I have wanted to travel ever since I was ten. May be even younger. And much, MUCH before this whole ‘I wanna be like Ranbir Kapoor in Yeh Jawaani’ fad came in. Being a travel writer is not a far fetched dream, but it’s not the ONLY dream you can have.
Let me explain better. I’m a journalist, in my mid-20s, having a stable job in a newspaper and a steady income. When I was in college, all I wanted to do was become a hippie and travel. I still want to, but my perspective changed after I began working full-time. A few days ago, I met a bunch of young college going kids, all under 20. I asked them what they wanted to do in life, where they saw themselves in the next ten years. Out of five, four said “I want to travel”, “I want to become a travel journalist” and “I want to just roam like a nomad and discover the world”.
(BTW, there is NO such thing as ‘travel journalism’. But that’s a story for later.)
One of the kids told me then, “5 years from now, you won’t even be able to trace me, I’ll be travelling so far.”
I replied, “That’s what I said 5 years ago.”
And all I could think was, “You want to travel and write about it? Guess what so do thousands more! You are not different anymore, you are just one more in the race.”
The fact is, you might want to travel because you think it is gonna change you. Believe me, it WON’T. If you think being a nomad will solve your problems, it WON’T. It’s just a fancy way of running away from problems. For those who have been blessed with exceptionally rich and benevolent parents who would allow you to travel as far and as long as you like, good for you!
The travel business boomed in the last few years, agreed. But it’s not that big a deal anymore. You need a break? Need some inspiration or healing? Sure, hit the road… But come back! I’m not discouraging you, trust me, I have not seen the entire world myself, but I just had a wake up call before I went head-over-heels on travelling the world concept and destroyed a great career ahead of myself!
Do not think your life is gonna become fantabulous once you’re a travel writer.
Reasons:
- The travel writer’s market is very tight. Every single person I know wants to become a travel writer.
- It is going to be a 1:100,000 success probability that someone is going to pay for your trip for you to write for them. To reach the status where you blow up some one else’s money for travel, you’re gonna have to try much harder than to just wish.
- My mentor once told me “If you’re diabetic here, you’re gonna be diabetic in London, or Paris or Timbuktu!” Meaning, if you want to change, CHANGE FROM WITHIN! Changing location is NOT going to change your life.
- As unfavourable as it sounds, You’re going to want to come home. Accept it. Unless you’re a homeless refugee, there is NO way you’re going to want to spend your entire life out in the wild.
- Always remember: There are no free lunches, or trips. It will come with its own baggage in every way.
As much as I want to still travel, camp beneath the northern lights and kiss on the London eye, and make out under the Tuscan Sun, I also have to have some grounding, some stability. Having a kick-ass lifestyle requires earning butt loads of money, which requires having a good career, which means tight working hours and ultimate devotion to your work. That also means being under a boss from hell for a few years. But, that’s gonna earn me my reputation, and find myself a place I can call my home.
Even if I travelled all planet, lived my dream. Then what? I’ll be 40 and broke and love-less and without a family. The road will have worn me out and I might have fallen sick more often than I already do!
Reality check: Travel cannot offer you a living.
Let the advisors tell you what they like, and you can be my guest and be a rebel and ‘follow your passion and calling’. But believe me, after a while you will want something lavish and not travel in a crammed corner of some train abroad, sleep in a random tent in the open and eat cheap junk in a country who you know about nothing more than its name.
Travelling the world still means the world to me. But it has to mean something and not just be a way to run from my reality. I do not wish to have an empty bank account and a vacant side to my bed in the next ten years.
Pakaamat 