There are many reasons we keep ourselves from heading out into the world.
Not enough money. Not enough time. I have to work on my career. I’ll get to it when I’m older.
The truth is that the external realities are rarely the reason we choose to stay in a job, relationship, or 30 year mortgage. It’s our internal inability to make that leap of faith; to deal with the uncertainy that comes along with a life on the move, with little more than the clothes on your back and your items in your bag.
Here are 12 websites filled with 12 people who decided to make that leap.
1. Down The Road
Quote: “We are Tim and Cindie Travis, an ordinary American couple who decided to live out our dreams. We saved our money, quit our jobs, sold our possessions, and set off to travel around the world by bicycle. We left our home in Arizona, USA on March 31, 2002 and have been on the road ever since. Our plan is to continue to bicycle tour and travel for the next several years.”
2. Gone Walkabout
Quote: “The term Walkabout comes from the Australian Aboriginal. The idea is that a person can get so caught up in one’s work, obligations and duties that the truly important parts of one’s self become lost. From there it is a downward spiral as one gets farther and farther from the true self. A crisis situation usually develops that awakens the wayward to the absent true self.
It is at this time that one must go on walkabout. All possessions are left behind (except for essential items) and one starts walking.
Metaphorically speaking, the journey goes on until you meet yourself. Once you find yourself, you sit down and have a long talk about what one has learned, felt and done in each other’s absence. One talks until there is nothing left to say — the truly important things cannot be said.
If one is lucky, after everything has been said and unsaid, one looks up and sees only one person instead of the previous two.”
3. Modern Gonzo
Quote: “My tiny Modern Gonzo has now become a horde of inspiration from my journeys to over 50 countries (and counting) on 6 continents. I built and maintain the site myself, for I’m certain that within its pages lies a spark that can help others fire up their dreams too. Things appear to happen for a reason after all. You hear about these dream stories, and then one day, you wake up and find yourself living one. ”
4. Expedition 360
Quote: “I had absolutely no interest in the watery sections of such a proposal, having always failed to be convinced by recreational mariners of the supposed fun to be derived from being cold, wet and seasick all at the same time and for extended periods of time.
But the overland sections sounded intriguing: my head was filled with wildly romantic images of riding bicycles across the steppes of central Asia, trekking through the frozen wilderness of the Himalayas, staring into the flames of a roaring campfire after a hard day hacking our way through the Amazon jungle.
And the 2 years the expedition was projected to take traveling through predominantly warmer climes sounded like a welcome escape from that cold, wet island known to us natives as England.”
5. Let Me Stay For A Day
Quote: “My name is Ramon Stoppelenburg . When I was 24 I left my house in The Netherlands, on May 1, 2001, with a backpack filled with clothing, a digital camera, a laptop, and a mobile phone. From May 2001 to July 2003 I traveled the world without any money, visiting people who invited me over through this website. I crossed distance with my thumb or with help of sponsors and supporters. In return for all support I wrote about this all in my daily reports on this website.”
6. Mark Moxon
Quote: “In early 1995 I visited a friend who had just bought a new house. I remember it quite clearly: at the top of the stairs he had a perfectly formed bathroom in which I had what can only be described as a religious experience. The bathroom was one hundred per cent peach. It had a peach-coloured bath, a peach toilet, peach tiles on the wall and a peach basin on which sat a bar of peach-scented soap.
Hanging on the racks were fluffy peach hand towels that neatly matched the peach carpet below, and sitting on the windowsill was a bowl full of peach-coloured potpourri. I realised then and there that if I didn’t do something pretty radical, I was going to end up with a peach bathroom all of my own, and the thought filled me with dread.”
7. Where The Hell Is Matt?
Quote: “Matt is a 29-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play videogames. He achieved this goal pretty early and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he’d saved to wander around the planet until it ran out.
A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt the idea of dancing everywhere he went and recording it on his camera. This turned out to be a very good idea. Now Matt is quasi-famous as “That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not him either. I’ll send you the link. It’s funny.”
