For the past year and a half, I spent 40% of my income on travel. How much I earn, that’s not important. Keep in mind that I got to see places like Egypt, Marrakech, Barcelona, Prague, Vienna, Istanbul, Florence, and so on. We’re talking about a mixture here, not a continuous travel adventure, with return flights and accommodations for a few nights, not weeks on end.
Which means I’m not a full-time traveller. Hence the 40% thing. I am an avid traveller who’s going away as much as he can. This year, I was away at least once every month with the exception of January. By the end of the year, I’d total 8 international trips and one big home country trip. That’s my best year so far I guess.
In total, I’ve visited 20 countries. I am on my way to visit two more in the coming months. A while back, people used to ask me about my school or job as a journalist when they’d see me. When people see me on the street today, they ask me where I’m going next. Nothing about my job, my news stories or my blogs. They just see my travels on Instagram or Facebook and are curious about them.
Travel is something that I love not just because of the destinations, but because of everything else involved. The flights, the busses, trains, taxi rides, the people and the culture, the food and drinks, the hidden spots, local grubs, the dances and singing. The main squares, the hidden alleys, the forbidden paths.
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Travel is what keeps me going
The reason why I spend close to 40% of my total income on travel is quite legitimate if I look at it. If someone who’s not into travel would take a look at my sheet, they’d say I’m at least crazy. Why would you spend nearly half of all of your money on flights, accommodations, transport, tickets and food, when you could just sit at home, buy a new car, enjoy the ultimate technologies and do something else with the money you worked so hard for?
Because I believe in the experience more than in the material. We get here on Earth with nothing and leave with nothing. At the end of our time here, regardless if you’re on a wooden bed with no mattress or on the most luxurious bed ever made, you’re still going to depart momentarily. In those moments, which all humans fear but also wonder about the most in their lives, I have one goal, to have no remorse about not experiencing enough places.
It all started with travel
If it weren’t for travel and the natural wanting of exploration that humans have always had, we would’ve never had the chance to discover our own world. Maybe you’ve heard of cool dudes like Marco Polo or Christopher Columbus. They’re the ones who’ve made travel into not just a pleasant way to spend your time, but into a necessity. They’ve literally expanded the horizons of the world by travelling and exploring the unexplored.
For me, travel is not just about exploring the unexplored on the outside, but within myself as well. It’s about breaking my own barriers, facing my fears and growing as a human being. Nothing makes you live a livelier life than travel. Nothing sets you up more for happiness than knowing and seeing the world. Feeling it, sensing it, praising it. Try it once or twice and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
[…] My eternal problem? Money. Not so much money money, but savings. I suck at money management. No really, I heavily suck at savings. I make good money, yet I’m broke when it comes to savings. Why? Because I’m an impulsive buyer with a very expensive hobby: travel. For the past two years, I’ve spent close to 40% of my income solely on trips. […]