Year out at 30

Author
Discussion

Scooby84

1,634 posts

189 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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Turned 30 six months ago and would love to have done it.

My circumstances are different ( mortgage, 2 year old and a wedding to pay for ).

Go for it!

Quhet

2,409 posts

145 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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OzzyR1 said:
Good luck for the future.

Only problem I had with NZ was that there wasn't much going on. Probably one of the best countries I've been to, toured North and South Island in detail. Lived in Christchurch for a while, loved Queenstown - did the AJ Hackett bungy off the Karwarau Bridge & Skippers Canyon, heli-skiing etc.

Might not have been in the right places but my overall feeling was that although I loved it, it would be a place to retire to. Don't think I could work there as a younger man but hope you have a ball and decide for yourself!
Cheers!
NZ is an amazing place, I've been here twice before so I know what it's all about. We're living in Nelson at present, a lovely place but you're right, it's hardly a buzzing cosmopolitan city. I'm doing my masters back in the UK though so I'm making the most of the change in pace out here. Plenty of outdoorsy stuff to keep me busy drink

spikey78

701 posts

180 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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I did it at 29-ditched my job and girlfriend, neither of which I was that into, rented out my flat and buggered off for two years starting in the US then Aus, NZ and SE Asia. It was easily the best thing I've ever done and I still miss the whole 'living below the radar' thing. Absolutely the time of my life and something I'd recommend to anyone thinking of doing the same

thenorth

57 posts

159 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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Im in the same sort of place, just turned 28, decent job with good prospects etc but have the feeling i need to go. now or i never will.

craig_m67

949 posts

187 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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I quit my job, rented my house and went walk about in South America/ Cuba with my then new GF for a year in 2002/3. We are now in the (litigious) process of separating and so I think at 46 I might just revisit a few places I didn't get to see properly to clear my mind and perhaps get laid.

Life is short and the world is actually very small.
You only live once, a job, the UK, another mortgage etc will all magically reappear when (if) you return.

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

238 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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torqueofthedevil said:
Anyone ever just packed up, left your job and gone doing your own thing for a year at 30?

I'm tempted but it just seems a shame after working through school, uni and a career for 10 years to leave now. Especially as I feel I'm on the cusp of moving up a step in my career.

I'm worried after a year, it'll take me ages to get back into being able to do my job.

I'm thinking of renting my house out. Selling my cars. Leaving my job and going to live and work in France. Basic job, no bills, no commitments to expensive belongings etc. learn French and just have a healthier standard of living.

Anyone done it?
Better to regret the things you did than the things you never did.

Kids/family/commitment are round the corner, crack on I say smile

There's a PH'er cycling round the world at the mo...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gAssing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Adenauer

18,564 posts

235 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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WinstonWolf said:
There's a PH'er cycling round the world at the mo...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gAssing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
What a thread, I hadn't known of it so thanks for posting the link!

mike-r

1,539 posts

190 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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Condi said:
Tonberry said:
I turn 26 next week and am thinking of doing the same before 30, only it will be for life.

My outlook on life has changed drastically in the last two years where money and material possesions are no longer an end goal.

You'll be dead soon enough so crack on lad.
Im 26 next week as well. beer

Nothing wrong with going and enjoying yourself while still young enough to do so. Did the whole travelling thing at 22 and 23, loved almost every second of it. Certainly now, when mortgage and commitments have started to appear looking back at being free to move from place to place is very appealing.

Remember, no matter where in the world you go its only 24 hours from home.
I'm also 26 next week, joint party?

I'd say do it, I know a few people that have done the same and no one has regretted it as far as I know.

vixen1700

22,669 posts

269 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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Yep, spent a year and my 30th birthday here:



http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/meir-turnia...

After my dad died I got out of a humdrum four year relationship, did lots of drugs had a crazy relationship which had me ending up nuts so I left my East London office job and eventually ended up at the mind blowing destination of Kibbutz Samar in the Arava Desert.

A year at 30 I'll never forget. smile


Adenauer

18,564 posts

235 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
quotequote all
vixen1700 said:
Yep, spent a year and my 30th birthday here:



http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/meir-turnia...

After my dad died I got out of a humdrum four year relationship, did lots of drugs had a crazy relationship which had me ending up nuts so I left my East London office job and eventually ended up at the mind blowing destination of Kibbutz Samar in the Arava Desert.

A year at 30 I'll never forget. smile
I feel guilty for sending you that straight jacket for last year's PH Secret Santa now. frown

vixen1700

22,669 posts

269 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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Adenauer said:
I feel guilty for sending you that straight jacket for last year's PH Secret Santa now. frown
hehe

Asterix

24,438 posts

227 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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Go for it!

As long as you're happy that it's not going to particularly affect your career etc... then why not?

This life isn't a rehearsal, it's the only one as far as I know, and it needs to be lived.

Xaero

4,060 posts

214 months

Friday 26th September 2014
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I did it age 23-27, now at 29 I've got a decent job, wife and newborn, so that's more difficult (not impossible) to go out there again. I say go for it.

When I was 21ish I just came out of a bad relationship which delayed me going and put me in debt as well as worked in a factory without seeing daylight during the winter months and talked to the old fellas working there, I particularly wanted to ask them all what they regretted, as I already regretted taking that job, and relationship and wanted to travel, and they pretty much all said they wished they had travelled more. So that confirmed it for me, plus redundancy announcement (confirming the job was useless for the long term anyway) which I volunteered for to get a bit of extra cash to go with.