8. Hitch50
Quote: “Why are we doing this? We both just graduated college and didn’t exactly pursue the typical business jobs our classmates were chasing, so we needed something to do. Something fun to do, which involved traveling and meeting people and sharing experiences with them. So… we decided to hitchhike to every state capital, in 50 days or less. This gives us the opportunity to meet fun people and see fun places all over the USA.
As much as we’re into seeing all the great places we’ll visit, we’re even more excited to meet the people that will take us to those places. Hitch50 isn’t really a project about places; it’s about people. Are you one of those people?”
9. Vagabonding
Quote: “I view travel as life’s great educator. There’s no better way to learn about people and nature and your place in the world.
I got hooked on travel during my final semester in college, when I studied literature and theater in London. After school ended, I stayed in Europe for a year, working at pubs, record stores, and Italian restaurants to fund further travel. I managed to get as far south as Morocco and as far east as Turkey.
Those dramatic, vivid destinations fueled my appetite for more travel, more experiences, further-flung places. The more you travel, the more you realize how little you’ve seen.
I came home from Europe penniless and began to write for a newspaper in my hometown. These vagabonding dreams were born at that newspaper. I figured I’d travel around the world and write a column for the paper as I went. Of course, travel is hard to fund on a bottom-rung journalist’s salary.
I took a job in Chicago a little later, writing copy for web sites. I’d never seen a web page, had never sent an email before that job. It doesn’t seem like a day’s gone past since I haven’t. I bought the vagabonding.com URL while at that job. That was 1998.”
10. The Travel Junkie
Quote: “My year around-the-world taught me a lot of things: never turn down an invitation, bargain hard and always carry a roll of toilet paper. Most of all, travelling made me globally aware.
I learned about abducted child soldiers in Northern Uganda; the loss of indigenous culture in Tanzania; the construction of the “separation wall,” also dubbed the “apartheid wall,” across the disputed Israeli-Palestinian land. I learned that the Turkish government has been accused of denying the Armenian genocide; that despite the AIDS epidemic in Africa, humanitarian aid money often doesn’t reach the people it is supposed to help. I learned about the persecution of the Falun Gong and saw the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide.
I may be a McGill University graduate but travel has been the ultimate education. My trip has given me a deeper understanding of what’s going on in the world and where I fit within it.”
11. The Argonauts
Quote: “Ask yourself this question, “If you could do anything — anything in the world — what would you do?” You can guess my answer. I feel that life is a gift and that I have only one chance to live. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
And, to be honest, I had more than my fair share of angst and riding around the world was the only option I could see to overcome my malaise and become (or is that prove) to the world who I thought I “should” be.”
12. Goliath Expedition
Quote: “Many years ago, when based with the Army in Dover, I would stand on the white cliffs looking out across the English Channel at the distant shores of France in wonder.
I swear, some days I could almost see a ragged figure looking back at me, a spectre from my future. I could not help but wonder what he had seen along the way and who he was now. It was difficult to imagine what he’d given to get to that point. What would he be thinking, looking back across the Channel at that young paratrooper on the other side?
Well now my life is all about closing that loop. It’s about standing in France looking across the Channel at the White Cliffs of Dover. Maybe I’ll be able to spot that young man so eager to prove himself, prove that he could hold his own and go the distance. Prove it to himself more than anyone else…
One day I will stand on the coast of France, closing the loop and you will be there with me.”
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to Digg It, post to your Delicious, or forward it to your friends!
Are they any websites I missed that have inspired you to go traveling? Please share them in the comments.
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51 Comments... join the discussion!
