Post: #1

How do you/how can you return home when you have experienced enlightenment, once you have seen the things you have, felt the feelings you have, ones that no drug could come close to making you feeling, though the feeling of addiction, the high and the come down are the same. How do you go back to to the mundane mindfuck of a life surrounded by plebs who you cannot relate to. Evolution has not caught up to our modern existence, not even close, our instinct is to hunt, explore, concquer; its in our DNA. Returning home is like that sunday afternoon, when the weekend is coming to an end, you feel numb like the life is getting sucked out of you.

I am a few months away from my best trip yet, over a year in South America, but cant help think how the fuck am I going to return home after this one, perhaps I wont.

Post: #2

(07-30-2012 11:32 PM)kazz Wrote:  How do you/how can you return home when you have experienced enlightenment, once you have seen the things you have, felt the feelings you have, ones that no drug could come close to making you feeling, though the feeling of addiction, the high and the come down are the same. How do you go back to to the mundane mindfuck of a life surrounded by plebs who you cannot relate to. Evolution has not caught up to our modern existence, not even close, our instinct is to hunt, explore, concquer; its in our DNA. Returning home is like that sunday afternoon, when the weekend is coming to an end, you feel numb like the life is getting sucked out of you.

I am a few months away from my best trip yet, over a year in South America, but cant help think how the fuck am I going to return home after this one, perhaps I wont.

A month of heavy drinking, when you return, followed by a trip to another location like Eastern Europe or SE Asia should do the trick.

Post: #3

(07-31-2012 12:22 AM)chochemonger1 Wrote:  

(07-30-2012 11:32 PM)kazz Wrote:  How do you/how can you return home when you have experienced enlightenment, once you have seen the things you have, felt the feelings you have, ones that no drug could come close to making you feeling, though the feeling of addiction, the high and the come down are the same. How do you go back to to the mundane mindfuck of a life surrounded by plebs who you cannot relate to. Evolution has not caught up to our modern existence, not even close, our instinct is to hunt, explore, concquer; its in our DNA. Returning home is like that sunday afternoon, when the weekend is coming to an end, you feel numb like the life is getting sucked out of you.

I am a few months away from my best trip yet, over a year in South America, but cant help think how the fuck am I going to return home after this one, perhaps I wont.

A month of heavy drinking, when you return, followed by a trip to another location like Eastern Europe or SE Asia should do the trick.

Pretty much, but also friends, family (I have a young nephew I have yet to meet that I would like to) and of course, a bit of game with some nice world-travel DHVing.

Post: #4

You use that unhappiness at being back home to drive you on to save for the next adventure.

Post: #5

good luck.

Also, try visiting Asia...you might find ways to make money there as well and stay longer.
Hindi - Chini bhai-bhai.

Post: #6

returning home is good for about a month then it sucks....the longer u stay though the more u settle back in and adapt

good point about asia, u can always stay longer than other places

Post: #7

Use your confidence and understanding from abroad to conquer whatever obstacles that stand in your way domestically. The things we learn, wherever we are in the world are intangible oftentimes, but surface in times of need. Whether that's for a job, a bang, a negotiation, etc.

Post: #8

(07-30-2012 11:32 PM)kazz Wrote:  "Returning home is like that sunday afternoon, when the weekend is coming to an end, you feel numb like the life is getting sucked out of you."

I definitely can relate. What I try to do is use the non-travel time as wisely as possible because there are still things you can get accomplished while you're retooling.

Post: #9

(07-30-2012 11:32 PM)kazz Wrote:  How do you/how can you return home when you have experienced enlightenment, once you have seen the things you have, felt the feelings you have, ones that no drug could come close to making you feeling, though the feeling of addiction, the high and the come down are the same. How do you go back to to the mundane mindfuck of a life surrounded by plebs who you cannot relate to. Evolution has not caught up to our modern existence, not even close, our instinct is to hunt, explore, concquer; its in our DNA. Returning home is like that sunday afternoon, when the weekend is coming to an end, you feel numb like the life is getting sucked out of you.

