Traveling isn’t cheap! That’s common knowledge, right? But there are people, like me, who find ways to go abroad and stay abroad for long periods of time. Many times, the price of plane tickets and lodging are small in comparison to some of the events that are missed while exploring the world.
When you’re 3,000 miles aways from home, you often miss life events that cannot be recreated when you get back home.
Unfortunately, even world travelers lose loved ones. They often miss the opportunity to have final moments with a relative or a close friend or to attend a funeral. They also lose the ability to be there for friends and family in a time of need.
Moments that can never be replicated are lost to time and distance.
It’s not only sad moments, but also times for celebration that are missed.
Wanderers often miss many life events:
Weddings
First steps and first words of nieces and nephews
Births of a loved one’s child
Graduations
And so on.
I recently had to make a choice of ending my extended stay in Brazil or travel to western Michigan to be the best man in my brother’s wedding. The choice wasn’t that easy. I haven’t worked since October and I currently have zero streams of income. To make it to the wedding would require a $1,000 plane ticket, leaving the warm Brazilian weather for the sub-zero mid-west winter, and parting from my wife for an extended period of time.
If I were working and earning a living, the choice would’ve been easy. I’d go to the wedding and shoot back down to Brazil, but I’m not and it wasn’t.
To go back to Brazil right after the wedding would’ve cost an extra $300 due to it being the heavy travel season in Brazil. Making decisions based on money, I’d stay in Brazil and hope that my brother would understand. To make a decision based on emotions, I’d do what I can to be the best man in the wedding and take a flight back to Brazil a few months later; when travel season has died and plane tickets have gone down in price.
THIS, is what starts complicating traveling the world. These decision have repercussions. Something will have to be sacrificed.
What did I do?
I chose to purchase a plane ticket and leave my beautiful wife right before New Years Eve. I purchased a ticket with a return flight a few months later. I chose to honor the commitment to my brother and sacrifice money and time away from my wife. A hidden price in a lifestyle like ours.
Luckily, I have a great support system in the USA. I have family that will house me and help me out. Also, I am a substitute teacher and can immediately work and earn money while I kill the time.
Some people are not as lucky as I am. They wouldn’t have this option. They would either have to miss a life event or sacrifice dearly financially.
All in all, my brother had a beautiful outdoor winter wedding. My new sister-in-law was drop dead gorgeous and I had a great time with friends and family.
I’ll miss my wife for the next few months, but that’s part of the price of having wanderlust.
** What are some events that you have missed or made a sacrifice to get to, because you were abroad? **
Worldwide Huff 