Anyone ever up, leave & start a whole new life in their 20s?

[Puggit]

bodhi said:

Puggit said:

Aged 26/27 living in London, working in a crappy but enjoyable job (running the 1900 vehicle carfleet for Coca-Cola and looking after the mobile phones). Girl I thought I could marry treated me like sh!t.

Paid £1000 to go on an IT training course, where they found you a job at the end as well. Ended up with a job offer in Reading at one of the world's largest software companies.

Didn't think twice about just leaving and leaving all my friends behind and started a whole new (and enjoyable) life.

Fair enough, I'm not that far away though!

Out of interest, which course did you take? I'm thinking of doing a similar thing. I want out of the crappy jobs I seem to end up in round here, and am more than happy to move for the promise of a better job and a career. I've spent the first 27 years of my life doing the fun stuff, I guess it's probably about time I got serious.

Ish.

It was a company called Prince (not the famous Prince project management training), based next to Hammersmith tube (ie next to Coca-Cola Enterprises, I worked for CC-Schweppes!). I think I was very lucky, I doubt the same kind of opportunity exists still, I've never seen similar. The company who hired me paid most of the training fees.

[King Herald]

jumpingloci said:

The rub is having to come back, but there's always another place, another adventure. Do it and stop talking about it would be my advice.

But you don't have to come back. There is work all over the planet if you look for it. I ran out of money after a year or so travelling (most went through partying in Phuket) and went to Singapore looking for work. After a week or so mooching about, including working as a film extra, I banged on a few doors in an offshore industrial estate, Loyang Offshore Supply Base, and got a job the first day, working in a sailing yacht yard. I was there for two years, work visa, green card, the lot.

[BruceV8]

LeTim said:

glazbagun said:

LeTim said:

Hire two nice looking hookers, have a threesome.

Should perk you up a bit

Never thought of that. I should ask my CC company to bump my limit up to 2.5K.

Just feels stupid feeling like this, its like saying: "I've lived my life well & made a lot of smart decisions. Its no fun, I want to go be an idiot." Its like a "what car should I buy" post!

Exactly.

Look. You need a bit of excitement, some rafish'ness. Going seven rounds with a couple of Russian lovelies will put a smile on your face and give you a nice memory.

That and getting a sports car, get a Tiv it'll break down all the time and fixing it/ worrying about it starting will give you something to think about.

Oh and join a casino, have a flutter. Just some fun on the side.


Got that, three point plan....

1 - Bum hookers
2 - Get TVR
3 - Join Casino

You, Sir, are a raffish cad - and I like the cut of your jib. This is sound advice to any young gentleman.

[Hooli]

interesting thread this as im thinking the same although i waited till i was 30 to decide my life is pants.
looking at an IT course with a job offer after passing it OR loading the bike & riding off into the sunset.
not sure im mad enough for the second option, main reason is i cant learn languages.

[BruceV8]

I'm more or less in the opposite position. Having spent the last twenty years travelling around the world, doing interesting stuff with guns and explosives, being horrible to the Queen's enemies (am in Iraq at the mo where I frequently have my fingers in other people's bombs) and when not doing that drinking myself into several near death experiences I am looking to settle down somewhere and have a relatively normal life.

[r1ot]

Did a string of jobs with no real prospects, crappy pay and bosses who really didn't deserve to be in the position they were in.

In 2002 I applied for a job with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary as a Systems Engineering Officer. A completely different career before I was mainly involved in communication systems and the SE job is mainly involved in electrical work. I got the job and started early 2003 and spent 5 months doing a training course down in Gosport at HMS Sultan.

First deployment was in the Arabian Gulf since then I have been on Far East tours seen lots of foreign ports and most of our own ports too!

Been working for them ever since, career prospects are good and the pay is very good and getting better every year.

Best of all is the work rotation we work 4 month deployments and then get 3 month leave blocks. If you work it right you can get the summer off.

It was a total change of career and I have never regretted it. I had never worked on a ship before now it is second nature and since I don't work in the UK there is nothing really stopping me living elsewhere all I'll I have to pay for is transport back to the UK to go on deployment.

[v15ben]

I did an exchange through uni and spent 6 months living in Australia.
I am now in a sales job, living with parents, settled with a decent wage and bonuses, good friends etc, but I'm currently saving to head off round the world for another 6 month stint (3 months in Asia, 3 in Australia) and trying to find a job in Sydney along the way to earn my keep and pay for some more travelling on the way home!
I will at some point in the future choose to move abroad for a longer period, who knows where, what job or how good the money will be. To me it is one of those things you just have to do at some point in your life. The UK will always be here to return to when you get bored or find you can't hack life without Coronation Street and the M25 any more.
I was really struggling to find a fulfilling job following graduation in summer, but I took a temp role on a whim as a crowd steward at music festivals. Got into Glastonbury for free and plenty of rugby and football matches too! After the summer season, I moved into sales where I'm currently having a real good laugh with great people in a sales role that I'd never considered. A ten minute chat has changed all that and I will fingers crossed be coming back to a superb sounding role in the motoring industry. Just goes to show how quickly things can change!
There is a lot of world out there so go and explore it and take the chances that come your way. I've always said the same ever since I replied to one of those exchange scheme/pen-pal type letters from school in Cologne when I was in year 10 at secondary school. I went to Germany two summers in a row and showed my German friend around Northern England for a couple of weeks!
Just take the chances while you can, while you have very few responsibilities and ties and just enjoy yourself. Life is far too short not to and there is more to this world than Old Mother England!

