BENGALURU: I can’t go back to the exact time when I was bitten by this bug and it wasn’t a spider that bit me. I didn’t have palms that ejected strong silk webs or allowed me to curb crime, swing between buildings or hang upside down and kiss a boy in the rain.
But this bug instilled in me a new passion. A desire to experience something that goes beyond the ordinary. A new-found love for the unknown, the unexplored. Yes, I had all the symptoms. The wanderlust bug had bitten me and its venom had seeped into my very core.
This left me at the crossroads. Should I give up everything I had invested in my career to travel, explore and do what I love? Or instead, pay no heed to that itch inside of me?
I then said to myself, why choose? Have the best of both worlds!
Sure, my love for writing would make travel writing a lucrative option, and many others are out there living the dream, but in the event that I can’t guarantee a regular inflow of funds, I’d start to freak out. Let me make this clear. Travelling is not my only goal in life. I want a family, a house to call my own, and maybe even a car that my kids would learn to drive before I did. Call me selfish, but I want it all.
Today, I work in advertising, and from a very young age, I’ve wanted to have a say in how brands talk about themselves, more importantly, how they talk to their customers. And now that I’m getting that chance, it’s not something I will just give up.
What’s the next best thing? Use what I enjoy doing, to fund what I love doing. Sounds perfect, right?
And let me tell you, it’s possible! Let’s start breaking the myths:
Do I have enough leave?
If you’re even the least bit social online or Whatsapp, you will receive a list of long weekends at the beginning of each year. That’s when you start making your plans. Use the normal two -day weekend to take a break and visit hill stations and destinations in and around your city. Leave the long weekends to discover a new city. Club your leave with long weekends, and you could explore a new country.
What happens when I’m all out of leave?
Use your trump card: work remotely. Spend the day in a cafe with WiFi and wrap up your work for the day. What wouldn’t you enjoy about biting into some local cuisine and catching up on your daily work? Who knows, maybe you’ll meet some locals or other travellers like you.
How do I save up money?
It’s simple. Calculate how much you spend every weekend on unnecessary shopping binges, dining out, drinking out. Calculate the tax you’re paying the government each time, and trust me, you’ll move to dining and drinking at home, and shopping just when it’s needed. In addition, open a new account for yourself and don’t give in to the temptation of getting a debit card linked to that account. Use this account to transfer funds as soon as you receive your salary. In the account that you use on a daily basis, keep the bare minimum needed for you to survive every month. Trust me, there’s no better feeling than planning a holiday and already knowing that you can afford it.
Can I afford a holiday and a new home?
It’s not impossible. It’s now time to fall back on those regular investments. Try to break as little as possible to make your down payment. And in the year that you make the down payment, don’t plan an international holiday.
Holidays in India aren’t really that expensive if you’re not in it for the luxury. If you want to really travel, stop making excuses and start making plans and live your dreams one vacation at a time.
Faye Rodrigues blogs at pagesofmywakinglife.
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