Hi all,

I’m certain that this has been talked about right and left, but I need to get a fix on what you think. We always read/hear about how an extended trip has changed the traveler’s life, mostly for the better. I am curious as to what is the goal. I know this will vary from one person to another, but initially, did you leave for personal/spiritual enlightenment, to see what’s out there or to sort out your life. Did you find what you were looking for or did you just wind up with a sour taste when you picked up your life where you left it?
Some have managed to totally change their lives and are able to make a living out of their travelling passion, but to the majority, I assume, they just returned to “normal living” and go back to square one. How can one deal with the shackles of coming back to normal society?

My personal view is that as human beings, we must move out of our comfort zones in order to grow. I’m at a crossroads where I feel I need to make such a move. I’ve got a great job with great conditions, but I see myself with the “golden handcuff” syndrome. I guess what I’m looking for is some encouragement to take the plunge.

I look forward to reading your comments!

John

Boredom was it for me.
I would avoid the temptation to think motorcycle trips are the meaning of life, although they may very well be for some people...
I would milk the golden handcuffs as long as you can but cut your expenses so you can stash the gold then cut loose when you don't need to go back.
My humble advice only and worth exactly what you paid for it.

If you view “normal life” in terms of “shackles” and “handcuffs,” then you might find it disappointing to return home. Better bet would be to live the life you want, wherever you can find or create it.

I’ve never traveled to achieve some sort of enlightenment or to escape imaginary shackles. Nor have I gone traveling in order to change myself in remarkable ways—although this has sometimes happened. On the two occasions when I traveled worldwide for as long as a year straight, I found myself aching for a settled life after about 11.5 months. Constant movement for years on end might suite some, but it turns out to not really work very well for me. YMMV.

I don’t really have a specific point to propound here. Mostly, I’d suggest getting out there and doing whatever it is you feel drawn to—at the very least because that’s one of the best ways to learn more about the home life you’ve been leading all these years, and the various ways that rootlessness can also be a form of shackle.

Hope that’s helpful.

Mark

There is a saying: You cant change Africa, but Africa will change you. Yes it did. After my trip i did not go back to Merceses to waste my livetime in an office: Offroad Motorrad Weltreisen - das letzte Abenteuer

Sorry for the delay in replying ... I've had a medical emergency in my family over the weekend. Which in turn sends a reminder of how fragile and precious life is and that we must enjoy and make the most of the present moment.

@Markharf: I guess the only shackles we have are the ones we impose on ourselves. I think it's all in how you perceive your life in regards to what you see going on around you. I have a tendency to forget to be grateful for what I have, but I'm working on that.

@Docsherlock: I have been milking the handcuffs and decluttering my life for this adventure. I've decided to milk them just a little more for the time being and better prepare myself instead of rushing head on into my project.

@Ta-rider: I'm sure Africa had an effect on you ... I'm looking forward to reading your RR

To all of you, thanks for your comments and they are much appreciated.

Well, it is good to be realistic. We left for a trip for a year, and yes it did change us a bit, even though we were not looking for that.

However, it did not change us drastically and I also had no false expectations when coming back. I continued my same job again. And it is surprising how fast everything is back to normal. Like it didn't happen. But that is of course not true, we have good memories of the trip, and those will not fade away.
Now we are going to make a new "extended" trip. The thought of travelling continuously is there. Or the thought of travelling for several years is there. Maybe not now, but the options are there.
However, I think we would be fed up at some point, looking for solid ground again.

I also have a job that is fine and pays well. But I'm also looking into options like travel agency or the whole new youtube vlogging thing. But you should not have unrealistic expectations about that, because it may not succeed.
However, I'm also looking into developing myself a bit further, and do stuff for my own instead of for somebody else.
Even though that may have nothing to do with travelling, it means that you are searching for something else, because your job is not exciting you anymore.

Travelling the extended roadtrips is awesome and we love it, but be ware that it doesn't work like a getaway for your current situation. Because then it can be a real disappointment when coming back. As I have seen with other travelers returning. It really depends on the person.

@ Lovetheworld: I understand what your saying. I don't think I would want to leave indefinitely either. I do like my comforts and think that prolonged travelling would become old after a while. My project is for a maximum of 1 year, mostly to take a breather and see what's out there before it's too late to do it. I don't think it would be to find a "special" purpose to my life or a heightened sense of enlightenment either. I mean if something "special" happens, all the better, but for me it would mostly be to take the time to smell the roses and "live & taste" the cultures I'd be travelling through. I've done several trips across Canada (East/West), down the East coast and mid-West USA, Himalayas (India), but nothing more than 3 weeks at a time. This has always left me on my appetite because of the constant time constraints. I'm just wondering how such a trip will affect me upon my return and if it just leave wanting more.

What makes you think the appetite is over after a long trip?

Point taken ... I don't know. Curiosity is a thirst that is hard to quench.

So I said to my wife one day, "Let's both get motorcycles. It looks like fun!"

Then later on she says, "OMG! It *IS* fun. Let's ride track/go dirt-biking/become motorcycle instructors/make every vacation a riding road trip!"

We ride all over North America. And then have to return home. We fly to Europe and ride over there. And have to return home. We fly to India to ride the Himalayan Mountains. And have to return home.