Edited by v15ben on Friday 7th December 22:01

[v15ben]

tinman0 said:

i'm in my 30s and things haven't gone to plan, so its time for a change. sold the company on Monday

Sorry to hear that Justin, but I am sure in your business it'll be possible to find work eventually somewhere else! Florida sounds bloody awesome though

[King Herald]

Hooli said:

interesting thread this as im thinking the same although i waited till i was 30 to decide my life is pants.
looking at an IT course with a job offer after passing it OR loading the bike & riding off into the sunset.
not sure im mad enough for the second option, main reason is i cant learn languages.

I was 29 when I buggered off, hitchhiked across europe to Greece, flew to Bangladesh, and overland from there to Nepal, and India, and I had my thirtieth birthday at the Taj Mahal

13 years later I moved back to England, at the grand old age of 43, ready to slip back into monotony and obscurity.

[dr.sickman]

You should always take on more than you possibly can; that way you can be sure you will do the most you ever could.

Most people do much less than their 100% best every day. Do it, and be practical with your optimism.

I read somewhee that:

It is your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude.

[75_Steve]

Landlord said:

Carpe Diem, mate. Carpe diem.

Oh no, wait. Tempus Fugit.

Oh, hang on, no Carpe Diem. Or is it Inter Alia?

No, definitely Carpe Diem.

Bonnet de Douche, Rodney, Bonnet de Douche.

[petrolhead76]

I'm bored with work - same old rubbish, I earn lots but it doesn't matter when you are sitting there bored out your head - I'd rather earn half of what I make today and enjoy my job.

I do believe life is for living, I've got the house which I always wanted, I've now got the M3, I've got a beautiful wife and I've got awesome kids.

So me - I'm planning a major change in my life as we speak - I've just turned 31 years old. It may involve emigration, it may involve a new job in the UK (been at my present company since graduation) - not sure yet but I know I need to do something.

So my advice - think it through and do it - you do only live once !!!

PS Think carefully about the "you only live once statement - people say it all the time in a glib way but don't really comprehend what they are saying. You will never come back here, all your wealth won't mean jack when you're gone. Regret only what you have done, not what you wish you had done !

[Kneetrembler]

I was 42 when the calling came to bugger off, I had been building a yacht for 2 yrs, so sold the house packed in my well paid job, paid off the mortgage auctioned off everything that I had & then finished the boat off and went.

Ended up sailing around for a year, and then Spain came at the end of that time, reverted back to my original 1st job of my life as a carpenter/ joiner and never looked back.
Then bought an old ruin and rebuilt it and sold it, same again, same again etc.
Sold my boat eventually,and now have a motorhome but still have itchy feet and have to travel, and have lived and worked all over Spain and would do it all over again.

Everyone thought that I had a nervous breakdown and had stolen the company money, my parents thought I was nuts and what about my pension etc.

My old friends from the U.K. come out to see me and vice a versa, plus I now have plenty of Spanish friends, I've had a wonderful time and was told I was totally barking at the time.

You only live once so go for it, you can alway's go back, just rent your house out.

Cheers

[Tony427]

briSk said:

why not try and get a proper job but in australia (for instance). rather than be a hippy you could go and experience real life somewhere else. keep and rent out the flat at home.. jobs a gooden.

My nephew is doing just that. He's 26years old, and was living with gf in their second house and already middle aged.......

GF has affair, they split up, house is sold, he moves back with parents and takes stock of his life. In January he's off to Australia with a proper job lined up out there to sample a different way of life, something he never would have done if his safe world hadn't fallen apart. Its the best thing that ever happened to him.

Don't waste the best years of your life putting up with a boring unsatisfying and stifling routine.............there's plenty of time for that in your 30's and 40's.

Cheers,

Tony

[crofty1984]

gary_tholl said:

Buy a race car and go play...

That's what I did, I'm 23. don't regrat it. I travelled a littel too. F**K it, buy a cheap campervan for £1500, take 2 weeks off work and catch a ferry to the mainland.

[Rach81]

All the people who have disappeared off travelling for a period and worked while your away, what kind of work did you do along the way? Was it easy to pick up?

[v15ben]

Rach81 said:

All the people who have disappeared off travelling for a period and worked while your away, what kind of work did you do along the way? Was it easy to pick up?

There are all kinds of jobs depending on your skills really. The staple diet of fruit picking, telesales and admin work will always be available somewhere. Depending on how long you are travelling for however, jobs like tour guiding, sales, recruitment and other more skilled roles are available on longer term contracts.

[Rach81]

All I've done since leaving school is dentistry and you can't just do that overseas most countries need you to resit exams and stuff.
Fruit picking sounds good, bar work? one for the punter one for me I'm sure it'd work out

[v15ben]

Rach
Have a look on www.gumtree.com.au or the forums of Lonely Planet called Thorn Tree. Both of those have plenty of adverts for jobs and give you an idea of what is out there. Searching on Lonely Planet will also bring up suggestions and experiences of loads of members. I am finding their experiences invaluable as I am organising travel plans at the moment.

[Westy Pre-Lit]

Yep i did this when i was 27.

Was working in a job going nowhere, had nice car, flat etc etc etc.

Took redundancy sold everything, packed up booked flight and ed off to Australia for 6 months. Best thing i ever did.

To cut a very long story short i came back had various jobs and now have a partnership company.

Would i recommend it........ To ing right i would!!!

Life's a journey, explore it

Edited by Westy Pre-Lit on Saturday 8th December 16:11