How Secure Are Your Life Goals Really?

Is travelling by yourself brave? Do you need courage to step into a plane that takes you to the other end of the world and step into the unknown without a solid plan? And where would your life goals take you?

Maybe.

What Makes You Brave?

It always makes me feel awkward when I meet women on the road who tell me I am brave. They would never do such a thing, they declare. Am I not lonely? Am I not scared? Do I not miss family and friends all the time?

I honestly am not. I am perfectly fine. Well, most of the time. But honestly, I was much more scared before I travelled.

I worried about what my boss would say. I worried what my colleagues thought. I not only worried about work, but things like grocery shopping, when to call friends (they are all so busy), my possibly non-existing rent, and so on. In short, I worried about the future and was completely capture by that nagging thought of failure.

I needed to move faster, be more successful, fulfil my life goals quicker.

But what were they again?

Five steps up the career ladder, a nice apartment , a new car, maybe a solid relationship. Well, I had none of that. Failure, right?

It didn’t help that at work I was told on a daily basis how inadequate I was, that I couldn’t find a flat (the most promising place was with a guy who washed the toilet seat in the dishwasher) and had no life outside of a work that made me feel incomplete anyway.

I didn’t even want to check facebook or talk to my friends who seemed to have it all together no matter how much they were complaining about well paid jobs or meeting their partner’s relatives.

But Even Dark Times Will Pass

And one day I realised none of it was my fault but all of it was my undoing and a result of me not doing anything against it.

I could no longer slave away during the day and creep into my little hole at night trying to scramble up pieces of dreams that felt so far out of reach. And I tried to remember and reflect. What had been my life goals again?

Why did I want a car in the first place? So I could explore the countryside. Where did I want to settle down? In a big cities with an airport so I could travel more.

I never wanted this kinda life. I wanted to work, I wanted to move and I wanted to travel. I wanted my life goals realised.

I really wanted to travel.

I wanted to feel passionate for what I was doing, no matter how hard it was. Was that too much to ask for.

And I wanted to find that big dreamer again that used to be me. Where had she gone to?

I made a decision. I would continue my job until the end of the contract in a few months and do the one thing I knew I loved and I was great at. And I would do it no matter what anyone else thought. They were busy with their lives and I should have been equally as busy at living mine.

So I decided to start living and I started travelling again.

But How Do You Make Your Dream Trip Come True?

For one, I gathered together my savings I had accumulated and that had waited for days that never came. I didn’t buy that car. I never bought that place. I had waited for something I never did. So I invested it in something I actually wanted.

Instead of driving I would use public transport and walk. Like I always did. Instead of buying a dream apartment, I would rent out different ones all over the world, waking up in a new city every week or so.

I did not know this at the time I searched for a flight from Germany to New Zealand. I knew I had to take one step after the other in the here and now. The future I would have to figure out first.

[su_quote]
Click to tweet on twitter: That’s the thing with travel. You can plan in advance and draw up plans but it never turns out the way you imagined. Never. @travel_brain[/su_quote]

That’s the thing with travel. You can plan in advance and draw up plans but it never turns out the way you imagined. Never. Kinda like your life goals. And that I had learned again and again. And so I would finally listen.

I decided I wanted to visit New Zealand and I would go in June. I started monitoring flights months in advance and looking at trends. I would not book to claim that flight but wait until the prices decreased.

I tried different holiday accommodation sites and decided to try something different. I would start ‘living’ in hostels and booked a YHA membership that offered me discounts and deals. It seemed like a good idea.

This international hostel organisation would later become my favourite so far and has hostels all over the world, such as the YHAs in Sydney or one the Hi Hostel in Richmond, USA. They can be just as nice as hotels but are much more social (and have a kitchen and free city guides).

I did even deeper research and found about great bus companies that offered insane deals. At one point I travelled between cities for $1 in New Zealand and the USA! This way, driving the US east coast amounted to only $96 for me and I travelled for 2 weeks straight.

How Travel Can Change You

But the more I learned how to save while travelling, the more I became obsessed with it. And my travel experiences became harder. If you travel for a long time like I did, you have to make cuts and live frugally in order to stay on the road.

But if you are planning just a trip and still want to watch your budget (and why wouldn’t you) but make the most out of it, then I can show you how. And the best thing is, afetrwards you can do the same yourself.

If you ask me, DIY travel is the best. You can tailor and tweak it however you wish and the proud feeling you get after realising you have put together your dream trip and seeing your dreams come true will give you all the fuzzy feelings.

Long story short, I out together a best of the best email crash course in travel planning. No more overspending and no more shoestringing either. It’s for those of you that want to make the best out of the budget you’ve got! Savvy, travelistas get your FREE Budget Like a Pro Course here.

[su_quote]Click to tweet: I just signed up for this awesome free course on #travelplanning. Get yours here: bit.ly/BCTcourse[/su_quote]

And so I decided to put it out there for FREE. All you have to do is sign up here (otherwise how am I gonna send my jampacked course emails to you?)