My anxiety levels were through the roof over the last few weeks... my dilemma involved - should, would or could I take more time off to travel in SE Asia on my own for two months.
I always take time off for my birthday in February and this year was no different having already planned a trip to Boracay in the Philippines for the dates 21-26 February 2019. I am finishing a housesit assignment for a friend on the 15th January and after 2 years of housesitting I really want to find a suitable home and settle down again, so when reasoning that I would do this when I return from my birthday trip some time in March, I then had a situational change at work which convinced me to take more time off and travel before coming home to resettle into "normal" life.
Living out of a suitcase for two years has had it's ups and downs, I was free in between housesits to travel - but moving around all the time and looking after houses and pets has been a lot of work (as well as my normal full-time career). I found a lot of situations for housesitting turned out to be less than ideal and although most were reasonable in their expectations and supplied proper amenities, their were those that did not. The owners that did not supply a clean and and comfortable situation were usually the ones that were less grateful and imposed more tasks to be completed than I felt were reasonable, considering I was saving them thousands of dollars by looking at their numerous pets in the first place (some had multiple animals and would never be able to afford a professional kennel service). It was a shock at first to encounter such a drop in living standards imposed by looking after other people's houses and pets, but it also taught me a lot and helped me to be comfortable traveling and in that I was now used to being less comfortable than I have always expected to be. I also wondered why they would choose to live like that?
Being from Australia and before travelling I never knew there were such vast differences in what was considered (to me) as the basic necessities.. I was also very surprised how some Aussies lived... as I considered my background and childhood to be low-socio economic as my mother was a single parent, she had no family support and had to rely on the government for welfare to support our family of four. My poor mother struggled to survive and keep us fed, she had to work nights just to pay the bills. But I reflect now and see that she did her very best to keep us clean and nourished with what little she could earn. Having said that, I too ended up as a single parent but my story is different as I educated myself and have a career whereby I was able to elevate my social status and that of my children into middle class Australia, my children never knew the problems of being poor and going without. They had an exceptional education and went to University and all have GREAT careers.... Lucky them!! LOL
It seemed to me that the Universe had spoke and all things had aligned for me to take more long service leave, all I had to do was explore and consider my options... slowly a plan came together (boy, I did a lot of research).
WAS I brave enough to do this! I swayed back and forth weighing up all other scenarios of how I could manage until after my birthday trip. I was really worried about spending the money and if I would have enough funds to do the trip. Something changed my thinking from scarcity and fear based - to just trust the Universe, as my intuition was telling me that this was part of the plan (yet to be confirmed or denied)... hahaha
I hope you can relate to this and how absolutely paralysed with anxiety I was about doing this trip... I had traveled solo for a month in Europe during November 2017 - this was also a huge decision for me. It taught me a lot about how resilient and great I am in all situations... I handled my first overseas trip like a pro and I had never really traveled much before (overseas) so the learning curve was huge. Latin dancing has been the conduit for me and travel, I travel to attend Latin dancing festivals and they are so amazing, I highly recommend doing this if you are interested.
To be completely honest I don't think I would have enjoyed my travel as much if I had been with another person.... because it was a liberating feeling not to have to consider another damn thing other than what I wanted (for a change), God that feels good - FREEDOM.
Last year I went to Thailand and Sydney in February for my birthday and a Latin dance event, then in June I again ventured to Tokyo for another Latin dance event.... this was done by planning around booked housesits, using the free time in between. I would like to say that "it sounds ideal", but the reality was that you are not free to do anything or go away on your time off (during weekends, public holidays, Easter, Christmas) when looking after other people's affairs, so you really need a break and I decided that I would make this work for me. Housesitting has been exhausting, with the constant moving and traveling but the experiences it has afforded me; moved me out of my comfort zone and provided a new dimension and reality for me (if that makes sense). I now feel like a new and better person for these experiences. My original plan for housesitting was to travel overseas and housesit during my travels... I spent a fair amount of time researching this lifestyle, but you must be extremely flexible with your dates and locations to make this work (maybe you should be unemployed as well). Others have made it work for them and I take my hat off to those who have been successful... who knows maybe in the future (in retirement) I could then organise my life around this type of venture.
Back to the here and now... I booked the first leg of my journey and have committed to travelling for two months in South East Asia. I am heading to Bali, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and then home via Perth... I am attending four Latin Dance Festivals and in between will be exploring beautiful islands and beaches. THIS sounds like an incredible dream and I can't wait.
