Any help???
Any help???
I have been saving for the last 6-7 months to go travelling around SE Asia and then to NZ starting in June time next year.
Talking to my mum and sister last night they have said that its a waste of money and time to go travelling and that i should be saving to move out and own a house!
Im now really confused on what to do, do I
A: save and move out just for my parents sake or
B: save and go travelling as I intened to?
Any help or advide would be great!!!!
Hey i was planning on going travelling when i was 19 met my ex, and 4 1/2 yrs down line split up, i regretted not goin earlier and now im nearly 24, im planning on going next year to america, australia, NZ, fiji & thailand, but hate the fact i didnt go earlier.
You will regret not going, so live your life and do it whilst you still can :)
How much research and planning have you done? The best way of convincing them is to show that your plans are considered and reasoned. Show them what you plan to do, what you will gain and how serious you are about it. Check out Tom Griffith’s ‘Virgin Travellers Handbook’; he has a whole chapter about handling parents and friends. At the end of the day there will always be doubters, but if you have the desire to travel, then stick to your convictions and do it. Life isn’t a race, you’ve got plenty of time to do sensible things and settle down.
You will only get one answer to that question on this website: DO IT!
‘Normals’ back home will usually talk like this about travelling, saying it’s a waste of time etc. Ignore them and let them live their boring lives in their boring 9 -5 jobs in their boring towns where they stay for their whole boring lives doing the same boring things until they die a boring death. That’s what most of my friends back home are like and they don’t ‘get’ travelling.
In all seriousness though, your family will be worried, and rightly so to be fair… especially since you’re female. You just have to do your best to reassure them. Show them statistics, photos of happy trips people take, examples of mutual friends who have successfully travelled etc, use your imagination. What you must not do though is cave in and do what they say. It’s natural that they want to keep you close, but you will never be able to suppress that desire to get out there and explore the world. The sooner they understand that you mean business, the better. Clipping your wings will do you no good at all.
GO.
Go.
For the past 2 years my mum has been telling me I should get a flat, rent it out and then travel.
Errr am I rich? I don’t think so.
There’s plenty of time for mortgages. Travel now while your younger and before you get a house and kids and have much bigger responsibilities to fund.
Im the same as sweet. I had my trip all booked to go when i was 19, met the ex and 5 years later we split up. I regret not going travelling everyday. Im going next year when i will be 26 and i plan on making the most of it.
You will only get one answer to that question on this website: DO IT!
‘Normals’ back home will usually talk like this about travelling, saying it’s a waste of time etc. Ignore them and let them live their boring lives in their boring 9 -5 jobs in their boring towns where they stay for their whole boring lives doing the same boring things until they die a boring death. That’s what most of my friends back home are like and they don’t ‘get’ travelling.
In all seriousness though, your family will be worried, and rightly so to be fair… especially since you’re female. You just have to do your best to reassure them. Show them statistics, photos of happy trips people take, examples of mutual friends who have successfully travelled etc, use your imagination. What you must not do though is cave in and do what they say. It’s natural that they want to keep you close, but you will never be able to suppress that desire to get out there and explore the world. The sooner they understand that you mean business, the better. Clipping your wings will do you no good at all.
Yeah, what Lunny said!
My mum was like this before we left 2 years ago, so I just showed them what info I could, I showed them some stuff on these threads and facts on how many backpackers there actually are out there (mum genuinely believes there’s just a handful of foreigners in Asia and won’t believe otherwise, tough work trust me)
Now all she does is trawl through my photos and tells me how envious she is that she never had any chances like this when she was growing up. Now my mum CANT fly (and she won’t get on a boat) so she’s stuck. Don’t forget, most of our parents are probably from the era before backpacking took off, so they just don’t ‘get’ it.
My sister once had a go at me because I wouldn’t give her the Canadian money I had left over, she said I was selfish because “when would she ever get the chance to go there?”
I was like, WHAT!? Why not?Why will you never get to go there!? Crazy…
It’s YOUR LIFE, not theirs! Do what YOU want with it. I can honestly say it was the best decision I ever made, and now I’m back with a bigger perspective on life (and actually a much better idea of what I want to do with it).
Girls worrying about their age- I was 22 when we first left! My boyfriend is now 27 and I’m turning 25 in January. We’re both bouncing around ideas to use one or both of our OZ/NZ visas next years onwards, so please don’t fear you’re ‘too old’. If anything, the few years you’ve had to mature might make you appreciate it a whole lot more than if you’d gone at 18/19! :)
There will always be people that will say its a waste of time/ will ruin your job prospoects blah blah blah and plenty of crap like that.