I am a few months away from my best trip yet, over a year in South America, but cant help think how the fuck am I going to return home after this one, perhaps I wont.

I use that down time to gear back up for my next adventure and learn a new skill or develop some new way to make extra cash. I've got to stay State side for a couple more months (if I want to have enough money to leave for a longer trip than last time) so I'm using my time to get buff, learn to Tango, improve my Spanish, make more money, and launch my blog.

It's nowhere near as fun as traveling, but it gets me through.

Post: #10

I can definetly relate, this has happened to me a few times. The best thing is to make the most of your down time back home, save money or learn something that can make you stay away longer.

I am 9 months away from a permanent move away, the mundane boring grind is killing me.

Post: #11

About half a year back I bought a 3 month, round-trip ticket to the Philippines.

Month 3 rolled around, and I felt absolutely no desire to go back to the States.. so I didn't. You don't have to either.

Your year-long trip to South America sounds awesome, but I wouldn't be worried about what happens after. There is a lot that can change in a year+.

If you don't want to leave it completely up to the fates, though, find a way to make it permanent - create a location-independent lifestyle.

It's not easy, but it's much easier in this day and age than any time before, and many, many others have done it.

Post: #12

The truth is, even when you are abroad in a place filled with young pussy, you're going to have downtime.

It may be because you got sucked into a relationship, because your cash flow is dwindling and you need to focus on work, or because you're just psychologically burnt the fuck out and need to chill.

What I do know is that whenever I've gone into my hibernation modes, something good has always come out of it. It may be painful to go through, you may temporarily lose your grip on sanity.

But if you channel the frustration and pent-up energy into something creative (work, writing, making a web site, learning a language), you'll be like a phoenix being reborn from the ashes at the end of your penance period.

Post: #13

Quote:Month 3 rolled around, and I felt absolutely no desire to go back to the States.. so I didn't. You don't have to either.

Your year-long trip to South America sounds awesome, but I wouldn't be worried about what happens after. There is a lot that can change in a year+.

If you don't want to leave it completely up to the fates, though, find a way to make it permanent - create a location-independent lifestyle.

Presumably you had cash in the bank to decide you weren't going to go home? Becoming location independent doesn't happen over night.

I work freelance myself doing social media management. I tend to travel for about half the year then return home and knuckle down again with the work. When I'm travelling or abroad there's too many distractions I find and I don't do enough work.

Post: #14

(08-01-2012 09:21 AM)travelbangenjoy Wrote:  Presumably you had cash in the bank to decide you weren't going to go home? Becoming location independent doesn't happen over night.

I work freelance myself doing social media management. I tend to travel for about half the year then return home and knuckle down again with the work. When I'm travelling or abroad there's too many distractions I find and I don't do enough work.

You are totally right - it doesn't happen overnight. I had some cash in the bank, and business in the states that I spent about a year setting up.

Still, your line of work seems pretty close to ideal - you can do it from just about anywhere provided you have a net connection, time, and ability to concentrate.

Like you, I can't get shit done unless I have a home-like place to settle into for a while and get productive.

However, that place doesn't have to be the same place each time.

Post: #15

You can be cool at home too, Dude.

Post: #16

For me 'home' doesn't feel like 'home' any more. I've spent too much time away in places that I liked a lot more. Not only have I become quite jaded about home but I've lost touch with a lot of people from being away, I like this place less every time I return.

Post: #17

(08-01-2012 02:23 PM)travelbangenjoy Wrote:  For me 'home' doesn't feel like 'home' any more. I've spent too much time away in places that I liked a lot more. Not only have I become quite jaded about home but I've lost touch with a lot of people from being away, I like this place less every time I return.

One of the most difficult things for me about 'home' is not that I've lost touch with the people there, it's that the people haven't changed.

