Why I Chose Travelling as a Job

Sometime in November 2015, when I was in the midst of seeking employment after graduating, I announced to my parents regarding a potential job offer that would take me overseas. They gave me the okay to try, and I went ahead with the long application process. Fast forward to the first week of February 2016, I received my flight ticket out of the country for departure in slightly more than a week.

It sounded like I needed my parents’ permission to get an adult job. No, I knew they would always try to support me, and I just wanted their input.

A few friends, whom I shared the news with, were probably thinking on the same lines and enquired, “How long would I be away? When would I get to return?” They were sceptical.

In this part of the world, the vast majority of people follow a specific route for success in life: get good grades in school, get a college/university diploma/degree, get a job, earn and save money for the future. Most of my friends have followed this path and are living the nine-to-five lifestyle. Some complain about the daily grind, some embrace the stability. Many, if not all, spend their working days looking forward to the weekends and, especially, the two weeks of annual leave – the gateway to travel.

In 2011, I started a degree course. I was stumbling, but still staying on that path in life. I had assumed I would also graduate and get a typical job, living the common way of life. I didn’t know any other way to live. I had no idea what I wanted as a goal in life, even whilst in my final semester of study.

Perhaps, when it was time for me to get into employment, it finally dawned on me that I was really daunted by the nine-to-five trap. Get up and ready early in the morning, take the long commute to work, face work (maybe overtime), make the same commute back home, and rest to repeat the exact routine the next day. Every workday, stressed at what’s euphemistically called rush hour, getting caught in slow traffic before getting to office. I had had enough of that during university.

Being a night owl further complicated matters.

Perhaps I have been trying to run away. Trying to run away from my problems, heartache, friends... Trying to escape life. University was the worst years of my life. I was failing in my course and having depression because of that. I kept wondering if I should continue with the course, if I should change course, if I should transfer school. If I could ever graduate. Everyone around me was enjoying university life while I was not. Everyone around me had entered corporate world while I had not.

I could leave the miserable place here and start life afresh somewhere new.

Perhaps I simply love travelling and have only realised this after a recent travel abroad. I had felt anxious during the trip knowing that I had to go home soon. I had felt anxious during some family trips when we were due to leave. I have disliked and felt exhausted trying to plan an itinerary down to the last detail and rushing around trying to see everything. I have read about distant lands and wondered what’s it actually like to experience the culture myself.

They say make your passion your job and you will never have to work a day in your life. Realistically, how about a job with travel perks?

Depending on the circumstances, sometimes I give one of those reasons as an answer, or sometimes I admit them all to be true. Whatever the reasons I took a job travelling overseas, planning to leave almost everything behind to do so was not something I have always decided. It is not something I have always worked to achieve. It’s tough and challenging to venture out on my own when I had never left home in my life.

You may say that you can work an office job and still travel the world through weekends, festive holidays and annual leave. My travel-loving friends, I know that’s what you all are doing. You make travel a priority and plan in advance (or you do it spontaneously).

What if I don’t want to wait a fixed time to buy a plane ticket through which to explore a country?

What if, due to predicament of sorts, I cannot afford to buy that ticket?

I have somehow managed to travel to a number of places since discovering the possibility of it. I don’t have to keep feeling stuck in a city, where I move building to building, air con to air con, café to café. Dragging myself out of bed in the morning for wayfaring isn’t as agonising as trudging to work. If I get burned out from work, I can escape into unknown territory off-duty, instead of waiting for months. I learn to work around my own pace, choosing to stay in or to wander out during my free time.

What excites me is breaking away from the conventional life, stepping out of the norm.

With a travelling job, I earn an income and fulfil my wanderlust.