Can I Travel The World Continuously Forever? – The Most Thought Provoking Weekly Update Ever!
It’s that time of week again guys! The weekly update. The update that everyone across the world craves for… Well, at least a few of you guys do anyway, and that’s good enough to keep me writing this!
I’ll be honest, not a lot has actually happened this week in terms of travel. And that’s why this format is slightly different. Rather than the usual Photos From The Road– I actually have almost no photos from this week- I’m getting a little bit profound, and using this as a space to reflect on the last few years of travel, and the future…
This just might be the most thought provoking Travel Tramp update yet.
Or, more likely, the most cringe worthy…
Can I Travel The World Continuously Forever?!
I’ve been travelling the world for almost three years straight now, there’s been good times, bad times, great times and boring times too. I’ve gone through the whole spectrum of travel emotions you see posted daily somewhere on Instagram, and I won’t bore you by getting too emotional here.
At the start of my journey in October 2015, I had a rough plan of travelling overland all the way to Tibet. This grand voyage I called- and you can still read about it on the blog HERE– London to Lhasa…
That didn’t go to plan- I never made it to Tibet. I never even got a Chinese visa, they refused my application, and for the most part, most other things haven’t gone to plan either since I left England. My journey and I guess my life, simply turned into one crazy unplanned ride that just never seems to end, and so for these reasons, I’ve stopped making any real long term plans, except the vague goal of Travelling Continuously Forever!
The next few months are looking to be crazier than ever, as I travel to Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines- the list will probably never end, and I’ll always be announcing where I’m travelling to next! And with a few projects in the works I might just be on the way to living out my plan of a life of a life of continuous travel.
Or at least, this is the start…
I set out three years ago with no long term travel plan, other than to make it to Tibet within the year. I still don’t have one over reaching long term plan, just the idea that I can have the freedom on the road I am looking for, or perhaps just the freedom to be on the road when I want to.
I worked hard before I left to save money for this journey, and when my plans were dashed by bureaucracy and political borders, I made a new plan, to go to Australia. I worked hard in Australia to keep going again and to save, and now I’m working harder than I ever have- blogs, writing, photography- and for less money than I ever have to keep my projects going, and to look to the future so I can always travel on my terms.
I realise how lucky I am to live the lifestyle I do, not everyone can. Not everyone wants to.
Some people are amazed at what I’ve done so far and disbelieving of my plans for the future and others see it as selfish endeavour, wondering when I’ll return to England or just question the financial aspect.
Everyone invests their time and money differently, some buy houses or raise a family, some invest in businesses or education. I invested in travel, I invested my time and money to see the world, and at the very least try to understand some small part of the planet we call home.
That’s given me incredible experiences that I still look back on with disbelief.
I never thought I would make it this far along the road. There’s been moments when I’ve almost returned home, but I knew that if I did, I would never try again. My dream would remain that, just a dream.
The practical side of me always imagined that realistically I would have to return home, that this sort of thing was for other bloggers with the fans, the stardom, the sponsors or the finances, but experience has taught me that most of it is down to you, the decisions you make and the goals you set yourself. If you want something bad enough, the world wont conspire to make it happen for you, but give it enough time and energy and things will start to happen!
The hardest part is realising the change that happens, and seeing the progress that you make in anything, and the only way to keep sight of your dreams is to look back and see how far you have really come.
Travel Continuously – Working Hard In Bali…
The question I posed at the start, is can I travel the world continuously, forever?
I still don’t have the answer to that, and I won’t for many, many years to come, but I like to believe that it is possible.
If you’ve been following me recently, you’ll also know that the reason I was in Bali for the last two weeks- and consequently don’t have many travel photos for you guys- is that I was meeting with my old friend The Life of Jord to finalise the details of our latest project, and what is in many ways simply the natural conclusion of both our dreams of finding a way to travel the world for a long as possible.
This May we are hosting an event in Coron in the Philippines- we actually have one space left if anyone is interested last minute, due to an unfortunate cancellation, just send me a message! – and this is really the culmination of our combined years of experience travelling and working on the road, as we take a motivated and talented group of content creators to the Philippines, to work with them and help them to realise their own goals.
For us too, Coron is just the start, we have many more events planned over the next year. It’s probably the most amount of planning I’ve done since leaving England in 2015, but it is looking set to be an epic event.
Perhaps this is a moment in time that in future years I’ll look back and say, hey, that was a crossroads, that’s where I really began to believe in my dream, because that’s when it started to become reality.
Canggu to Kuala Lumpur!
Yesterday I bid farewell to Bali, and to The Life Of Jord and flew to Kuala Lumpur. Our event planning is mostly complete, we just have to put it all into action, so for the next few weeks I’ll be organising a few more things from KL, getting our next event rolling and getting lets of blogging done.
At the end of the month I have a quick four day stop over in Brunei on my way to the Philippines! I’ve never been to this small nation on the island of Borneo, so any suggestions are most welcome from anyone with experience! Then it’s off to Coron for the big event!
All Words By Richard Collett
All Photos Are Actually By My Good Friend Zachary Williams, From Our Time Travelling In East Timor!
NIce Idea! Nice Blog!
It’s impressive that you’ve managed 3 years of pretty much continuous travel. As a Nomad for 15 years, I find that I need to settle in occasionally, just to get a routine again. I think you could go back to the UK as an easy way to replenish the travel fund, but I doubt you’d give up the wanderlust completely. Once an expat, always an expat… Happy Trails Richard! Thanks for sharing these experiences with us.
Hey Pat thanks for reading!
I think I will do the same, although I won’t be going back to any sort of traditional job, just lots more blogging!!