Last Updated: 5/24/21 | may 24th, 2021 (Originally posted: 6/20/12)
Remember last month when I composed about Jessica and how she’ll never get to Ireland?
Nee?
Dat is goed. read about her here and then come back.
OK, now that you’re back, I’d like you to meet someone similar to her.
Let’s phone call him “Bob.”
They’re different people but they’re two sides of the same coin. Whereas Jessica won’t travel because she is held back by the travel industry’s marketing, Bob is our citizen travel naysayer and held back by his own cynicism.
Bob (I’ve altered his name — both here and in his original comment) pertained to my attention when he responded to my blog post about how I make money and afford to travel. Hij schreef:
I like this – “Anyone can do it”… then we find he was able to save $20,000 before his first trip. a lot of of us are paying off student loans whilst juggling rent. See, folks? There’s always a lot more to it – former high-paying job or dealt with his parents so could save, a monetary gift from parents, taught English abroad, terminated or laid off, took a trip, in ideal place at ideal time & got hospitality job or teaching or gardening job. It’s all extremely individual. There is no formula that’s why nobody comes out and says. They want you to get something. This site doesn’t seem that big/popular enough to generate enough money to fly 25 times/year. My niece has a bigger blog than this. [Matt’s comment: OUCH!!!]
Like I said, everyone wishes to seem lucky. There’s always a lot more to it than any individual will let on. I’ve been to 20 countries, but that’s because I’ve had rich friends/lovers & affluent parents. I once had a job that took me places, too. Zie je wel? I stated it. That’s honest. No expensive books w/some secret. I’m not trying to sound lucky or like I know something because I’m not selling anything.
I don’t know Bob. He’s probably a great person and I’m not here to pick on him personally; I simply want to go over his line of believing because I believe it is shared by far as well many. people like Bob assume that someone need to first have some sort of assisting hand, that saving money in buy to travel can’t be as basic as I make it seem — and that I, and others like me, are just here to make a quick buck by selling a pipe dream!
Why Bob is completely Wrong
Jessica will never go to Ireland because she will never break out of the mold the travel industry puts her in. On the other hand, people like Bob might travel far and large but will never believe it is possible to do so without a lot of money. I phone call this the Sarah Palin Syndrome, which I’ve defined as:
“The persistent belief that only those with means, helpful parents, or an upper-class upbringing can afford to introduce a travel venture for any sustained period of time because normal people have as well lots of bills, loans, debts, or obligations to travel.”
I’ve named it as such because while running for vice president of the United States, Sarah Palin stated:
“I’m not one of those who came from a background of, you know, youngsters who maybe graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and go off and travel the world. No, I’ve worked all my life. In fact, I normally had two tasks all my life up until I had kids. I was not a part of that culture.”
This is a pessimistic mentality. It is one that blames the outside world for your ills and then produces a “no” mindset so you never try to find methods to travel.
Bob presumed that I could only afford my original trip with the help of my parents. This goes to the heart of Sarah Palin Syndrome: the assumption that you need a lot of money (either with a good job or helpful parents) to get going and that if you don’t start out with a fair amount of savings, you can’t travel. In his follow up email, Bob told me:
I’ve resided in the South End. A $30,000 salary, in a city like Boston, particularly w/school loans, doesn’t bring forth $20,000 cost savings in three years. That math doesn’t exist, mate…unless you’re living w/your parents.
Yet, as I’ve explained before, the math can work on that type of salary. I composed a list months ago of 20 methods one can significantly cut expenses. These are the exact thing I did before I left for my first round the world trip to save money. It becomes pretty easy to save 33% of your salary when you are fully dedicated to your goal and, yes, also living with your family for a few months in addition to dropping your car.
I believe people like Bob don’t believe that it’s possible to save money in such a hyper-consumption world. But, when you stop getting crap, your bank account goes method up. When you cancel your membership services, the expenses they generate disappear. I lived like a pauper and made my salary work. and I have always stated that I dealt with my parents for the last six months before my first trip.
