So as many of you read in my leaving is so much easier than coming back post I’ve struggled with returning to my non-traveling life, having adventured around the world for the majority of last year.

When I first returned, my plan was to stay in my home town of Adelaide, work for a couple of months, get a little bit of money behind me, then leave again to teach English in Thailand.

i-to-i have an internship that I was seriously considering. I was thinking this way because it seemed like the most logical, visa friendly, quickest route to get myself back on the road.

Many countries offer 18 – 30 year old Australians a two-year working visa. However if like me, you have passed the 30 year old threshold, opportunities for working overseas become more difficult to find. Hence why I was leaning towards TEFL training.

On paper it made sense. I could work in Adelaide for a couple of months. Pay off the few debts I had accrued during last year’s travel. Sort out some bits and pieces of my life like finding new tenants for my house, housing my cat for a while longer, lodging my tax etc, and then head off in May on a paid internship to Thailand. I would train for a week, earn a TEFL qualification, then be placed in a job with housing included. I would even earn a small income.

Like I said, on paper it made sense. I had spoken with i-to-i agents, calculated the costs, knew that I needed to reserve a place quickly before the deadline closed….but I didn’t book. Something was holding me back.

At the point of needing to make a decision I saw a tweet from Contiki looking for tour managers for SE Asia. I had always been interested becoming a tour manager, however most of the jobs advertised were Europe based and without a work visa and no parental heritage I was not able to apply. Contiki SE Asia didn’t have these visa restrictions, so I thought “Why not?” and filled in the application.

Two weeks later I was on a plane to Sydney for the group interview thinking, “This is what I was waiting for. This is the reason I didn’t book the internship.”

I made it through to the personal interview stage. As I sat with the Contiki interviewers, they expressed their concern at backpackers becoming Tour Managers. How was I going to cope with no freedom? Could I be happy in an extremely corporate and structured world doing the same thing week after week after week? Would I be happy with almost no free time, no opportunity to do anything but be a Tour Manager?

As I sat and answered their questions the best I could, I found myself thinking how much I love writing my blog. How it wouldn’t feel right to travel without recording and sharing what I’m doing with others. Could I commit to a traveling lifestyle that meant I had to sacrifice this expressive outlet?

But on the other hand, isn’t the Contiki position where I’m supposed to be? All the signs were pointing me in this direction. I didn’t go ahead with the i-to-i teaching internship because this opportunity changed my path. Right?

I didn’t get the job.

When the news came through I was of course disappointed, I want to succeed in the things I do. But it made me realise that teaching English is not what I want to do. And I have always thought that knowing what you don’t want is just as important as knowing what you do.

A couple of days later, I was still thinking about my next move. Knowing I want to be on the road, and knowing that teaching isn’t the way I want to do it, I was considering my options. Then out of the blue, a friend I met in SE Asia last year and was able to stay with months later when I arrived in Calgary, Canada emailed me.

“So Carly… Today I booked my solo trip to Dublin in June.

I just want to say that you made a huge influence on this turning point in my life and I am so grateful. I am so scared and nervous and excited and happy and proud and scared and about a million other emotions but I don’t think I would have been able to book that flight today without your voice in the back of my head saying, “Just do it, don’t wait, just do it!”

So thank you for your encouraging words and confidence in me. I’m so happy to start this chapter in my life and face the world on my own!”

The message almost made me cry. When it came through, I truly realised how I have been able to inspire people by just being me.

Friend on elephant

My amazing new friend who had never been overseas before I met her in SE Asia is now traveling solo to Dublin, Ireland.

This isn’t the way I saw things happening, but my decision was made. Travel blogging professionally is my goal – and I’m adventuring through South America to really get things happening.

In the next couple of months I will be selling my car and continuing to live with my parents whilst renting my own house out and saving as much money as possible. I’m currently working in a digital marketing role which is great, even though after 9 weeks I am still struggling to sit inside all day, and working relentlessly to build this blog into something bigger.

My dream is, and has been for a lot of years, to become a digital nomad. Now I have the opportunity to work hard and make that happen.

So keep reading. I will be writing about everything that’s happening with my plans. The good and the bad, how I’m saving money, what I’m spending more on and why, and how I am going to get myself across South America.

Good stuff is coming 🙂