A one way flight to anywhere? (What should I do with my life?)

November 13, 2013 1:30 PM

I'm recently back from a long trip through South America, but my travel lust is hardly satiated. I have some savings left, and I'm desperate to take off again. Is this a good idea? And if so, where should I go next? Details inside.

I'm a 23 year old solo female traveler. I quit my job (and life) in NYC to travel-it was my first solo, long-term trip, and I fell in love with South America and even more so, the vagabond lifestyle. I no longer want to work in an office and drink fancy cocktails, but I want to travel travel travel-whether it's actively backpacking or living and working in a foreign country.

I moved out of NY and now I'm at my parent's house, not paying rent and trying to figure out what to do next. I have about 10K left in savings-which seems like enough to go on another long trip, especially one where I will try harder to look for ways to stay away-renting an apartment, teaching English, working on a farm, whatever. I'm pretty determined to make this my long-term life, traveling and writing and blogging and photographing. I'm wondering, what's the best thing to do now to get closer to there?

My options:

1. I could stay at home, getting a job and saving up so that I can sustain a much longer trip and still give me a bit of a cushion. I'm pretty okay with using up most of my savings, though I'm not sure it's the best idea. I also know that in the long term, staying home a while longer won't ruin a future life of traveling, but it's really hard to stay when I don't absolutely have to.

2. I could go back to Ecuador, where I found a city that I felt like I could live in, and find a job teaching English there, or maybe even just rent an apartment and write. A boy I fell in love with while traveling is volunteering on a farm elsewhere in Ecuador, and it'd be wonderful to see him again and try working on a farm (even though I'd probably be awful at it and there's no guarantee that he will be a lover again).

3. I go could go somewhere else in South America, Argentine or Chile, where I hadn't made it down, same opportunities of job finding/starting a life abroad. Or Mexico (which I'm very close to) and Central America.

4. I could go somewhere else in the world altogether. This is really tempting, and I could try to start the travel-writing project I want to eventually become a sustainable way to live. Istanbul and the Middle East, Italy? Or any suggestion you might have! I'm looking for places that are good for long term travel (on my budget), and especially if they are good for finding work while traveling or for living in for a while. I'm not very interested in South East Asia, because it just seems too much of a traveling/partying experience, and I'm seeking a different kind of experience, but maybe I'm wrongly biased.

I'm slightly worried about traveling again right away because I'm afraid that I'll spend all of my money and end up in the same situation as I am now, only worse because I won't have savings to fall back on. On the other hand, I think being away and forced to find new ways to sustain my travel might be the way to actualize my vague ideas. At home, it's far too easy to spend my time fantasizing but not doing anything to make the fantasy a reality...

I'm also notoriously terrible at making decisions, and right now this feels like a somewhat decisive one. Your thoughts, please?

posted by lightgray to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

You sound like a great candidate for ESL work. You could go back to the place you liked in Ecuador, or you could look into placements in Asia or other parts of the world. Most likely -- unless you just turned up somewhere and gave casual lessons -- you would be committing to a year contract, in return for being paid a living wage that might even allow you to save money (depending on where you go) and which would give you a base of operations from which to do more traveling.

FWIW I spent about $2000 backpacking in Italy and Slovenia for two weeks a couple years ago. $10,000 is really not enough at all for any significant time playing vagabond in Europe, unless you can line up a job or really love WWOOFing.

You also may want to look into the Australian youth worker visa, which allows Americans under 30 to live and work in Australia. I am still kicking myself that I didn't find out about this till I was 29.
posted by Sara C. at 1:45 PM on November 13, 2013

Well, I'll plug teaching in South Korea since I did it so long. Not terrible pay plus housing, health insurance and pension included, a pretty neat place to live. If you were in NYC, you'll probably like Seoul. I preferred Daejeon because I was half way between Seoul and Busan and you could either place in an hour by high speed train (a bit over 30 bucks one way).

You'll need to start by getting an FBI background check which can take about 2 months.

I don't know about teaching in Europe. When I looked into it, it seemed like they wanted TESOL certifications from a brick and motor program. Korea (and China and Hong Kong) will take you with a bachelors.

If you want more details on the different kinds of teaching gigs in Korea, memail me. I'm happy to chat.
posted by kathrynm at 1:47 PM on November 13, 2013

Check to see which cities in South America/Central America that interest you have English-language newspapers -- you could find some paying work with them. Also, working in the tourist industry is a good way to make a living while working overseas.
posted by megancita at 1:50 PM on November 13, 2013

I worked for ECC in Japan, and highly recommend them (and Japan!). Japan does not require a CELTA, so it's a good way to test it out before you invest in the certificate (if you're hesitant). You could also look into the JET program. I picked up some private classes on the side, and a friend taught yoga on the side, etc... with reasonable hours and decent pay it's a good chance to pick up another skill that easy to transport or can be done remotely (web/computer stuff would be good too).

I was also offered a job by GEOS (and almost took it - they seemed good to work for too*), and they have a program where you work at the same school for your first two years (maybe just one year?), and then after that you can move to any other their other schools - and they have schools all over Asia.
(*At Geos the teachers sell the textbooks directly to the students, whereas at ECC all the stuff is handled by the school staff.)

Everything I've heard is that it's hard to find paying teaching jobs in developing countries, and most of Europe requires a CELTA... maybe this has changed? Also, you won't make money woofing - but it WILL decrease your costs and it's a great way to stretch things out. A long term woof-ing arrangement covering room + board and a few private English students could work.

Have you considered being an au-pair or nanny? If you find a good family, it's a pretty good gig too, and having an au-pair/nanny is much more common outside of the US. Also: adventurenannies.com

Word of warning: If you end up partnered or married to someone not from your home country, you will end up spending many - if not all - of your vacation/travel resources visiting home! Oh, the irony... (Well, unless you *hate* your folks - but it doesn't sound like you do!)
Feel free to memail me.
posted by jrobin276 at 2:29 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]