In 2008, I quit my corporate job, sold off everything I owned and moved overseas with my husband Drew. Since then we've traveled around the world, started our careers over as creative types and nurtured our love of sleeping in late. Oh and we had a baby. Cole, our almost 2 year old has been traveling since he was four months old and probably knows more Thai than me (not that he brags).
Hired Nomad: When Traveling is Your Job
Today’s guest post is from Ross Garnaut, blogger at Lowfares.com
Ross is writing about something I’ve always been curious about: does traveling for your job, change the way you view travel? Could it ever lose it’s shine? Read on.
If you’d like write to guest post: contact Almostfearless with your story idea and a bit about yourself.
I was lucky enough to have traveling parents as a child, parents who loved to see the world, no matter the cost. They took me to England, to France, and to Japan, at an age when I was only beginning to appreciate these experiences. These travels made an impact on my life and made me choose travel – this meant interning at travel companies, writing about travel as much as I could, and spending much of my own free time and money moving around when it could have been spent elsewhere. I knew from a young age that traveling was something I had to do, always, forever, no matter what.
Since then, working at Lowfares and the more minor companies before it has been extremely rewarding. I have been to Singapore, China, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Canada, most of Europe, and deep into Brazil, whether to do travel writing, meet and discuss particulars with potential and current clients, or to go on vacation. Luckily, when I did much of my travels to other countries, I was able to write it off or use my industry connections to get discounts.
Despite this, being a travel professional isn’t always bright smiles and great experiences.
A constant, lingering loneliness can often carry with you on the road. You miss your family your friends, and even when you consider yourself a social butterfly, there is a definite disconnect from society when you approach a new friend with “Hello” and they respond with “Nee-hao!”.
My job as a travel professional has fluctuated, but through most of it, I have been a writer.
Unfortunately, this can accentuate the loneliness. When your predicament is great, you spend your time at home next to your kids, reflecting on what you’ve visited. When it’s good, you spend your time looking out at something beautiful you’ve never seen, typing. When it isn’t, you’re stuck in a dirty, mucky room with one English channel and no pictures, pounding on a laptop without an internet connection. Sometimes, this is for the best, as it can help you best reflect the murky reality of the slums of India, China and elsewhere. However, what sometimes makes for great writing also makes for an extremely depressed human being.
Takeoff is still nerve-racking, even after the 3,000th liftoff. No matter how much Superman says flying is still the safest way to travel, I don’t believe him. I’ve been through enough roller coaster flights and ridden with enough brain-dead pilots to believe otherwise.
I’ve realized that with travel, as it applies with everything, you can burn out. Travel 120 out of 160 days and you begin to wish that you didn’t have to do it so often, even if you love it. Travel is seen as a great thing because it is different, and it is different because we never do it. We have fun on Friday and Saturday nights most especially because it is such an infrequent event. If we had to drink every day for a week straight, you would most look forward to not doing the thing you loved doing so much.
But, just like that, when you take a break from the week straight of partying, you long for it again. I love travel, I just hate too much of it. The thing with being a travel professional is that sometimes you get too much.
Luckily, as I have moved onto Lowfares.com, my travel schedule has diminished and I have once again begun to enjoy waiting for baggage claim and experiencing two days of jet lag.
Really, the best bet for a travel professional is to choose your employer wisely – unfortunately, due to the high demand and small job market, few will have that luxury. Your best bet is to put in the work, become reputable, or just plain get lucky, and you will enjoy all the pluses – and so few of the minuses that come with traveling for a living.
Pics: maniya, migs212, eliotstyle