I’ve been reading a lot lately about people who are reaching their goals and finally living their dreams. It’s made me look at my own goals and dreams in an effort to examine what I really want to do, how I am going to get there and what steps I need to take to make the dream come to fruition.
I came across this post the other day on Buzzfeed outlining some amazing trips for animals lovers. I am a huge animal lover, and when I was reading that article I was obsessing over the prospect of working with wild animals and rehabilitating them and helping them.
image via
I began to dig a bit more into the idea of living abroad for a period of time (with the idea, of course, of returning to Canada) to volunteer with animals, and have found a few awesome opportunities out there that would enable me to live in another country, such as Thailand or Guatemala for a few months and volunteer.
A Change of Heart
I never used to think I’d want to live abroad; I love travelling and thoroughly enjoyed the trips that I’ve taken, but I have always been happy to get back home to the familiarity of my comfortable Canadian life.
I think that being a homebody is something that is engrained in my personality, and something that I am completely fine with, however, unless you make yourself uncomfortable, you don’t grow.
I’ve had a huge change of heart lately, and volunteering and moving abroad has now become one of my dreams.
Logistics
I’m getting married in about 7 weeks (!!) and my fiancé has limited experience with travel. He has only left British Columbia once, to go to a wedding in Mexico with me, so he doesn’t experience the wanderlust that I do.
We’ll be going on a pretty awesome honeymoon for a month in the fall, so hopefully that opens his eyes to the possibility of travel and the benefits of doing so.
I am thinking I could live abroad even for a few months in 2015, whether or not he wants to (if he doesn’t want to come, then it would be a shorter period of time).
My friends have been thinking about moving to Germany for about a year. They rent, so they can leave when their lease ends and pack up the stuff that they need when they are there. We, on the other hand, own our house. We would be able to put it up for rent if we were both going for the longer term, but if it’s just me, I still have to contribute to the household expenses; luckily I have online income that I could maintain during the months I live abroad.
Timing of Moving Abroad
I have mentioned before that I have been thinking about the timing of having children. Of course with kids in the picture it would be substantially more difficult to live even for a small amount of time abroad. That’s why I was thinking about 2015 as the perfect year for it.
After I fulfill that dream, and my fiancé gets whatever he needs to get out of his system prior to having a family, we can look at becoming financially ready to have kids, which will likely take awhile anyway.
This is one thing that I know I want to do at some point in my life, but leaving it as “at some point in my life” is like saying “well, maybe one day…”. It will never happen if I don’t make it a priority and plan for it.
Despite loving to travel, I don’t really get the itch to live abroad.. I’d certainly be open to the opportunity, but it’s not on my bucket list.
Totally dig the idea of rehabilitating wild animals though….. that would make the most amazing travel blog. So clearly you must do it. #fullsupport
I never did get that itch until recently. It totally just snuck up on me!
I hope you are aware that volunteering programs do cost money. This is standard and only understandable, with increasing costs of food production, gas, transportation, etc.
If you do consider Thailand, there’s only one place I can recommend for elephants. It is the only PETA-approved place and I have known at least a dozen people who can vouch for this place – mostly people who have worked with NGOs, are vegetarian/vegan, involved with animal rescue. It is outside of Chiang Mai, called Elephant Nature Park (http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/).
This is one of the places that the Thai government wants to shut down. Why? Because they don’t make money here. It is not a business; you do not ride elephants here, or watch them paint, or play soccer matches against each other. They exist here because it is a sanctuary and many of them have extremely sad background, as varied as people themselves (i.e. rape, drug abuse, slavery, physical violence). You are there to help work, clean, feed and greet visitors.
Pretty much any other place in Thailand is a scam, I am sad to say.
Thanks for the tips, Min Min. I am more than aware that volunteering costs money.
I used Thailand as an example, but that’s not the actual country I was looking at. I am not looking to go volunteer with animals so I can ride them.. nor watch them have soccer matches (is that even a thing? lol..)
So *this* is the risk you were talking about… right!? 🙂
I’m excited to see/hear how your fiance (husband!) likes travelling this fall. And whether he wants to live somewhere new for a while or not, I think it’s important you both support each others dreams. Keep me posted on this!
It’s part of it, but there’s another portion too. This would certainly be a big risk, considering.. well, career, mortgage, new marriage, etc, but J is supportive (I’ve discussed it with him) so I just have to make it happen.. scary!
My partner and I also want to live abroad! We want to live many places, which is our problem, especially as we are both climbing our way out of student loan debt. I have studied abroad before, and really loved the experience. It was life-changing for me, so I want to experience something a little more long-term. At least a year. I’d love to live in Berlin, Barcelona, and Rio! All for very different reasons. Keep us posted on any news — this is exciting!
Rio would be so cool! I’ll definitely keep everyone posted.
I got to live abroad twice during my years in university and I loved every minute of living somewhere else.
Vancouver will always be home base in my heart but living in Cape Town and London are experiences I would do in a heartbeat again.
Go, explore! Do it while you still can because it can get very logistically complicated once kids arrive on the scene 😀
I highly recommend living abroad and I agree with you, leaving it to some point in your life is risky because what if that point never comes? It changes your entire world view and opens you up to opportunities you never knew existed. I’ve lived on 3 continents (Europe, Africa and North America) and every time I’ve been changed in ways I could never guess. I want to move to South East Asia in the next few months cos I’ve never been but trying to do that when my company is just taking off is a bit challenging so I’m innovating new ways to be in South Africa and in Malaysia/ Singapore at the same time.
Which of the three continents you have lived in was your favourite? That’s pretty cool. Were you able to figure out a way to be in the two places at once?
I would only live abroad if there was an offer (ie some amazing job opportunity came up). I’m not the brazen typical NZer happy to save up, pack up, take off and see how things shake down.
IMO, if you’re gonna do this, now is the time.
After I got my undergraduate degree and then my Bachelor of Education, I took a year off school and moved to London, England to teach.
Part of my reasoning behind getting a teaching degree at the time was my growing wanderlust and the fact that you can teach anywhere.
It was one of the best experiences of my life and, despite not saving a cent that year, I don’t regret it one bit.
Since then, I’ve gone to journalism school and started down a new career path – but I hope to move abroad again one day… One day, just like you said.
Wow – having the same itch as well, so wondering how you plan to do this in terms of work interruption? I’m planning for 2015 as well – 3-4 months in Southeast Asia. I just got married as well and starting a family is certainly a consideration. I highly doubt my work will give me a leave to do this, so it would mean leaving my job and having to find a new one when I come back, which would also be the time we’re thinking of starting a family. Awkward timing!