You leave and come back 6 months (or 6 years) later only to find your friends to be exactly the same, doing the same things, worrying about and putting up with same bullshit, not having grown or experienced anything really new at all.

You see them wasting their lives and it gets harder and harder to connect with them.

Post: #18

Those people you talk about wasting their lives think I'm the one wasting my life.

Post: #19

I'm location independent right now and have been on the road more or less the last one and a half years but I kept my base in a super boring and way too expensive country. So whenever I have to take a 1-2 week break from travelling, I get down from this super high to a super low until I get to travel again. Also, I'm starting to miss a couple other things that have fullfilled me when I was at a fixed location:

- Productivity. Being away you can still get work done, but I've never managed the same amount of work.
- Team sports. I was a quite important part of a soccer team back home. It was also a great way to just turn off your thoughts and stay fit as hell. Now, I have the gym, but I'm missing the team aspect. As we all know, it takes time to get into a social circle.
- Friends. I had tons of friends back home. You can make friends travelling but you can never have legit important friends that would do stuff for you that other people wouldn't.

Obviously, travelling gives you access to an amazing amount of different girls, experiences.. but I've been starting to become more aware of what I actually miss when I keep travelling.

I think for anyone who is travelling.. it's not really the goal to keep travelling forever. It's just to find a city or place that you absolutely love, build up a base and then travel once in a while from there. That's what I think makes most people happy and I think that's what I'm going to do in the foreseeable future.

Post: #20

Curious, where is your base? Why do you stay there if it's so boring and expensive?

Post: #21

(08-02-2012 11:27 AM)travelbangenjoy Wrote:  Those people you talk about wasting their lives think I'm the one wasting my life.

Same here, for the most part.

On the other hand, my grandma supports me 100%.

She lived in Soviet Russia most of her life, and says something like this:

"Our generation spent all of our lives working. We didn't know what kind of amazing things were out there. We had no knowledge about the world. We had no options. We had no choice. We couldn't leave.

I am old so I am happy watching the travel channel, but you are young and can experience all these things for yourself. Why would you want to waste your life working from morning till night? Go and be happy!"

Post: #22

Nice, your grandma seems cool. Most people don't support either me working online or my travel. I'm not sure what the problem is really but they seem to be against it.

Post: #23

It's nothing unique to the folks in your social circle.

As a rule, people tend to think that the correct path is the path that they are one.

The less happy and satisfied someone is with their life, the more apt they are to tell someone what to do and how to live.

Those that are happy and satisfied with their lives have a more benevolent view of of the universe. They think things tend to work out ok, and don't worry about the details. They may care about you, but they have their own lives, and don't depend on your choices for their emotional well being.

Less happy people see the universe as a bad place. They are usually more risk averse and neurotic. They tend to feel, on a deep level, that if you do anything even a little bit different, out of the "boring-but-safe" playbook, the world will come crashing down on you - it probably has on them. They are also, if they are close to you, more dependent on you continuing to play your role in order to keep things consistent in their lives.

It's a bigger-picture version of the 'alpha'/'beta'/'omega' spectrum.

So, next time someone questions your choices or actively tries to convince you otherwise, take an honest look at who they are.

The "alpha's" of the world will almost never try to tell you what to do. They either don't care, or, if they do care, know that the only way you will find satisfaction is by following your path in life.

Post: #24

One thing that I know, even if I make less money working for myself than I can for working for someone else I will ALWAYS choose to work independently. A few people I know found out recently how much money I made last month (it's been a slow month mainly due to me doing little work because of moving around) and mocked me saying that it was proof the job wasn't worth it. Still despite me making less money than them none of them have travelled and they are all tied down with massive debts for houses, cars etc, have to work for someone else OR are married / have kids.

Post: #25

I doubt there is much you can do about how your friends think. After all, they are quite invested in the system, and validating your choices and lifestyle would invalidate their own.

There are better (more appropriate) people out there.