One on the aspects of vacation that I always enjoy is getting time to reflect on things without the noise of the real world interfering. A couple of times I sat by the pool, staring through my book and thinking about things back home, about the last year, about my life, about the future. It’s really hard to believe that it’s been nearly a year since I packed up my things in Vancouver and headed back to Chilliwack.
I spent eight out of the last fourteen years in university. While I had some really great times back in school, and met some really great friends, most of those eight years were spent doing late nights in dorm rooms, pretending my little house was really a little home. And despite being out of school for about four years now, part of me continues to live like a student for some weird reason. I have a room full of boxes that are still half packed, frames on the wall without photos, and have lately been wondering just where the wind will take me next.
Part of me is debating buying a house out in Chilliwack. That would probably be a smart move with this kind of housing market and with the low interest rates. And yet another part of me has the urge to do a bit of traveling. Truthfully, I have a job where I can basically work from anywhere in the world, and part of me feels like I should be taking advantage of that. Maybe that means bouncing around Europe for four months, or maybe South America. All I need is a laptop and an internet connection and I can be just as productive as I am here now.
But at the same time, I sort of like having roots and a place to hang my hat. Living out of suitcases isn’t very fun, and it’s something I’ve been forced to do with some of the traveling I’ve done in the past for work. While traveling seems appealing, giving up my apartment and putting all my stuff in storage is less so.
So really, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. My lease is up in January, so I need to do some serious thinking over the holidays and figure out what I want to do next. In the meantime though, I’m going to finish unpacking those boxes, put a photo in that frame on the wall, and try to turn my little house into a home.
Can’t you live month to month after your lease is up? That’s the way it is in Ontario, at least I think it is. Pretty sweet really, you just have to give a couple months notice after having completed your first year.
ah, that last sentence resonated very well for me. that’s what i’m doing now. each photo and painting that goes up makes the white walls feel more comfortable every time i see them up.
If you do decide to go traveling for several months and work that way, I strongly recommend not hopping around from place to place. But instead find a city you love (or think you’d love), rent an apartment there and just stay there for a few months, then move to another place. I’ve done that, and I’ve also done the hopping from place to place every week. And as great as it is to see different places, it’s no fun packing up every five days and finding somewhere new. Not to mention almost impossible to get any work done.
In future traveling I will never plan to stay in a single place for less than 30 days (but preferably as long as I can stay without a visa).
And as for putting my things in storage, they’ve been there since last october and I honestly can’t even remember what’s there anymore. I miss maybe only 1 or 2 things that I can’t take traveling.
@Dave – yah, I’m pretty sure I can go month to month as well, which is what I’ll probably do (assuming they don’t kick me out).
@Scott – any places you’ve been that you’d highly recommend?
Well, I /loved/ Thailand. But was only there for 3 weeks and only one week in Bangkok and Canadians can only stay there 30 days without a visa. I really like places that have a lower cost of living than Vancouver :). I haven’t spent a lot of time in Europe, but I want to spend more time in Spain and eastern Europe. I would think it would be relatively easy to live pretty cheap and still really well in some parts of eastern Europe.
hey why don’t you do both. There are websites that let you to temporarily ‘trade’ your house with somebody else from anywhere in world.
I’d be ok with that if it were my house. But since I’m renting I don’t think it’s as good an idea. But I’ve considered it before.