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Hi Ian,
Excellent article…I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of websites you listed that I was already looking at…and in answer to your final comment/question “Are they any websites I missed that have inspired you to go traveling?” the following have inspired me tremendously (not that I needed much encouragement to begin with):
http://www.longwayround.com/lwr.htm …more the story as I watched it on TV than the website I guess.
http://www.longwaydown.com/ …related to the one above.
http://fourhourworkweek.com/blog/ …Tim Ferriss’s idea of
mini-retirements in particular struck a real chord with me – I’d always felt there was something missing from or slightly superficial about the idea of backpacking/vagabonding as most people know it. I’d always said I’d rather experience a place by living and working there for a few months, rather than the ususal backpacking approach, but wasn’t quite so keen on working my usual dayjob – the mini-retirement is the answer I was looking for, staring me in the face all this time!↵ -
What a great list! Thanks for erasing the productive morning I had planned…
Other websites:
http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com – just the name itself is pretty inspiring!↵ -
This is my travel website. Hope to inspire more world travelers. I am up to 38 countries and 32 states now.
Please sign guestbook.
cheers↵ -
Hawaii is a hard place to escape from because it’s paradise. I got addicted to travel ever since I studied abroad in England. Originally, my stories began as e-mails I sent to my friends while I backpacked around Europe. Then I switched to a running a blog when I moved to Asia.
You can read my blog at:
http://bluefox808.blogspot.com↵ -
Great to know there’s so many other people taking brave steps to travel the world. I hope to continue travelling myself and have this facebook group to keep me inspired. Would love to hear from you.
I’m totally broke and in debt from travelling but it was totally worth it
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21155544960↵ -
What I love about your website is that it connects like-minded individuals and gives everyone the opportunity to share their own travel addiction, and THAT is what inspires me to travel: the urge to pack and fly away, knowing that when you come back you can inspire others with your stories and websites.
Maybe this one will inspire as well: http://www.thecompassculture.com
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Great list, I love it!
I also recommend http://www.locationindependent.com which is a blog written by two “location independent professionals” who travel the world and run their freelancing businesses virtually.
I look forward to reading the others on your list!
-Pam
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Thanks for the list of good stuff to read!
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Your site is the best one! http://hiphop-music-videos.info/hip-hop-music-genre-and-where-it-originated-from408479
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Great list!
BUT you didn’t list any families touring the world!! We have been traveling the world as a family since 2006 and live large on just 25K total costs/ a year. We have been to 4 continents, 29 countries and traveled over 76,000 miles so far ( most overland) and have taken every type of transportation from freighter ships to camels!
http://www.youtube.com/user/soultravelers3
Over 2 million people have viewed our soutlravelers3 Youtube channel, National Geographic called us “one of the best travel family blogs in cyberspace” and we just won TWO Lonely Planet Travel Awards!
http://www.soultravelers3.com/2009/04/how-to-travel-the-world-as-a-digital-nomad-family.html#more
Our daughter was 5 when we began and now she is 8 1/2 & getting the best possible education for a global citizen of the 21st century via world travel, deep immersion and the multitude of online opportunities from her piano lessons with a teacher on a different continent to CTY online classes with John Hopkin’s University!
We want people to know that this is not just for singles or couples, but the freedom of extended travel is also a GREAT option for families!!
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you missed one that is in my opinion probably one of the most amazing
ludovichubler.com
Frenchman who hitch-hiked around the world in 5 years
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More travel blogs to read! I’m saving your website. ~Amanda
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Thanks for the website about the location independent professionals ! Another one to save!
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This site has been a funny and exciting to watch…yes, great HD footage.
http://www.twoguysaroundtheworld.com/
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Inspirational to say the least. We have traveled extensively to 37 countries, and want to take the next step like these people listed above. Wow, to travel for years at a time is a dream. Hopefully, by following their lead, we will be on the road soon with no end to our travels in sight.
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My husband Chandra and I lived in a little island called Penang in Malaysia. If you ever come this way, do stay with us. We will take you around and eat our famous Penang food with us. I might even cook some meals for you which I know is unforgettable.
Just pop me a line in my http://www.my-island-penang.com/Keep-in-touch.html
Peace to the world.
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THANK YOU!!!
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very very shocked you left out couchsurfing.com
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@guest – These are personal travel websites. Not travel communities.
