The Travelling Fund; £10,000 in 10 months!!!

Karmacat

OMG! This is so exciting :j:j:j

allybee101

Stumbled upon your holiday savings diary, and then found your previous diary and your monthly challenges. Oh my goodness - inspirational or what! Already picked up some great tips and have been reforming my habits.
Will be reading on with interest and a little bit of travel envy!

NinjaSavingKat

Thank you Karmacat. I love it that other people are are excited too! It's hard to believe that it's all coming together so I have to keep reading my own post on FEAR every now and then...:rotfl:

Welcome to you Allybee101 - thank you for your kind words. If I can inspire one person to change their life and aim for what they want and only what they want then I will be a happy NSK. Tell me a bit more about these reformed habits though - I am intrigued!!!

Lotti - it seems like you are being left to stagnate but I can see why you would want to hang about for this big project. It might be someting to get your teeth into and a change to make yourself shine through everyone else and something bigger and better might come from it. Do you have an idea of where you would go if you did leave this company - or have you the skill set to work for yourself?

I am currently sat here in my living room having bunked the day off work. I am looking at my basket on the Apple website that it currently at £974.20. Yes I can buy it as I have the cash, yes I deserve it (:rotfl:) but there is always panic when I buy things..

Am needing to concentrate on what I need to buy first before frivolity...

• Flight home in May to see parents.
• Flight back to London from home in November.
• Hotel on the night I stay over in London before flying out to Bangkok.
• Transfer to "kept items" to home home via Citilink / Parcel Force.
• Those other things I have forgotten.....lol!

I think my aim is to clarify what I need to get and see if I can price things up.

I want £4000 in an Australian account before I leave so I know I will have $7000 when I arrive.

Hmmmm lists to follow to bore you....:)

jackieblack

Hi NSK
I stumbled across this thread a few days ago but it's taken me this long to plough through 11 pages! As a fellow INTJ a lot of what you've posted resonates with me.

I really admire your bravery. I am a lot older than you and my life is very different, doing something like the adventure you're planning is not an option for me at this stage of my life. Even if it were, I don't think I'm brave enough to do it.

I'll have to settle for my small adventures, 2-3 weeks at a time. (My current goal to visit every state of the USA.)

I'll be following your adventures with great interest and admiration

Siouxsie32

Make sure you buy it with a cash back credit card 5% cash back is nearly £50 - that makes it easier to justify, no?

I still haven't got round to using my 1-2-1 session or any of the other workshops. Having said that, there's loads I still don't know how to do. You're more of a do-er than I am though, so if you had that package, you'd make great use of it!

Oops, shouldn't be encouraging spending.....

DireEmblem

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

My job, in all it's glory, has institutionalized me. This is why my desire to really feel free is not a case of getting up and leaving but more a mental trait that can only be realized if this total freedom is encapsulated in the act of resigning. Then and only then can I tell the world who I really am. Right now my job, my position, owns me. Not all jobs encompass a person to the degree mine does. It's not the way I think about my job that's killing me, it's not a frame of mind in that I am a workaholic, its the actual physical contract I signed, that I knew I wanted back then, but now is strangling me and crushing my being. I have signed my live over to these people and I need out.

So my fear. My real FEAR that pushed me through these weird feelings, that makes me get up and get moving is the fear that I will regret.

I don't want to be 70 years old wondering "what if". What if I managed to stop thinking too much and settled in Fiji for 6 months? What if I managed to get over and reconcile my need for order with the chaos of not knowing where I would be in a few months time or know who I will be with - what memories could be made?

More than my fear of fear is my need to experience!

So this 70 year old in a 30 year old mind pushes herself to her limits. Mentally for now but the physically will follow. She will bore you with her thoughts but make you think about yours.

What do you fear?

Totally agree with you there. I certainly dont hate my job - its paid for a lot of great memories, and still could.

My mailbox is bombarded with adventure marathons to Myanmar/Polar cirle - the latest being A Scandinavian 50k 3 country 7 day adventure - that infact sounds great!