This having to return home really sucks. What can we do to solve that?

I'm not sure which one of us actually said, "We should totally quit our jobs, sell our house and just keep on riding. That way, we never have to return home!"

But I remember there being no argument against that, so that's exactly what we did!

Six years, six continents and hundreds and thousands of kms later, we find ourselves sitting inside our tent in Africa watching monkeys play on our motorcycles. Actually, I think they're trying to pry open our drybags, looking for food...

I guess that original idea of just getting bikes kinda escalated rather quickly...

No enlightenment. Just loved riding and didn't want to turn around and go back home. Ever.

I mean, we had a really nice home, good friends, well-paying cushy jobs. But we just liked motorcycles and traveling more.

Definitely found what we were looking for! We haven't gone back home yet, at least not permanently, so don't know what that tastes like.

I don't think "normal society" has to necessarily equate with "shackles". What exactly is so restrictive about it?

Hate your job? Hate your boss/co-workers? There's more than one job out there.

Mobility? You can always move to another country, get a job there, go riding and explore that country for a bit. When you get bored, do it all over again?

If you managed to do it once before, there's no reason why you can't do it again.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Your right Gene, as I said before, I guess the only shackles we have are the ones we impose on ourselves. Lord knows I'm no stranger to this.

Reading back my initial post, maybe my choice of words was a bit harsh. Just to clear things up, I'm by no way in a dire situation in regards to either my job, co-workers or life in general. Life is pretty good and I'm doing quite well for myself. I just feel that I'm missing out on something and I'm trying to rationalize leaving a good situation. I need to tell my brain to shut up and learn to listen to my heart a little more and go out there and have some fun! After all, life is suppose to be an adventure ... isn't it??

The above describes in some degree what I've done on and off for last 40 years.
Every country I've been in I thought of how I might work and survive there and weighed the positives/negatives as a long term "home".

If you only ever do whirlwind tours (like most do), you may never discover what a particular country or region have to offer in the long term. So think about becoming an "ex pat".

Many will be on the road for a year ... but they are CONSTANTLY on the move, so never get a real feel for living some place else. Just something to consider. many seem more intent on collecting stamps in their passports than anything else.

And no reason you can't return home from time to time to re-set, re-energize and evaluate future plans.

But like Gene, for me it was more about the riding than anything else. These days, I'm pretty happy riding closer to home, but still plan longer tours in future.

Maybe you should meet up and talk to someone who's done what you are contemplating to do.

For a long time we wanted to cut the strings and go, but there were always fears about money, about having to start over again, gaps in the resume, etc.

But there were a couple of encounters that definitely helped to push us over the edge.

A few years earlier, we had just wrapped up our latest motorcycle vacation in Europe and were prepping the motorcycles at the cargo warehouse in Munich airport to ship back home to Toronto.

We had just completed a whirlwind 32 days, riding pretty much all over Western Europe and it was kind of a bummer having to abandon our trip to go back to work, and return to, you know,... the "shackles of normal society"...

We just happened to meet a guy there who was picking up his 650GS Dakar that he had shipped from the US. Talking to him, we discovered he had just done 9 months riding from Argentina to Alaska.

It was such a brief conversation, I don't think the guy even looked up at us while he was busy unwrapping his motorcycle and putting it back together. But it made such a lasting impression on the two of us... that maybe you didn't need to be rich British actors sponsored by BMW to undertake such a long journey. (We had watched Long Way Round and scoffed, "Wouldn't it be nice to be rich and have the whole trip paid for by someone else?!")

That set the wheels in motion, and we did all the research. We found another couple in Toronto who had just returned from 12 months (ONE WHOLE YEAR!!!) riding from Deadhorse to Ushuaia, then from Cape Town to Kenya. I immediately invited them out for lunch and we picked their brains for hours.

Sure, we spent time talking about logistics, but I was also interested in hearing about their re-entry. What were they planning on doing for jobs now? Was it difficult getting re-hired? What was it like coming back?

They were managing just fine. They had an adventure of a life-time and with minimal set-back.

But it's difficult convincing yourself of that until you meet real-life examples.

It goes both ways.

About 3 months into our trip, on our farewell tour of Canada, we met a couple in Calgary who I had just known on-line. They invited us out for dinner and peppered us with a million questions. Fast-forward a year later and they too had quit their jobs, sold their house and went back-packing for a year around the world.

They've now re-located and are having a fabulous life in Nova Scotia. They had the adventure of a life-time with minimal set-back.

Another couple we met in Seattle also quit jobs, sold up, and hit the road shortly after meeting us. They traveled for 2.5 years. Relocated back to San Diego.

Both of them told us that talking to us had made the trip tangible and achievable. I know it's not because I'm not a smooth-talking, master persuader. It's because when you meet someone with the same background and means as you, the barriers preventing you from undertaking the same journey crumble and fall. You start to think and really believe: "If they can do it, so can I!"

The Travel Bug is quite contagious. And it seems to spread much more rapidly upon up-close contact.

edit: If you can't find anyone locally that's sold up and left, perhaps ride to a HU meet?

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Some folks just like to go ridin' somewhere different. Does there need to be a better explanation than that?

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

Your right ... there doesn't have to be a particular reason and it surely doesn't have to be the same for everyone. To each their own.