If you’d love to go travelling or live abroad, I can understand why you might be thinking there’s no point in planning and preparing for that at the moment. However, I believe now is the perfect time to think, plan, and get yourself prepared to go because when the time comes, you’ll be ready. Now is the time. Whether or not you actually go through with it, if it’s something you think you want to do, now is the perfect time to start exploring the possibility of what, when where, why, and how because you have the precious gift of time. This will give you something positive to focus on at this incredibly difficult time. It will keep you motivated and inspire you to keep going. You can start doing all the practical things necessary to get the wheels in motion because it takes time. In 2007, I vividly remember listening to a Tony Robbins’ CD before I started. I remember him banging on about the importance of taking immediate action to do something, no matter how small, to move one step closer to the goal. It was a simple, yet effective message. One of my first actions was renewing my passport. It was a small but necessary action as I only had 6 months left on my passport. What could one of your first actions be to get started on this journey? If you’re not sure where to begin, here are 3 broad areas to consider: Money & Finance Whether you are thinking of going on holiday, travelling for an extended period, or considering living abroad for a while, you’ll need money. You’ll have to work out, roughly, how much you think you might need, and you’ll need to take a hard, long look at your finances. I know that can be painful, but this is a necessary step whether you want to go travelling or not. At some point, you will have to face the reality. Better now than never. So what state are your finances in? If your finances aren’t in great shape, you’ll need some time to turn that around, so you will have the money to achieve your travel goals. You might find that, due to lockdown, your finances are healthier than they’ve ever been. If so, that’s great, but consider how else can you maximise your wealth to ensure you achieve your travel goals but also save and invest for your future self? There are some great websites, podcasts and books that can help you whatever the state of your finances. Here are my favourite personal finance podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-meaningful-money-personal-finance-podcast/id581790263 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-money-to-the-masses-podcast/id885252235 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/choosefi/id1187770032 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/biggerpockets-money-podcast/id1330225136 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/afford-anything/id1079598542 Career & Work If you are planning on travelling for an extended period, you may be able to get a sabbatical. If that’s the case, you know you have a job to return to. If not, you’ll have to resign from your job, which is what I did when I went travelling for a year. If that’s the case, it would be worth considering some kind of online side hustle which you can start now while you’re still working or studying, and can then continue while you’re travelling. I wish I had done that, but times were different. It’s much easier these days to set up and manage an online business. There’s lots of information if you need ideas, tips, and hints online to get you started. There are a couple of podcasts I particularly like: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-side-hustle-show/id655135292 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/rebel-entrepreneur-with-alan-donegan/id1506404790 If you want to live and work abroad, now is the time to start exploring your options. What sort of visa will you need? What type of work could you get? It’ll be worth taking a skills inventory and identifying if you need to up skill or do some additional training. Now is also the perfect time to brush up on your language skills. Health & Wellbeing I think the current situation has made people more aware of the importance of their mental and physical health, and they’ve had more time to do something about it as well. In the past year, I’ve changed from running to working out to doing yoga every morning. If you are going travelling, it’s important to be fit and healthy. Travelling for an extended period and living abroad are both amazing experiences, but it can take its toll. How have you faired being unable to see family and friends when you’ve wanted to? If that’s been difficult, it gives you insight into how you’ll feel and cope when you’re away from them for an extended period. It’s also highly likely that you’ll have to deal with challenging situations along the way. I’ve had my fair share of those. How do you feel about that? If you’re travelling solo, you’ll need to be comfortable with your own company and be able to live without your creature comforts. It’ll be worth it. Let me know how you get on with your preparation. It’ll be great to hear from you. Best of luck my lovelies! Until next time! x
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