My FEAR is either way what if i do something I regret - if I go away , I would be looking for a new job, and probably just 'settle' for a year and come back. Why not 'settle' here - do the above, visit friends in Barcelona/Berlin, go back to Vegas all this year? Then I get back to the thought of they can be done anytime, and its a neverending cycle of stupidity. Both would be awesome and I need a moment of true clarity, and I need it soon.

You talk about getting a macbook -any particular reason why? They are well built machines I admit, but they are expensive. £400 would get you a decent laptop nowadays, an Ipad even. Another thought is (if you are able to) order through the Education store. The quite often do good deals on 'back to uni' where you get 3 years warranty etc. Is that an option?

NinjaSavingKat

Hello DireEmblem.... thanks for your post. I feel what you are saying. I get waves of thinking I am being silly with leaving the UK and I could just change my job and location here and then take some epic holidays but it's not the same. For me the regret will be not doing this more than the regret of what might be left behind.

There is a different frame of mind / mental state when you are on holiday (the dread of coming home) to the state of mind that knows you won't have to work a 9-5 for a very long time. And I think the emphasis I have is one of experiance, being less dependant on the "norm", and truly seeing the amazing epic wonders this world offers.

I grew up looking at the the pictures of naked girls in the Amazon rainforest in the National Geographic.. I want to meet them and other people buried away from he easy life I have. I want to learn more about the planet outside my bubble. I want to go far and wide and truly feel nomadic. A great word if ever there was one.

So yes I can see your fear and why you feel that way - but I have nothing to stop me, not even an interesting job... So I am leaving. You will regret not doing it for at least a year I think. Can you get a sabbatical instead of leaving your job?

The laptop? Yes I have sat attempting to justify to myself for a few years. The main aspect - battey life and weight. Endless possibilities with Apple to run a business on line - a cheaer laptop I have found by Samsung for £480.. thats the lightest one I could locate and yes it's imperative if I am going to be on the road for a while.

But for a refurbished Apple with my work discount I can get an Apple for £200 more. For me that's easily justifiable. I would always have an Apple on my mind and laptops to match the Apple in weight and power are around £1000 anyway...

I will be guarding it with my life though. I see cheaper laptops as throwing my money away knowing how long the Apple will last and the support that comes with it to be replaced.

Siouxsie32

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

... I see cheaper laptops as throwing my money away knowing how long the Apple will last and the support that comes with it to be replaced.

I agree. Apple support is second to none, and every product I've ever had has been amazing! The MacBook Air is incredibly light and the battery power is excellent. I think it was worth every penny!

do it do it do it do it do it do it do it!

PheoniX

Hullo chick :wave:

Just caught up with how youre getting on with putting your plans in into action ready for The Great Escape :j Its getting close now with less than 30 weeks to go! :T

Twas interesting reading your post about fear. I totally understand where you are coming from when you talk about an overwhelming need to take drastic action and the feeling of fear that comes with it. The fear of doing or not doing can be paralysing. I have had two similar experiences of major changes myself, although the first was more of a baby step dipping my toe in the water which gave me the confidence to bring about the second plunge! I have found each time after a lot of thought, that if a decision feels right in head and heart you cant go far wrong.. And I never made the wrong decision or looked back yet.

You have nothing to lose and so much to gain! You have the support of family, the security of some money and a job to go back to (which I doubt you ever will!) and they are enough of a safety net to allow you to go and realise your dreams.

The wonderful thing about life is that we can start all over again and live as many different lives and lifestyles as we like in our lifetime. There is something very liberating about the whole process of disposing posessions and closing the door on our past before opening another door to our future..

The quote 'The new life you are about to create is a masterpiece and you can't create a masterpiece without a blank canvas' is a beautiful one.

NinjaSavingKat

Siouxsie I am at work tonight. I have a whole 8 hours here and at home to makes lists about what is important and ensure I have enough money to leave with in the time that I have. The good thing is that I can hammer the OT until then to cover the deficit as I still want £4000 in my Oz account and £7000 cold hard cash to take with me through SEA. I think I can do it. :T:T:T......................... I might also call Apple and see if I can get the One to One free like you did.. as they don't do the refubed models in store... but its a £90 difference between a brand new one and a refurbed... worth it?