Buy a house or go travelling?

AlistairM

To quote from my favourite book


"No man is brave that has never walked a hundred miles. If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name. Travel is the great leveller, the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueller than mirror-glass. A long stretch of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet." - Kvothe

knightstyle

KingKiller Chronicles? great.
To the opp GO too many people go through lives with "what if I..."
Better to die poor full of memories than rich full of regrets.

Voyager2002

Rather than just a year of travel (relaxation), why not do something like VSO? Solid experience of responsible work in a demanding context can enhance your CV and make it easy to get that first job after you return -- perhaps with a decent pay-rise (as happened to me).

AlistairM

knightstyle wrote: »

KingKiller Chronicles? great.
To the opp GO too many people go through lives with "what if I..."
Better to die poor full of memories than rich full of regrets.

Greatest book ever

DigForVictory

I'm very lucky - I got to travel a lot before & while at University (blimey things were different). I could & did then settle down. Married, children etc. Now I'm getting itchy feet again.

Grab that sabbatical & have a wonderful time learning as much as you can!

Bodders11

A good thread - I am currently saving for a deposit but once I have that I'll be saving to go travelling for some time (3 months) before I take the plunge of a lifetime of debt! Wahooo

eddddd

Hello All,

First time I've checked the thread in a while and it's great to see the replies. Thank you to all, the advice makes for great reading.

Over christmas myself and my girlfriend have made the decision that we will travel first before buying a house. We are looking to go in approximately a years time.

Our loose plan at the moment involves Australia and New Zealand, we will most likely leave our jobs and travel for a year.

>How much money do you think we need to sustain ourselves for this amount of time?
>Volunteering in some way sounds brilliant and is something we are both interested in doing. What is the best way to do this, and which websites do people recommend?
>Are there any places/countries that are a must to experience that anyone would recommend?

Any other advice would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,
Ed

marksoton

eddddd wrote: »

Hello All,

First time I've checked the thread in a while and it's great to see the replies. Thank you to all, the advice makes for great reading.

Over christmas myself and my girlfriend have made the decision that we will travel first before buying a house. We are looking to go in approximately a years time. Very exciting!I never travelled per se but have seen a lot of the world and never regretted it.

Our loose plan at the moment involves Australia and New Zealand, we will most likely leave our jobs and travel for a year.

>How much money do you think we need to sustain ourselves for this amount of time? That's a personal choice based on how much you're prepared to slum it!
>Volunteering in some way sounds brilliant and is something we are both interested in doing. What is the best way to do this, and which websites do people recommend? Not done it so can't really comment but avoid the "agencies" who actually charge you for the privilege
>Are there any places/countries that are a must to experience that anyone would recommend? From personal experience.. Hong Kong,Sydney,Melbourne,and most of all Cuba.Utterly stunning place.Flights from Canada there are frequent and relatively cheap

Any other advice would be very much appreciated.Get savvy with your travel plans to minimise flight costs etc. Maybe put everyday spending on a airline reward credit card ( For gawds sake pay it in full each month!)

Thank you,
Ed

I left most of my travelling to my 30's and it's meant i can afford a bit more luxury but i always regret not taking a sustained period to do so earlier. Make sure you keep us posted..

zagubov

You'll find foreign travel easier now, before you have commitments such as kids.

Why on earth does it have to be in units of time like a year?

MoneyEM

I would definitely buy a house now if you are in a position to. You might have enough of a deposit for a house in today's market, but will it be enough in tomorrow's market, bearing in mind you will have eaten into it to go travelling?

I see houses as something which will always keep rising (unless the government substantially increases the amount of newbuilds per year to meet demand, which doesn't look likely in this generation, coupled with record figures for net migration which will push up demand and keep prices high... Record low mortgage rates right now should help too, with good 2yr & 5yr fixes