I’m not the only one. Here’s just a sampling of people I’ve interviewed on this web site who have done the same:
How DJ Made His travel dreams Come True
How will Traveled the world on $20 a Day
How Jessica and Her partner worked Their method around the World
How (and Why) This 72-Year-Old is Backpacking the World
How This family of 4 Traveled the world on $130 a Day
How Michael saved $14k in in 6 Months Making $9 Per Hour
You don’t need a high-paying job to save money to travel. You just need the ideal focus and money management skills. Your bank balance isn’t going to double overnight. It doesn’t have to. slow and consistent wins the race.
Second, Bob assumes that you can’t do this while bring impressive debt. I am simply going to show you my student loan balance, which I have been paying off ever considering that I left my MBA program. Take a look at how much I still owe:
Traveling with debt is possible if you are smart about your money. I made sure to cover my costs before I went away and put money aside to cover my loans.
But Bob’s figured it out:
There’s no secret or book needed. All any individual has to say/do is exactly what I communicated extremely briefly. All you need is $2,000 for an initial trip and week stay to make connections. It will get more affordable from there. once you take a trip, choose a teaching job or hospitality, hustle, network. The a lot more you do, the a lot more things unfold. That’s the secret to a lot of things. start gewoon. figure the rest out as you go.
Bob, I agree. There is no secret to travel. It’s exactly about what you just said. save up some money. just make the leap. That’s really all there is. The rest of the stuff is just window dressing. here are all the times I’ve made that point myself:
Why There is never a best Time to Travel
How to get rid of Your travel Fears
Everyone states I’m Running Away
There is No secret to long-term Travel
Now is the very best Time to Travel
Why Being Broke is the very best Time to Travel
You have a lot more Time to travel Than You Think
How to deal with the Cynics
The world is full of cynics. The world is full of people who want to get you down. any individual who has lived for a lot more than five minutes understands that. people like Bob simply believe that it’s impossible to do what I do without some sort of assisting hand. They sneer at the believed that travel could be easy or budget-friendly to all. Pssh, they say, you need to have a depend on fund. You aren’t telling the whole truth.
Bob isn’t as far off as others because he understands what I have long stated — there is no secret to travel. You just go do it! You need to make the leap. but he is wrong that in buy to make that leap, you need to be well off in advance. hard work and commitment can get you where you need to go. I worked my butt off so I could go travel. I taught English to recharge my bank account.
But cynics only see and hear what they want. I told Bob that I had loans, that the math worked out, that I wasn’t selling him an unrealistic dream, linked to all the articles I’ve written to share my experiences, and talked a lot more about my past.
But I never heard back from Bob.
Sarah Palin Syndrome doesn’t let you see the truth; it only seeks to reinforce your beliefs. once Bob understood my story (a story I never hide but that he didn’t take the time to learn), he went away. Cynics like to be cynics.
Bob is ideal — there is no secret to travel. You just need to take the leap. I’m not selling any larger dream than that. All I am doing is pushing you out the door and then telling you how to save money when you get outside.
There is bound to be a “Bob” in your life. people will dismiss your goals, accomplishments, and dreams. They will try to give you a sense of reality and tell you “the whole story.”
I believe people like Bob can’t dream the impossible. Where Bob and people like him go wrong is that they believe that only those individuals who hustle or have outside help can go live their dream. but your average person? They can’t do it.
They are completely wrong.
Travel is possible, even with a job paying $30,000 USD per year in a major city like Boston. The Bobs of the world will never believe that, though, because if they did, then they would have to accept that anything would be possible.
And then they couldn’t be miserable and cynical.
But I like the Bobs of the world because I can go out and verify them wrong. And, hopefully, I can inspire lots of of you to do the same by crushing the myth that travel is expensive or unattainable.
And then we can all say to Bob: “I know you’re wrong. I won’t let you get me down. I’ll only let you inspire me to do better.”
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