Travel or Career?

I love that there are so many people travelling now. My social media feeds are swarming with the most amazing travel photos from around the world, it’s impossible not to miss it.

I have met so many people whilst travelling that have quit amazing careers, have sold their homes and left the foundations they built for many years to see the world.

There’s not one person I have met that has ever regretted going travelling. It’s very rarely a last minute life choice and so the travellers you meet have thought a lot about it and planned their trips – believe me the planning ought to be a job in itself!

During my first proper job interview I remember telling them I would only be staying for a year or two because I was saving to go travelling. It was the plan ever since being at University and I’m so glad it became a reality of mine.

Now I’m home having had the most amazing trip backpacking around SE Asia and Australia and finding myself back at the starting point. What do I do now?

So many of my friends are building their careers and doing really well, and though I would never change the choices I made, I wonder if I hadn’t been travelling where would I be now in terms of my career?

Would I still be sitting in my Mum’s kitchen gulping down pint-sized mugs of tea and eating tons of chocolate whilst catching pre-recorded crime dramas on the sofa? Or would I be out grabbing the bull by the horns, earning decent money and having a busy fun life? (That’s how I would imagine it, but I slightly blame Sex and The City for that).

I guess ultimately I’ll never really know – chances are I’d still be in the same job I was in wishing I were doing anything else. So in the long run it probably doesn’t matter, and more importantly I do believe I’ll still get the career that I want, just maybe a little later than I had planned. (Ugh plans never work anyway!).

Also, I believe you can get a career at any age. There are so many people that change their careers throughout their lives or have children and find a career at a later time. I suppose there is no age limit so I have a pretty good chance of sorting my life out at some point – alleluia!

So if the question ever came to me about whether I would travel or stay and get my career, then I would book my flight in a heartbeat. As scary as the future is, and as hard as it might be to get to where I want to be, the experience you get from travelling is second to none and a choice I would make a thousand times over.

If you can travel, then don’t hesitate! Life always has a way of working out anyway. (Don’t quote me on that though, just incase).