OMG - What am I doing???

Hello peeps!

I woke up this morning with a thought - more like a question to myself: what the hell am I doing?

I just quit a steady job, with a good wage and I am about to throw away a life in a safe and stable country to go traveling on my own to places I don't know.

Hence the question - WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING???

I know I am following my heart on this. I am doing something I really want to do - but it is the biggest and scariest thing I have ever done!

Me, on the road like a hobo, sleeping in hostels and sharing facilities with at least another 3 people, not always girls! Me of all people - those who know me must be wondering if I haven't lost my mind.

But despite the cold sweat this morning, it feels good when I am talking about my plan. It males me smile. It makes me immune to the stress at work. Even my dad gave me the thumbs ups today - he has definitely lost his mind that one!

So I will look at all this scariness right in the eye and embrace it. Because I think it means I am alive. And it is always a bit scary to be alive.
Well that - and put together a bullet proof escape plan in case everything goes wrong so I can get back home in one piece. Thank you BA :)

I am smiling again. So it must be good :)

Itinerary

Hello there!

I have done some progress on my planning since last time. Now I have pretty much defined when I will go - end Feb 2013 – which countries I will visit and roughly how long I will stay.

0- I will go back home to the Caribbean see the family in December and January then come back to London early February, get all my stuff together then hop on a plan again!

1- From London, my first stop will be the Maldives.  I will stay for a couple of weeks, relaxing on the beach and slowly melting away my stressed self. Like a holiday at the beginning of the trip.

2- From there, I will fly out to India where I will stay for about a couple of months, traveling around.

3- Next: Hong Kong for about 2-3 weeks for some shopping and a short overland trip to China.

4- After filling up on dim sums, I will be heading down south to Thailand. This will be the main part of the trip. I intend to stay for about 3 months, alternating between hostelling and work-for-keep.

5- Leaving Thailand, I will end up in Bali/Lombok for a few weeks for my second “holiday”.

6- After recharging my batteries, still heading south, I will then reach New Zealand. There also  I will alternate between hostelling and work-for-keep for a couple of months.

7- Next is Fiji where I want to be there for my birthday end of October. I am planning to stay at least 2-3 weeks, soaking up the sun and visiting around.

8- Now the next leg of the trip is still TBC. There are two options: either heading to Patagonia then head up to Brazil or Brazil straight away from Fiji. Both are equally appealing, and I quite like the idea of Patagonia, but first I need to see if I can get a flight or overland transfer from Buenos Aires. Staying in Brazil for a couple of months sounds good too!

9- Whatever the option I will choose in 8, Brazil will be my last stop before flying back to London.

I just need to get a good deal on the ticket then I can start putting some meat around the bones of this trip with things I will do/see. It will not be a day by day type of planning, more like a very loose short list of the main things and activities that will add some spice to the plan.

Catch up soon!

Small ideas lead to big things

Wow, this is it – I am live on the world wide web!

Today Jobs4Nomads is being officially introduced to the world. What started as a small idea I was fiddling with in my little corner is now a fully operational tool I hope will make the road a little easier to navigate. The road to wherever takes your fancy.

The past couple of weeks I made big progress on my plans, starting by taking the decision to go, for real.  I want to go, I need to go, I am going! I have defined an itinerary and contacted travel agents to get the ball rolling on the ticket side of things. On top of getting visas, I also need to renew my passport. Not as straight forward as you would think if like me you are a French girl living in the UK and never bothered to register with the consulate!

So - itinerary  – sorted. How I get there – roughly sorted-ish (not really!). How I will finance all this – very vaguely considered. How to get a nomad job – well this is what this site is about.

I will populate it with the info I gather along the way, and using the powers of my amazingly charismatic persona (… and a nice pretty please…) my aim is to attract other nomads who will also contribute to the content. As the community grows, the information contained in these pages will be kept up to date thank to input from the nomads soon to be or already on the road. No point having the details of a teaching school or bar owner if the teaching school as long since being converted into a day care and the bar into a trendy hairdresser.

Have a look around, and if you find something interesting, spread the work and leave a little hello on the facebook page or send me an email. I promise to reply and give you a fool proof system for winning the lottery every week... OK, maybe not, but I with definitely say hi :)

Bon vent et bonne route!

Introducing... Me :)

Once upon a time, there was a princess... I wish! Being a princess would have been sweet,and I tried to convince my parents, but they were having none of the whole kingdom thing. So I still ain’t no princess!

Instead I am just a regular girl, living a regular life.

Born in the Caribbean, I left home when I was 17 on a one way ticket to France. I had enough of life on the islands and just wanted to see how if was across the Atlantic. After some time in the South of France, I decided to go see what all the fuss was about Australia. So I packed my bags once again, direction Melbourne, but this time got a return ticket – they are pretty strict those Australia Border Agents!

Australia was truly amazing, but as my visa ran out, I had to head back to Europe – they really are very strict those Australia Border Agents! Instead of Paris, I came to the UK and Maidenhead in the west of London is where I now call home. It’s a cute little city, leafy and somewhat sleepy but my flat by the river is the best! Most of my friends are here, my job is here and this is where I think I will settle eventually.

Still, a few weeks ago I took the decision to drop everything and head again for some unknown destination.

Why I hear you ask – why leave a steady job in this tough recession climate, leave my friends, leave a cosy little life in sunny England?

A few things got me to this point really:

1. It’s all doom and gloom at the moment. There is a recession going and all people can talk about are taxes, job cuts and how the Euro will eventually crash down – depressing.

2. I am still not on the property ladder and judging by the rate of house price increase, it will be some time until I get onto that first rung unless I rob a bank – very depressing.

3. I received my pension statement in June and good news – if I keep putting money away at the same level as I am now, when I retire at 60, my yearly pension will be a grand total of… wait for it… £8,000 – aaaaaaaarghhhhhh!!!

OMG!! What on earth happened? Something somehow went horribly wrong and the whole career/homeownership/behaving like an adult thing now looks less and less like the ultimate goal.

After the initial “OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG” moment I realised how far off the point I was – my life is about ME. I chose what I want to do and I do it. As long as it is legal(-ish..!) I should go for it.

And travelling around the globe is part of this life. Discovering new cultures, meeting new people, eating strange things and most importantly – wear my flip-flops all day and play with my toes in the sand. This is who I am.

So here we are, I have decided to drop everything and go see how things on the other side of the planet are. It will be more than likely the same as here – but I want to go see by myself!

First thing first though - Hi everybody, my name is Angela and I would like some help planning my trip of a lifetime.

:)