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Wow, these websites inspire me. My hubby and I are hoping to take off soon too. Perhaps to Africa, hopefully to Africa. Make my dream come true someone. Anyone know of anyplace I could go teach English in Africa?
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I was first introduced to Otts World by a colleague and became very envious of Sherry Ott’s 16-month round-the world travels: http://www.ottsworld.com
Her writing style easily draws you in and every post is insightful and touching. It was especially refreshing to hear of a fellow American willing to quit their corporate job to hit the road and live out of a backpack.
Even though her original travels are over, Sherry continues to inspire as she follows the “contract” items she made for herself upon her return – including getting her CELTA certificate and to live abroad. She is now teaching ESL in Vietnam and blogging about life as an expat. Her “Motorbike Diaries” are especially entertaining as she learns to navigate the streets of HCMC like a true local – on motorbike.
And I’ve been fortunate to have connected with Sherry outside of the blogging-world and we have partnered up to help inspire other corporate Americans looking to take a career break and travel like her: http://briefcasetobackpack.com
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One more: http://www.flashpackinglife.com, though it hasn’t been updated since October. His wife, though, posted last week: http://www.flashpackingwife.com/.
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What an awesome collection of traveling folks.. some we’ve connected with, and others we haven’t.
There are so many ways to make this sort of lifestyle redesign… from traveling the world, back-packing, biking, RVing, etc. And you can do it and still earn an income – you don’t have to be retired!
We’re a mid-30s couple that has been traveling the USA via a small solar powered geeked out travel trailer with our kitten for the past 2 years. We do various tech and marketing consulting as we go, generally remotely and location independent.
We’re often told that we’re leaving people’s dream.. and when we ask them why they’re not out there doing it, they usually have a list of excuses keeping them back. We’re starting to address those excuses on our website:
http://www.technomadia.com/category/practical-concerns/excuses/
- Cherie / http://www.technomadia.com
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and here is another person to inspire you. . . .
It’s my MOM! and when she retired ten years ago, she said she wanted to see the world, and see it she did. She has visited 7 continents; thrown a snow ball at penguins in Antartctica, safaried in Africa, taught English in China, followed the Silk Route, bartered in Bali, gotten sick in South America, helped sign a death certificate for a fellow traveler in India, and so much more – now at an age of almost 80, she is still wandering the globe — here is her website where she tells all:
http://www.travelwithroz.com/↵ -
Super list and follow-on posts. Thought I’d try writing today, but now I’m too busy reading!
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Fantastic list. It’s nice to see so many people who know there’s more than just a normal life out there.
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Nice collection of sites. Inspires me even more to get back on the road after my 3 month in-trip break and to focus more on regular updates to my own site at http://www.roadsunknown.com.
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Thanks for the websites, it’s a good article. It will keep me busy until I can start travelling again. I espically like Vagabonding.com
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These people must have been really courageous to accept leaving everything to go and travel the world. Hats off to everyone, especially the couple who trot the world by bicycle and the guy who had no money at all but managed to move around the globe thanks to sponsors and people he knew through websites. All in all every person you’ve mentioned in this post have done something unique that few people can do. When i read through this post i remember a movie called ‘Into the Wild’ featuring a young man although brilliant at his studies, preferred to travel the world without anything, just to cut off from the materialistic world and live like a free man.
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Damn. I wish I had the courage to follow my (travellin’) heart! A little extra loot wouldn’t hurt, either!
Here’s another traveler’s story… very much a freespirit and an amazing person, though I can’t claim to know that privilege from first-hand experience.
http://www.kingafreespirit.pl/kingaen/
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Only one woman? Yipers. Can you do a piece on single women travel blogs? I would like that. Mostly because I would like more encouragement to do it myself.
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Hey Im a woman (26) and Ive been in 21 countries and more counting soon! Leaving to Australia in 3 months..
Now Im working on my own website filling in with a lot of useful contect about backpacking and travelling.The only one who stops you from travelling… is YOU!
