I Quit My Job and Am Going to Travel for a YEAR
OMG just writing that has me freaked out.
Like seriously freaked. I AM GOING TO TRAVEL FOR A YEAR!! Or at least until my moolah runs out.
And I’m doing it solo…
Am I crazy?
Most people that I tell this to are happy for me, some are super nervous and scared for me, and others say…
“holy shit you’re brave.”
At this point I’m not sure if I’m brave or just completely crazy.
As the days get closer I’m leaning closer to cray.
To be completely honest, this has been something I’ve been thinking about doing for quite some time.
I started really getting excited about traveling about 4 years ago when I began traveling for work and getting to go to cool new cities to run marketing events. It also started when I realized that living in a big city next to an international airport is BADASS.
Thank you San Francisco.
So, as I experienced these new places, I started getting excited about the whole travel thing.
Then on my 26th birthday I decided I would actually try to start saving up for a year of travel.
I didn’t think I would actually do it, but I started telling a bunch of people in hopes that I couldn’t back out if people knew my plans.
This was actually quite key to me actually going on my trip. After telling anyone and everyone that I was thinking of doing this, I finally bit the bullet and created a travel fund. I started loosely saving and putting money away little by little. My goal was to have enough to go by my 27th birthday.
Fast forward to my 27th birthday…
WOMP WOMP… 🙁
I still didn’t have the funds I needed to go for a full year.
This bummed me out, but I was sooooo close to my goal that I knew if I kept trucking I could hit it.
A few months later I came home from a happy hour where I’d had a few martinis. Naturally, I got on Skyscanner.com and typed in SFO to “Anywhere” (if you haven’t used Skyscanner yet I highly advise you do).
After typing that in…
CAN YOU GUESS WHAT POPPED UP?!
A $200 flight to Iceland in September of this year (2016).
$200 flight direct from SFO to Reykjavik, Iceland on WOW Airlines!!!
*review of WOW Airlines here. *
I said “fu** it” and booked it.
The whole time I knew that if I cancelled the flight or the entire trip I was only wasting $200.
Fast forward to present day and I’m freaking out because I’m heading to Iceland in 15 days! HOLY SHIT.
I’m mainly tripped out because I’m going to be leaving a job I LOVE at a company I LOVE and a city I’m obsessed with.
It’s also not going to be easy to leave all my colleagues and friends I’ve made over the last 5 years…
The one thing that is making this a little easier for me is that I moved to San Francisco 5 years ago without a job and without knowing a single person and I turned out okay!
I think that experience in itself has given me enough courage to go on this wild adventure in the first place.
And…I’m really excited…and… I’m really nervous and…I’m leaving in 2 weeks!
So, it’s officially freak out time.
Okay, I’m done rambling…
If you’ve read this far you probs have some questions for me. I tried to answer the most common ones I get below, but feel free to comment if you have any others!
How much did you save to travel for a year?
$35k
How did you save that much?
Long story that I’ll write about later, but I basically put large chunks of my paycheck away each payday and stopped doing some of the luxurious things I once used to do like getting my nails done every 2 weeks, getting massages and going out drinking all the time.
What’s your itinerary?
It’s not set, but I’m going to Iceland first and then Germany for Oktoberfest. I’m also meeting friends in Thailand in January and Laos in Feb and then playing the rest by ear!
What will you do when you get back?
No clue. Im trying to keep my options open!
Are you afraid?
Yes, very. But also SOOO PUMPED.
Are you seriously doing it alone?
YES! But I’m meeting people in a few places and I know I’ll meet lots of people on the road.
READ MORE: 9 Painless Ways to Make Friends While Traveling Solo
What are you going to pack?
FML. I’ll try and do a post on packing later, but I’m not even close to being packed and I’m nervous for this part. As of now I’m bringing 1 60L backpack and a smaller daypack. Right now I’m following my friend Amy’s packing list from Take Me to Murch blog who just got back from an around the world trip.
What are you doing with your apartment and furniture/stuff in San Francisco?
I’m sadly giving up my beautiful rent controlled apartment *tear* and selling all of my furniture and putting a few boxes in storage. More money for the road!
How did you quit your job? How did your boss handle it?
It wasn’t easy to actually quit my job because I love it and love the people I work with, but once I did it the weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I told my manager about 2 months in advance because she was going on her honeymoon and wanted to give her enough time to prep. She was really happy for me as was the rest of my team. After I quit, everything started falling into place and they quickly came up with a reorg/replacement plan. Moral of the story: you can be replaced at your current job. I know the fear of letting your team down ties a lot of people to their job, but you gotta DO YOU and everyone else will figure it out.
How long has it taken you to plan everything?
I really started doing errands/stuff for my trip about 6 months out. Mainly making sure I had credit cards, doctors appt’s, shots, and passport renewal sorted among a million other things. 🙂
Did you buy an Around the World (RTW) ticket?
No, I wanted to be flexible and didn’t want to have to pick flights and dates ahead of time like you do with the RTW ticket. I did a lot of research on the RTW flight vs. booking on your own and chose to book myself because of the flexibility. I think it might actually end up being cheaper in the long run with way less restrictions!
Look out for more posts on the questions above and feel free to follow along as I travel for a year:
Instagram: @travelingspud
Twitter: @traveling_spud
Facebook: The Traveling Spud
Pinterest: The Traveling Spud
How exciting! Can’t wait to follow along.
Best wishes~
Lynette
I am seriously so excited for you! Matt and I have plans of traveling overseas next summer, maybe we can meet up! I will be following your journey Katie! Have so much fun!
UMM yes! Let me know where you’re planning on going and we must meet up!
Hi Katie
I came across your site and love it, my husband and I are planning to travel to Europe for 3 months next January 2021 we hope to begin our adventure. Looking fron some advice in where to start.
He has saved up some money and we are ready to just do it. We are both leaving our jobs, will pay our mortgage and bills in advance, my parents will care for our home. My kids are now 24 and 16, we want to do it while we are relatively still young both in our 50s.
Is exciting but overwhelming! ☺
Exciting! I love to hear it. I think the main place to start is to create the main things you want to do and plan around those things! Figure out how much it will cost in each country and develop a budget based on that! Hope you have a blast! 🙂