Some of us have the desire to travel alive and well in our blood streams. However, we cannot just up and leave because of that 8-5 job. It’s not that we hate the job, but then it does not give us much opportunity to discover the earth and all it holds. So how do you find the balance between travel and work? Here are a few suggestions and tips.
Prebook but be flexible
When you are travelling on limited time, you cannot afford to make last minute plans. Since a full-time job means only weekend and public holidays off, you must learn how to plan your trip before the actual time. If possible, carry a packed bag to work the day of travel so that you can go to the airport/ terminus immediately to avoid wasting time. Flexibility comes in the fact that you should not be limited by dates for you to travel. If you put date constraints on yourself you might end up never travelling.
Travel local or close to home
You must be at work Monday morning, so you cannot choose a destination 20 hours away to travel on Saturday and come back on Sunday. Instead, try and travel local or at least close to home. That way, you will be guaranteed of getting back on time even if delays happen. You will also save yourself from burning out from fatigue as you will have time to rest before Monday comes.
Accept short trips
Sometimes the goodness of travel comes from spending a week in a beach, making friends and touring all the hidden gems. However, with a full-time job, this can prove difficult, even impossible. You will have to make peace with the fact that most of your trips will be short, so try and make the best of everyone.
Focus on one thing or do an activity marathon
Due to the short travelling time, you will have to make a decision between focusing on one or two places or activities, or having a list of many things and squeezing them all in that frame. The advantage of the latter choice is that you get to see a lot of things at once. The con, however, is that you will end up being greatly exhausted and even spending a lot of money.
Make the best of off and leave days
Apart from resting, you should use all weekends and public holidays as travel time. You can even combine your leave days to see family and then travel afterwards. Otherwise, you will never be able to go anywhere other than your home and office.
Volunteer for fieldwork
Some jobs have business travel opportunities that most employees skip for one reason or another. As a travel junkie, however, you cannot afford to miss out on such travel chances. Most fieldwork businesses are shorter than office hours with meetings being as short as 4 hours. You will have the rest of the time to simply explore and enjoy the new destination on an all-paid trip.