Last year I sacked off my job and moved to Ecuador on my own. I didn't do it out of a need to be healed or to find myself or to do some Julia Roberts shit in a monastery (although eyes peeled for Javier Bardem at all times), but because hey, I wanted to have an adventure outside of the Piccadilly line.
All the clichés about loving it so much you never want to leave, wanting to stay forever in every single place you visit, meeting more drunk 18-year-olds than at an A-level results party, and encountering so many Germans (seriously, is Germany empty?) are true. But I found there to be a few more unexpected surprises that other travellers I chatted with had experienced, too.
People expect you to have ‘a reason’ for going (and most think it’s because you’re having a breakdown)
'Travelling is fucking brilliant and everyone’s just fucking jealous' was my elegantly formed conclusion to this. Upon breaking the news that I was leaving my desk and heading off to a volcano for a bit, only a handful of people didn’t scrunch up their faces and ask me “why?”. You don’t need to have a reason for wanting to rack up a serious wedge of credit card debt and swan off to the abroads to experience the wonder of the bloody WORLD, so don’t let yourself be guilted into having one by people who can’t fathom why on earth you’d want to press pause on a life of working until 10pm before downing a desperate bottle of Campo Viejo at your desk.
Photo: Michel Kimkongrath
Thus, not everyone will be completely thrilled about your impending adventures
Just because heading off to the sunshine with nothing but flip flops and a mind braced for 50 bed dorms is your dream, doesn't mean it's everyone else's. Some people will look down on you for “throwing away your career” (you aren’t, you’ve had a job, you’ll get another one if you want to), others will just be nonchalantly abstaining from the buffet cart on the Excitement Train. Let's face it, travelling is easier than ever now and you're not the first person in the world to do this, but don’t let that hold you back from dancing at the thought of your trip. You do you.
Photo: Sam Wheeler
Once you're away, you'll quickly realise that budget-friendly is not a compromise for safety
The bed in the hostel that's £2-a-night and serves up a (questionable) free breakfast will make your money stretch a lot further, but a bed in the £10-a-night hostel that has a properly locking bedroom door and isn't right next to a dodgy roadside will make you go a lot further. Suck it up.
Photo: Getty
You'll slowly turn into David Attenborough.
You've just come from a busy job where your brain was whirring 24/7. Now you're soaking up encyclopedias of knowledge about the natural world, and the only info your brain has to absorb is "what kind of bird lives in that tree." Before you know it, you can reel off wingspans and rock formation facts like your poor geography teacher only wished you could in Year 9. It's awesome. You'll also start to seriously consider a new career working on nature documentaries.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC
After a while away, you'll take stock and be surprised about who you actually do not miss at all.
The mind wanders to a lot of weird-ass places when you're on your 11th nine hour bus ride, and you'll obviously think about your friends and family and relationships a huge amount. But one day you'll realise that, hey, you haven't heard from Sarah the entire time you've been away and hey, you used to hang out like three times a week when you were back home and hey, you don't actually give a fuck. Distance has a way of naturally telling your brain who and what to prioritise, and you'll figure out what really matters.
Photo: Meiying Ng
But you won't change and find yourself. You just won't.
If you're quitting a hectic job and busy lifestyle to sod off to a beach for a bit and maybe climb up some volcanoes, chances are that you don't need to discover yourself, you just need to be by yourself. You'll still be the same you, you'll just have some more freckles.
Photo: Ybrayym Esenov
Everyone else's Instagram feeds become a hilarious, sad little joke.
You will actually laugh out loud when you see your first "London being a beaut today #blueskies" underneath a sorry shot of co-workers crammed onto a corner of pavement outside a shit pub drinking £13 G&Ts next to a recycling bin. Privately enjoy this moment.
Photo: Luciano Ribas
That said, it’s ok if you don’t like it.
There’s no point sucking it up and being homesick for months if you’re just not feeling it – and hey, at least you figured out it was your job you needed a break from, not your life. Nobody Instagrams the days they’re feeling culture-shocked and lonely. Don’t put pressure on yourself to love it, and you’ll probably find that you end up loving it so much you’ll struggle to come back to reality. If you ever do.
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