Buying a One Way Ticket: Living Abroad and What It's Taught Me

It's not all picture-perfect Instagram-curated bliss

The new dream of our generation's "Roaming 20s" seems to be leaving the soul-sucking 9-5 to travel and live a life as a nomad. It was certainly the dream that called our names. We have had this desire to travel internationally together ever since we've been married, one that encouraged us to save enough over the past four years to leave our "mundane" life behind for a more exciting one abroad.

A little backstory:

Before we boarded our flight to New Zealand, I was working in a creative corporate job where I had been extremely burnt out for the past 8 months and ready to throw it all away. My husband was working as a freelancer, taking on multiple gigs to help save as much as we could in a short amount of time to be able to depart when our lease ended in Dallas.

We are individuals who yearn for change, when we are doing the same thing for an extended period of time, we get restless and tend to question the purpose of life. This is why we are known to try to pack up and move cities every few years. The fact we had been living in Dallas for a fourth year since moving during Covid had us desperate to scratch that travel itch.

Back in 2021, our first year of marriage, I actually suffered a pretty big knee injury. One that resulted in 3 knee surgeries, months of rehab, and the realization that my active lifestyle could change at any moment. This injury was a bit of a catalyst to truly focus on saving the next few years so that my knees and I could make it up the hills we wanted to climb around the world. Fast forward to buying that one way ticket and I am happy to report that my knees have held up! 🙌

On the outside, it may look like we are living the "life of our dreams", but even living out your dream life has many layers that need to be pulled back. So here are the realistic no-fluff things that I have learned about what it truly is like upending your whole life & moving abroad.

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED:

Traveling Doesn't Fix All Your Problems

One issue I have with Instagram travel vloggers is the projection in a highlight reel where traveling fixed all their problems. You may have seen the all too familiar: "I didn't need therapy, I just needed to leave America" videos showcasing them living their best lives in another country. Mental disorders are real medical issues and usually can't be cured by the purchase of a plane ticket. Putting travel or "running away" as the means to heal your disorders can set you up for failure. I know from experience.

I also fell victim to allowing these highlight reels to shape my expectations. Thinking this trip would help with my struggles with my recent diagnosis of PMDD left me even more broken and empty, realizing that my struggles traveled all those miles with me. Give yourself grace, overcoming struggles will take time & that is OKAY.

This doesn't mean traveling won't change you. Travel forces you to step outside your comfort zone and doing so will teach you things about yourself. It may show up as an anxiety attack when you can't seem to understand the city the FIRST TIME, but next thing you know you slowly get more comfortable and end up figuring it out. Sometimes you don't even realize how far you have come, and its important to look back at that newbie traveler who was riddled with anxiety. Now she steps onto public transportation as a natural, not phased that she doesn't understand every single word the conductor is saying. ☺️

Exploring around Amsterdam

Planning Is Nice...But Won't Always Work

Things will not go according to plan, plan on it. As I am writing this post, we currently find ourselves in a situation where we have had to adapt our plans numerous times just in the past 12 hours due to natural disasters, and currently have no idea where we'll be heading in two weeks when our Thailand visa expires.

We once were planning on spending 2 months in Indonesia, but had issues extending our visa online and had to make a mad dash to vacate the country within 24 hours. This immensely stressful and disheartening event allowed us to visit and explore a country we didn't originally have on our plan. Malaysia ended up being one of our favorite countries in Southeast Asia, memories and experiences we wouldn't have made without having the mishap of our visas!

Your Friends and Family May Not Understand You

This one is a hard one. We are social creatures and the idea that those you love most dearly may not understand your passion or drive or misunderstand your new life is tough. Something that is important to remember is: we create our understanding and worldview based on our own experiences. So when you venture to other places where you experience things that are unknown to your community back home, it can change you in ways that they won't understand because they didn't live through it beside you. Their worldview is made up of their experiences, yours, now that you left, will realistically be different.

I remember when we pitched this global backpack trip to our families - yes, I had a PowerPoint presentation as a visual aid - thank you college for teaching me one useful skill. 😆

I knew my family needed as much information as we could provide because this was such an unknown world to them. The highlight of the presentation was how in the Q+A my mom questioned: "Why are you saying you will be staying at "Hostile" places?"

After a good laugh we were able to reassure them and explain what "Hostels" are and how great they are for budget travel. Even in this example you can see little things that are outside of our worldview - hostels aren't very common knowledge as Americans especially in the generations older than Millennials - can cause some misunderstandings.

✨ It's WORTH It ✨

This is why I believe the friends you make while traveling are life giving friendships. These are the people you bond over shared experiences and worldviews. The friends we have made while backpacking have made this trip truly remarkable and given us more reasons to travel to meet up with them! Deep friendships that you would never have made if you hadn't ventured outside of your comfort zone + zip code. There are people like you out there, you aren't alone, you just have to go out there and find them. Who knows, you may even find yourself in the process!

Even though it may not be perfect, taking the leap into the uncomfortable is where life truly happens. Sure, you may not have a job lined up for when you return, but money will come and go... time will not.

We aren't condoning just buying a plane ticket with no plan and winging it. It took us years to gain up the courage and finances to take this leap as best as we could. Plan well, but be adaptable.

Life is too short to wonder "what if" so if you have ever had the desire to travel, buy that ticket. You will be so glad you did! :)

Don't know where to start find all our tips & tricks of how to Backpack the Globe HERE!