My law school friend recently returned from a year-long around-the-world trip with his wife that left me very envious of his life. He did what most people romanticize about but don't succeed in actually executing: the dream trip of a lifetime, going from one country to the next, experiencing different cultures, getting new stimuli each day to fill in the memory banks, different types of lodging, different types of transportation, different types of food, letting go of all the stress and worldly restraints and just be free. It's why I and many other people watch the Amazing Race (back on air in January for its 30th! That's right 30th! season), to live vicariously through their globetrotting adventures. It's excellent timing: he has a traveling partner, they don't have any kids yet to tie them down, they have the financial resources to do it, and they're still young and with lots of energy.
As one gets older, you realize that certain things that you thought as a kid or teenager that you would one day do will just never materialize. I never explicitly planned to have a year-long trip, but there's always a fantasy in the back of one's mind to just pick up and go wherever you want to go. For MJ and I, we concluded that it would not be ideal for us to go on an around-the-world trip.
1.) Hotel costs would be way too high
2.) Opportunity cost is too high- I'd be missing out on a year's worth of wages (unless I can get some sort of job where I can work remotely from my computer, but that would be dampening the spirit of the trip anyway)
3.) We might get too tired after 2 weeks and need to take a break. Stamina is key: if anyone's ever taken a 2 week trip and then come back home to work, it feels like that first day back that you need a vacation from your vacation.
4.) Nowadays you don't need to go to EVERY corner of the world to experience it......there's videos and live feeds that make people feel like they can be where they are......it's like why go to a live sports game when you can get better camera angles, better high definition, different shots, at home? Sure there's the real experience of it and the smell and the sounds and feeling of gratification of reaching one's destination that's not accounted for, but travel might be yet another victim of technology and the internet boom.
It really comes down to a battle of time vs. money, and partly due to the fact time= money. Can we do all the things we want to do in life (and thought we'd eventually get to when we were younger) without running out of time AND money? (and energy?) It's a tough balance.
Often I regret decisions in life and look back on why I didn't go to a different law school that had a better scholarship offer, or didn't join a sports team, whatever it is. Not going on a world wide trip during college or law school often comes up in my list of regrets. I blame my younger self, but looking back at my 2007 and 2008 comments, who can blame that kid for being stressed out about jobs, getting ahead in life, trying to outdo the competition, etc.? Heck, that kid didn't know what he was going to be doing 10 years later, he was really busy checking on fantasy sports all the time and watching reality TV! The point is I can't really fault my past decision making, only learn from them and make better decisions going forward, and perhaps ditching the rat race and doing something daring and incredible like an around-the-worldtrip (but possibly stupid in hindsight if we run out of money in the future) is the right move before we get even older and 10 years later and look back on my decision making now and blame myself again.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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