Embarking on the journey of marriage is an adventure in itself, but my fiancé and I have decided to resign, sell the little we own and spend our first year as newlyweds travelling and working around the world starting in Thailand. While the task of planning a wedding and moving countries can be daunting, it is the most exciting thought imaginable. Not only do I get to call him my husband soon, but we’ll be able to explore new lands,norms, way of life and classroom careers together. For many, the thought of this amount of change may just be too much. When I resigned, my boss exclaimed in dismay, “but you’ve travelled already.” For me, travel is not a once-off event, it’s an education, a mind-opener, a lifestyle and something I hope to continue doing until I can’t anymore. I am yet to regret a trip or leave a country enriched in some way. Here are five reasons to take the leap…
1. It will never get easier to leave.
The time is now; we do not own property, massive monthly payments or kids. We’re still fancy free to roam cities, explore the unknown and do whatever we wish. We have the luxury of being selfish with our time. Whilst we’ll need to work to be able to eat, live and perhaps save a little, our time and resources are our own. We would love to have kids one day and this will drastically change everything. Sure, we could travel and maybe even choose to move to another country with them, but it will never be as easy. For one, your priorities change. Instead of being able to snorkel, hike mountains and dance with the water lapping at our feet all day, we’ll need to be putting our munchkins to bed early. Kids need some stability – which the nomadic lifestyle doesn’t not provide.
2. You have nothing to lose.
If you’re anything like us, you won’t have much to lose or sell. We’re in the twilight years of our 20’s, don’t live together and don’t own any assets. We’re selling his car, but don’t have mortgage payments or student loans. If we were to get married and stay here for awhile, we would need to spend money on rent, water, electricity, petrol, buy things for our house and inevitably get rid of thing. We have nothing now, so it’s the best time to ‘pack it all up’ and go two weeks after our wedding. When we return, we can start from scratch. Besides you can always return to your home country, get a job and buy a house. Why not explore the less-travelled path?
3. It’s a great time for just the two of you.
Whilst I know that travelling can be incredibly taxing on the relationship between you and your travel partner, I really have grown closer to the friends I got to travel and live abroad with. As a married couple, what a wonderful way to get to know each other, rely on one another and really deepen your bond. We will be leaving everything we know and venturing out into the big world together. We will only have each other- which can be perfect and agitating at times. Nomadic married couples have told us that it can be frustrating to constantly be side by side, but as long as you consciously make time to be alone and apart sometimes, you will find the journey fulfilling.
4. You can live responsibility-free for the first year of marriage.
Many couples get in debt by funding elaborate weddings and paying for rent, cars and households items immediately afterwards. Before you know it, you have to pay for insurance, more taxes and the cycle never ends. We are being very careful not to overspend for the wedding. We don’t want to start our marriage in debt and are relieved that we can delay the big responsibilities for the first year. Whilst teaching English, we will not have to pay tax, mass insurance, petrol costs or car payments. We will have minimal rent, food and transport costs.
5. You get to live the dream.
The nomadic life is not for everyone, but I’m all about location-independent work. I’m not sure who wouldn’t choose to travel and write for a living, but that is surely my goal. The 8 hour day job is too restricting and predictable. I love what I do – writing, digital producing and photography, but having to do it all in the same place every day with minimal variety will test my sanity. I am way more suited to freelance work. Choosing my hours and working on various writing projects is bliss. Travelling whilst doing all of this is the dream.
So November will see us flying to Thailand to honeymoon for two weeks and teach English thereafter. I’d love to hear from you – Are you a couple who sold everything and travelled? If you have explored or lived in Thailand, we’d love to know which places we can’t miss out on for our honeymoon and great cities to live in.
Who knows, perhaps we’ll even land up doing the Everest base camp trek!
All photography by tiffanybphotographer.com
