Advice Journal

Why I Quit My Job to Travel The World. (Hint: To Work More)

I quit my job to travel the world! Oh gosh…another one?

Ok, I get it.

We’re tired of hearing millenials make headlines for quitting their jobs to globetrot the world. So groovy, so cool. And just this week I became one of them. I left my high paying job at a well-known tech company in San Francisco, sold my car and all my belongings, left everything behind in donation bins or the dumpster, said au revoir to friends and bounced the hell out of the states.

I’m the total modern day Eat, Pray, Love movie right? Escape reality to leave footprints on the beach of Bali. Take care of (not ride) elephants in Thailand. Dance around the fields of Africa. Some of my friends also predicted that I’ll return with a gigantic ring on my finger – or a sugar daddy. Maybe both.

In some way, yes, some of that will probably happen but here’s what I’m really going to do:

I’m going to work, a lot.

WOW, HOLD ON GIRL. Hustling and grinding is definitely not part of any indie travel movies out there. I don’t think it’s very fun to watch people sit in front of their computers sending pitch e-mails or working 80 hours a week to make less the amount of money they had than if they had stayed with their original job. That’s not glamorous at all. Can’t you just sit on some mountain top with a flowy white dress with the photo caption, “the world is a book, if you never travel you only read one page…”?

No, no I can’t.

The idea of not working stresses me out. It’s frightening to not have deadlines to meet, projects to do, or having a purpose to my day-to-day. I’m not quitting my job or leaving everything behind to go splurge abroad and become a mountain fairy. Nor did I do this to find myself.

I’ve found myself. I know exactly who I am. That’s why I’m traveling.

Let me explain.

At age 9 I moved to the states and grew up with relatives, foster parents, just my brother, and then just myself. Through my teens I immersed myself into the arts and drew a ton of anime, wrote music, acted, and danced like everyone was watching. At age 15 I snagged leading roles at school plays and wanted to be a comedic actress. I wanted to be in front of an audience and bring smiles, laughter and unicorns in people’s bellies. But for some reason I felt like the world was telling me that wasn’t enough. That voice only got louder and louder.

So I became class president, president and board members of multiple clubs, and an honor student. At age 20 I forgoed the acting, unicorn crap due to major parental disapproval and tried to become a marketing genius because that’s financially stable and normal, right? At age 21, I landed a job at a top tech company to build a marketing program that now touches 40,000 students worldwide. It also came with a lot of stress crying in the bathroom stall. At 22, I co-founded a career consultancy hub because I wanted to help people and well, because there’s this huge pressure for us young folks to start something of our own. I also gave a TEDtalk about hurrying our asses up to do things we want to do because life is unpredictable.

And it really is.

That same year I lost my best friend.

So at 23 I knew.

I knew life is too short to sit on excuses, bring up maybes, say “I’ll do it later”, or be part of a legacy written by someone else.

So at 23, I’m quitting my corporate job to work for the TJ at 9 years old. The nomad, the emerging creative, the one on a mission to bring unicorns.

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The TJ that’s not trying to sell a startup or rushing to become a manager at a young age. The TJ that doesn’t define impressive as attending a good school or having a job at a good company. The TJ that doesn’t believe success is just being bigger or better than everyone else.

I’m traveling to make a career and lifestyle change, not take an extended vacation.

I may be on a beach in Bali, but not laying around for hours sipping on martini. I’ll be writing, hacking, optimizing, growing, learning, making pennies until I can start making dollars. I’ll splash in the water for a bit then I’m back to pitching my work to travel companies, collaborating with brands, consulting, making videos, and seeing my creative talent grow with 10,000 hours of practice. Then I’m off to another destination with my laptop and camera in hand.

If you have a skill, whether it’s photography, search engine optimization, graphic design, community management, writing, or – well, you name it – then you can do it anywhere. Become a nomadic marketing consultant or a freelance developer. Learn yoga, become a bartender, or teach English. Bring value to the world while you’re traveling and see how the world embraces you back in kindness. Let’s learn to not just see the world, but to grow with it.

There’s life out there that does not follow the conventional narrative of a 9-5 office job. The only way for me to tell that story is to live it.

And I’m going to live it with 75 professionals around the world who believe in the same travel lifestyle. We’re heading to 12 countries across 3 continents, 1 month in each. Can you guess what we’ll be doing? Working our butts off, together.

I’m not vouching for people to drop everything and go travel, nor am I saying that that’s bad. What I’d like to bring to the table is the possibility of combining work and travel in a harmonious way. So that we don’t have to work 10 months before getting a taste of 10 days PTO. So that we don’t have to sit in front of our desk wondering, “when is my next adventure?” What if your work is part of the adventure?

I’m quitting my job and leaving everything behind to become a digital nomad. The world is now my office.


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  • Maggie January 27, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    I love this TJ! You are so brave and I love that you are just making it happen instead of waiting for life to happen.

    -Maggie http://www.thatgirlmags.com

  • Dalal December 28, 2016 at 5:17 am

    This article is so honest, far from the bloglovin optimized “How to” articles. You have gain a genuine follower <3 I am preparing for this journey my self, and I plan to start making an income before quitting my job and everything else. I understand those who does it differently especially at a young age, maybe I would have done it in a bolder way at 21. But the reality is that I am almost 30 and as you said I know my self, I don't travel to find myself… keep up the good work.

    xo xo

  • merritt March 28, 2017 at 7:34 pm

    Too funny! I just left a high-paying tech company in San Francisco to pursue the exact same dream!!! You go girl!

  • Alex July 26, 2017 at 12:12 am

    Really well said! I love how you’re living out your travel dreams as well as your career ones in a so-called ‘non-conventional’ way!

  • Jane August 26, 2017 at 3:15 am

    Wonderfully written! It speaks totally to my heart, how I feel at the moment.

  • israelinews October 6, 2017 at 7:20 am

    Thank you for information.

  • Molly March 11, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    Love this!! So brave and gives a great glimpse into how it actually is. So excited to follow along with her journeys.

    http://www.mollyonthemoveblog.com

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