The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be. Although I'd try and arrange a sabbatical with your work if you can, it's nice to have the option to go back into the career when you left if you can, it also makes it more easy to spend money once you get going.

jimbop1

2,441 posts

203 months

Friday 26th September 2014
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sc0tt said:
Im 27. My house is sold, just waiting for the ex's flat to go through. My Bike has gone and my car will be gone Sunday.

I quit my job a few weeks back and leave there in 3 weeks.

Once the house is gone through I have my 1 year Australian WHV where I am going to go with my suitcase and my bank card and see what life has to offer me.
I'm very tempted to do the same. Not Australia though. Would love to just move to spain, Greece or even America. I just don't think the jobs are available though. I just prefer their way of life.

Hasbeen

2,073 posts

220 months

Friday 26th September 2014
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At 28 I gave up motor racing, at 29 I got divorced, left her with the house car etc. At 31 I could not see much sense in my life, so I sold the business, bought a yacht, & went sailing.

Here's the yacht in an atoll anchorage in the mid Pacific.




I was only going for a 3500 mile trip from Sydney to the Great barrier reef & back, but could see no real attraction back in Sydney, so kept going & spent 6 years sailing around the near Pacific. I had done 53,000 nautical miles by the time I stopped.

There was always someone at an isolated island or atoll, wanting a tractor engine or generator rebuilt, a radio fixed or what ever. I am not the greatest at many of those things, but I was a lot better than no one.

A plantation owner & I worked out how to build a jetty on a coral atoll, for small 100Ft copra boats, casting piles in place, using old 44 gallon drums & coral, & I then built almost 30 of them. I came back to Australia slightly richer than I left.

It was a great life, & you know, I never did get back to Sydney.

Give it a go, it's fun.

PomBstard

6,729 posts

241 months

Friday 26th September 2014
quotequote all
At 30, me and Mrs PB went travelling. We were both set up well regarding careers, and had already made a severe dent into the mortgage. I got 12 months unpaid leave from my employer, MrsPB quit her job, we took my lease car back, sold her car, told the bank we wouldn't be making any mortgage payments for a year, and fecked off round the world with a Working Holiday Visa for Australia.

Got as far as Sydney, and unlike Hasbeen, we've not really left. Been other places in the last 12 years, but happy to call this place home now. Sold the house in the UK two years later, and, in a city of 4 million people, bought a place 600m from here...



Miss the UK? Yes, a little - the countryside, friends, family and the beer, but glad we did what we did, when we did it. Like others have already said, you can always go back.

v15ben

15,780 posts

240 months

Sunday 28th September 2014
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I did it at 24/25 and moved to South Korea for 2 years, then travelled with my then girlfriend (now wife) for another year around Asia, Europe and west coast USA.
I'd heartily recommend it and as I sit here at nearly 29 with a 'proper' job, a flat and the wife moving to England soon, I often wonder if/when we'll drop it all and go travelling again!
I have mates I've met from my time abroad, at uni and from my hometown who are based all over the world, some travelling, some working, some have met and married and others split up and said, "fk it!" and gone overseas - it's never impossible, just takes guts and a bit of a plan of what you want to do once you leave Blighty!
It can be done later in life, my uncle did it at 47, another uncle at nearly 60, but it is harder and less likely to fall into place with circumstances often stopping you from taking the leap.

mustdash

360 posts

127 months

Sunday 28th September 2014
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As others have said - do it while you still can.

I am 34. I left school at 16 to go straight in to the world of work, and have worked ever since. I had always had a hankering to live abroad, see more of the world and just that general feeling of 'there has to be more to life...'

2 years ago I took time off work and went out to Canada and lived in Jasper. Granted, I was only there for 4 1/2 months (compared to some of the stories here that actually sounds a bit pathetic), but it was the best thing I have ever done. Why did I come back to the UK? Because I ran out of money, and have a stable relationship / mortgage etc here, so going for longer was never really an option. If I didn't have either of those (relationship and mortgage), I would like to think I would still be there.

As others have said - if you have no commitments, do it. It is better to regret things you have done and had a go at, rather than regret not trying something.

Whatever you decide to do, wherever you decide to go - best of luck with it. And don't forget to start a 'Look where I am travelling to now....' thread with lots of photos for those of us with suppressed wanderlust.

FlossyThePig

4,083 posts

242 months

Sunday 28th September 2014
quotequote all
Quhet said:
OzzyR1 said:
Good luck for the future.

Only problem I had with NZ was that there wasn't much going on. Probably one of the best countries I've been to, toured North and South Island in detail. Lived in Christchurch for a while, loved Queenstown - did the AJ Hackett bungy off the Karwarau Bridge & Skippers Canyon, heli-skiing etc.

Might not have been in the right places but my overall feeling was that although I loved it, it would be a place to retire to. Don't think I could work there as a younger man but hope you have a ball and decide for yourself!
Cheers!
NZ is an amazing place, I've been here twice before so I know what it's all about. We're living in Nelson at present, a lovely place but you're right, it's hardly a buzzing cosmopolitan city. I'm doing my masters back in the UK though so I'm making the most of the change in pace out here. Plenty of outdoorsy stuff to keep me busy drink
Our youngest was about 26 when he went to NZ, and stayed. Lives in Wellington and loves the place. We went out for his wedding and toured the South Island, including Nelson, the centre of NZ. Went back for three weeks last year (a week in the Coromandel) and will be going again for the whole of next February. SWMBO would like to retire out there but would miss the grandchildren over here, maybe split it, Summer there and Summer here.

oldbanger

4,316 posts

237 months

Sunday 28th September 2014
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I am planning on doing a runner when the kids grow up. I'd like to spend at least 3-6 months traveling if not longer. I'll be in my 50s by then.