This article is not to announce the blog’s two-year anniversary, but to tell you that it has been two years since I returned from my 18-month round the world trip; in fact, it has been exactly 25 months since I came back to France. In this article, I will tell you how since that return, I have been trying to satisfy my desire to travel and how I continue to pursue my dream.
Already two years
I returned in May 2011, my last destination was Germany. I had initially started with Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and finally South Korea. Before this long trip, I had been on a short stay in the USA and took advantage of my 2-month break before starting work by traveling for 1 month in Thailand.
Since I returned, I travel several times a year:
- 2011: Thailand, Berlin, Amsterdam.
- 2012: Stockholm, Copenhagen, Vienna, Beijing, Japan, and Berlin.
- 2013: Dubai, Bali, Berlin.
I try to continue my travels by taking vacations abroad. I will also be leaving in August, November, and December, but I don’t have destinations planned yet (probably China in August).
You might say I have plenty of vacation and that I travel a lot, which is true, but I make it happen.
How to pursue your travel dreams
I have been working since September 2011 and apart from expenses for traveling and going out partying, I hardly spend anything:
- I have had my laptop for 5 years.
- I don’t have a smartphone nor internet on it.
- I rarely go to restaurants and prepare my food every evening.
I try to limit my expenses as much as possible even though my party budget is huge :D.
In February 2012, I also created this blog, then another in May, and other sites in July and October. I have no less than ten sites that I monetize, although I have about twenty sites on standby. I work a lot, more than 25 hours the first year and have slowed down to about 15 hours per week.
I am quite curious, I train myself every day and learn new things daily.
For 2 years, I have been regularly going to Germany to improve my German; I have spent a total of 1 month over 2 years there, which I think is pretty good.
This is what I undertake to try to pursue my dream.
I want to do a round the world trip in 2014.
2014 is the year I turn 30, which is in a year and a half since I was born at the end of the year; this means the end of the possibility to get working holiday visas since most visas are for people under 31 years old. What I want to do during this round the world trip:
- Work in Canada at a winter resort,
- Travel in the USA and South America,
- Learn Spanish for several months living in a Latin city,
- Go back to Australia for some time to relive what I experienced 5 years ago,
- Then work either in New Zealand, South Korea, or Taiwan if there is a possibility to get a visa there, or live in Beijing for several months to learn written Chinese,
- Travel in Asia in general,
- Finish by returning via the Trans-Siberian Railway and travel in Europe.
This is a program that is supposed to last several years and at the moment, I don’t know if I will be able to accomplish it, but as they say, hope keeps dreams alive. In any case, I try to do everything possible to make it happen and I think I will fulfill part of these projects because with the experience I have, it seems quite feasible.
If I continue to develop my websites and diversify the types of monetization, I will be able to work and travel at the same time.
And you, what do you think of what I have accomplished and what awaits me in the future?
