The thought of travelling long-term, working overseas, living a nomadic lifestyle and trekking all over this wonderful world might sound like it’s always full of adventure and thrills, but the reality is that often the day-to-day life of a vagabond can be just as irksome and mundane as life back home.
Don’t let the romance blind you to the facts. Often I have found myself working for pathetic wages in low-level, boring jobs, living in tiny, dirty shared accommodation and putting up with poor management at work and strange house-mates at home.
However, no matter how bad the managers are, how messy the house-mates, how mind-numbingly boring the job, how meagre the salary, I often catch myself when I’m starting to get down about it and think to myself, yeah, but Rachelle look where you are … you’re in a ski resort in the Rocky Mountains/at the location of the highest tides in the world/in the only completely garrisoned city north of Mexico city/in a Bavarian city with the highest church in the world/at the location of the world famous Hahnenkamm ski race etc etc etc… I would not trade a good job & regular routine back in Sydney for being right here, right now…
The reality is, life as a nomad is definitely not all romance and adventure, far from it! Your life is going to be much, much more difficult and sometimes more unpleasant than life at home. You will at times feel isolated and lonely, far away from the people who love you and care about you, surrounded by strangers and new friends who may or may not last longer than a few weeks or months. You will have none of the security and creature comforts of home and rarely have anyone there to comfort you when things go awry.
If you want your travel adventures to last, it is important to prepare for this low aspect that comes with the nomadic life. Know yourself. What makes you happy and puts you back in a good frame of mind when things don’t go well? If you have some strategies in place before you set out, it will make it easier to get through the low points when they occur.
For me, I find going for a run always helps to clear my mind, put things back in perspective and keep me feeling happy…so I would never leave home without packing my running shoes. Good music also helps, so my phone is full of music that gets me back in a good mood. Don’t be ashamed to take a travel teddy either! I have one! You’ll find a large number of travellers have a teddy of sorts stuffed away somewhere in their backpack, any comfort from home is good when you’re feeling down, and besides, you can get really cute photos of your travel bear all around the world!
One of the best solutions during tough times is to go out! Do not just sit around dwelling on your problems or thinking of your friends and family back home, or looking at photos of home (one of the worst things you can do!). Force yourself to get out there, explore the place you’re in, do what it was you went there to do, remind yourself that you’re in another country! That on its own should be cool enough to lift your spirits!
The important thing is to be honest with yourself; there will be highs and lows overseas, just as you have highs and lows at home. However, in general those highs tend to be higher, and the lows tend to be lower when you are all alone and far away. Just be prepared for them when they come and ride through the storm, the reward is always worth it…