If you want to do it you get out there and go see all the wonderful places you have been dreaming of. Its only money and you have plenty of time and years ahead of you to save some money for a house.
Lots of people tell me its a waste of time and a stupid thing to go and do but you need to do what ou want to do. Everyone i have ever spoke to who went travelling says its the best thing they have done and wish they had done it sooner.
I would suggest the best thing to do with your mum and sister is show them the route your going to be doing and even break it down to what you will be doing in certain places like bunjee jumping in queenstown , skydiving etc
Search for a film online called A map of saturdays its a brilliant travel film of a guy who has a good job but gives it up to travel the world
My Mum doesnt even know what country im in half the time. Its bliss!
My Mum doesnt even know what country im in half the time. Its bliss!
i expect its a good thing she doesnt want to know about all those lady boys you are chasing:)
Im the same as sweet. I had my trip all booked to go when i was 19, met the ex and 5 years later we split up. I regret not going travelling everyday. Im going next year when i will be 26 and i plan on making the most of it.
I’ve recently got out of a relationship and I have no intentions of getting in another! I want to be free and single when I travel. At least I can’t blame my ex for delaying my travels, that was because I ended up in a crappy pub job after uni and cudnt clear my debts, let alone save up for a trip. Now I’ve got a good job and I can save, it’s just a shame I seem to be going much later than I originally planned.
As for my parents….I think they’re aware of my desires to travel, my sisters have made comments about the travel books and magazines in my room and joke that ‘i’ll never save the money to go’ and my mums one of those people who sees the news and thinks i’ll get raped/pillaged/murdered etc in a foreign country that isn’t western european. Actually, she can’t even understand why I want to go to Amsterdam next month so that covers how narrow minded culturally my family are! I havn’t told them I’m going yet, I’ll leave it til late. Not sure how late, maybe the night before! lol :)
The best thing you can do is show your mum how organised and serious you are about the trip. I did that and my mum said she’d never seen me so organised about anything in my life and knew then it was the right thing for me.
[quote author=“Daniela12” date=“1350292898
As for my parents….I think they’re aware of my desires to travel, my sisters have made comments about the travel books and magazines in my room and joke that ‘i’ll never save the money to go’ and my mums one of those people who sees the news and thinks i’ll get raped/pillaged/murdered etc in a foreign country that isn’t western european. Actually, she can’t even understand why I want to go to Amsterdam next month so that covers how narrow minded culturally my family are! I havn’t told them I’m going yet, I’ll leave it til late. Not sure how late, maybe the night before! lol :)
My parents are the same. They think i should just stick to going to Spain for a two week holiday as at least i will be safe ha. I think they have entered the denial stage though aseverytime i try to bring it u they change the subject.
My friend has dropped out so im thinking about telling them that small detail when im about to board my plane because if i tell them before i think they may steal my passport
I have been saving for the last 6-7 months to go travelling around SE Asia and then to NZ starting in June time next year.
Talking to my mum and sister last night they have said that its a waste of money and time to go travelling and that i should be saving to move out and own a house!
Im now really confused on what to do, do I
A: save and move out just for my parents sake or
B: save and go travelling as I intened to?Any help or advide would be great!!!!
Save and go travelling! I’ve had it all before, “that money could go on a deposit” bla bla “what, Colombia?! Doesn’t every tourist there get kidnapped?” etc etc. It gets a bit tedious but you’ve got to do what you want to do.
And all that was in my early 20s, I’m now late 20s and going again in 2014 when I’ll be 30!
Girls- all mums are the same!
Whilst I was in Asia, there was an Easrthquake in South America somewhere, so the next time i skyped home (like a couple of days later) she asked if I was ok because she thought I was near there.
Showing her a world map doesn’t improve this-i’ve tried!
Although that’s not to take away from the fact you *could* get caught up in something. We narrowly missed volcanic eruptions, earthquakes (we did experience one, but the big one came once we’d left), Tornado warnings, train crashes and more. When I say narrowly missed, I mean generally by 2 or 3 weeks tended to be the pattern, it was like a bad omen following us around!
The tornado warning in the States shit me up the most though, I didn’t know thunder alone could actually make a building shake, that was pretty scary.
Sisters wise- I honestly think it’s envy. It takes balls to go travelling (especially solo, i’ve always been with my BF) so they probably wish they had the guts to do it. If they don’t and do genuinely think you’re stupid or mock you- then that’s narrow-minded and mean (soo, pretty much what sisters are like anyway?! ha )
PS- hope the disasters haven’t made any of you nervous, the world is a great place! =D
