Every-Day Explorer Podcast Ep. 3: Why ‘Quit Your Job and Go’ is Terrible Travel Advice
Today we’re joined by Brenna Holeman, who runs a fantastic travel blog called This Battered Suitcase.
The inspiration behind collaborating with Brenna on this particular episode came from a blog post she wrote. This feature talks about different styles of travel, and how you should travel however you please. You don’t have to drop everything, and you don’t have to go away for months or years on end. And it doesn’t make you unadventurous to admit that.
Every word in Brenna’s blog post resonated with us (we also sit in our pyjamas watching Master of None, and Brenna and our founder Emma pretty much met over a mutual love of Malbec. But we also identified with all the travel opinion in her post too).
We find ourselves rolling our eyes at all the quotes and Pinterest graphics emblazoned with ‘Quit your job and go!’ Not only because they’re a little cheesy and lame in our eyes, but also because we think throwing out that statement is a dangerous game to play.
Brenna in Cinque Terre, Italy
Sure, we encourage people to travel and sure, we commend anyone who changes a life they’re sick of. But uprooting and rearranging everything to do so isn’t the only way to do it, and a ‘quit your job and go’ mentality is speaking to only one kind of person. It’s unfair to presume that it’s a feasible path for everyone.
What if you have responsibilities back home? What if you don’t have the money, or a safety net to fall back on if things go wrong? And, what if you actually really love your job and don’t want to leave it?
We wanted this subject to be in this series because this alternative audience is exactly who we want to speak to in this podcast – people who love travel, but are also perfectly content with their job, apartment, or living in their home country. This podcast is about fitting a love of travel around an everyday life, and we wanted an episode that felt like an antidote to all the articles out there telling people that a true adventure has to be big, bold, and miles away from home.
We get into all these topics and more in this episode. We unpack the ‘quit your job and go’ mentality and offer some alternative advice for the people who don’t think that mantra is for them. Brenna has travelled for years on end and her travel style has changed in a few different ways during that time, so she has heaps of advice to share. Enjoy!
More inspiration:
If you love this episode and consider yourself someone doesn’t fit in with that ‘quit your job and go’ mindset, you might enjoy this post:
GKM Guide to Travel Planning: 9 Steps for the Best Trip Ever
Travel planning is one of the best ways to feed your wanderlust when you’re at home, and that doesn’t only have to mean flicking through a guidebook. In this feature we talk about how to get seriously into travel planning mode through all sorts of reading, researching, and even in your kitchen.
This way of planning is great when you’re only away for a short period, because most of it takes place at home before your trip. The perfect way to discover without even stepping outside your front door!
What do you think of ‘quit your job and go’?
Do you agree with what we talk about in this episode?
[…] Because, as much as I love the idea of that freedom and that independence, there’s no denying the downfalls of leaving everything behind and trying to forge your own path. Unless you’re wealthy enough to not have to work, you’re constantly going to be thinking about money. Travelling continuously and without stopping can take its toll, physically and emotionally. It’s difficult to maintain personal relationships if you’re constantly moving. It can be hard not having a home base, a steady diet, a regular doctor, an easy way to file taxes, or any of the other conveniences we get used to living in our home or adopted countries. Not to mention just how much damn work you’ll be doing. That photo of the person relaxing by the pool with a cocktail, their laptop in their lap, a big smile on their face? Article after article (and friend after friend of mine) will tell you that’s a farce. More often than not, it’s late hours, little time sightseeing, and constant anxiety about clients paying you on time or if the place you’re staying has good enough wifi. In fact, I even talked about why “quitting your job to travel” can sometimes be awful advice in a recent podcast. […]
Hmmm. Interesting take; I enjoyed listening to this. I fall in the “i quit my job to travel” category, but there was a year of careful planning and saving for that, and it all culminated with moving to a new country at the end of said travels and virtually starting a new life there and creating a homebase. So of course impulsively quitting a job to do that is really a terrible idea, I am all for people who *really* want to do this; to follow their dreams, as Brenna notes at the end.