surrounding countries. ------------------------- See the Bombers fly up up! 16. Students do it by deferring their studies. You take a whole year off uni, work full time (often several jobs)for the first 6 months or so, living with mum and dad so it's easy to save, and then travel for the next 8 or 9 months, until uni starts again. While working, you have for the first time in your life a half-decent (ie non-casual) income, so you can apply for and get one (or many) credit cards. When your cash runs out, you just keep making more and more cash advances on your cards until they're "empty", then you come home, heavily indebt, and spend the next many years of student life poverty-stricken servicing/ignoring your debt. That's my story anyway. Ahhh....this is the life. But yeah, i think it's easier for students, we have less responsibilities. 17. But if you choose your study subject well its possible to combine work and travel! I work with wildlife, get paid OK so can take some holidays if I want but are usually content just deciding where in the world I want to work and organising it. Nothing beats living in a place for a while and maybe taking holidays to nearby places.