Good luck and peace….
http://www.backpacker-ontheroad.com
SilviaOz
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hitchhiketheworld.com
a polish couple hitchhiked the world in 5 years, really interesting and enjoying to read their story, and u can read their book too called Led by destiny↵ -
The bottom line, is that if any of those guys can do it anybody can, because none of them are anything special. The difference is that they got off their asses and did it.
Do not be jealous of these people, carve out your own path, it isn’t that difficult if you really want to do it, stop finding excuses.
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Im absolutely agree with you ^^
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words of wisdom, thank you.
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I’m attempting to take on this travel/nomad type lifestyle, and needed a little more reading material, so this list is great and will be added to my Google Reader shortly! For an addition, I do like NerdyNomad.com; not for the travel material, but for how Kirsty finances all of the traveling she does.
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Love reading all the articles, and comments..and yes they ARE inspiring.
However–its not just a matter of chucking it all in and going out on the open road..that might even be the easy part.
Sometimes, you have to make choices that involve sacrifice–because for whatever reason the time is not RIGHT for you to do any chucking!
Things I can think of…aging parents, who need you at home and /or young children that you cant take away from their father ( your ex)
So no, everyone that wants to CANT do it. And perhaps, it takes more courage to stay Home.
The best i can do, given my situation–is to eke out a few adventure experiences every holiday I get…the longest I can get away for, without my daughter is about…3 weeks. I cant take her out of the country for more than 4 weeks at a time…so that limits me. Its not a cross, its a choice. Its a responsiblity. My time will come↵ -
RE: “Not Enough Money, I’ll get to it when I’m older”……All of a sudden I was 62 in June. Guess what….I’m older and I’m just getting to it. I’ve developed somewhat of a panic now thinking “so little time to get to it” and why did I not go out and make that leap of faith sooner? Yes, there were four kids, a husband and parents to think about, but still, things can be worked out. That rear view mirror works so well. I hope all the young kids of today go for it now!
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Does white first world people need to label, control, organize and road everything?
Like blog the world. Put the unlimmited into frames? To do that you have to quartered it. Do you feel the undone, unframed like an agression to you?↵ -
These guys will make you think about what really is important, and maybe even dream a bit.
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Good list, but definitely needs some diversity. So I would like to throw in our family’s website: http://www.NoOrdinaryJourney.com. We have travelled for months at a time, most recently in SE Asia. This is no small feat when you have a child who is a wheelchair user!
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A true global nomad – wandering across 100+ countries – since 1988 … presently on route to Cuba. Crazy travels – aressted in Saddam´s Iraq, hitching the Sahara, drugged, robbed abducted in Russia. Travel photos & video.Totally original take on travel.
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Not quite the same sort of travel site as the ones listed here but my recommendation is for the Unexpected Traveller: http://unexpectedtraveller.wordpress.com
He travels a lot for work (which must be great and annoying in equal measures) and this blog is all about the unusual situations he finds himself in.
Antoine
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I saw some great websites or travelers I already knew about, like ‘where the hell is Matt?’. Loved what he did and also some travelers in the comments. But I’m glad I got to learn about a few new ones too. Thanks for sharing this list!
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I have a similar story like the 12 travel sites you have listed above, except I decided to travel after 6 years of working in corporate marketing. I started a small marketing consulting business a couple years ago, worked over 80 hours a week and decided to take a break- I had accomplished a lot in my marketing/business career but felt there was something missing with me. I needed to travel and see the world.
So…here I am, unemployed and loving every minute of it! I am currently traveling the Netherlands and plan to travel all over europe this year. At the moment I am staying with some friends at their place in Amsterdam.
You can visit my travel blog at: http://www.traveltothenetherlands.blogspot.com
Thank you for sharing your website!
Whitney↵ -
A very inspiring list. It’s stories like these that make me happy to be out on the open road!
Breaking the shackles of an ordinary 9 to 5 office job, so very liberating!Keep up the good work.
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Thanks for the links.
I’ve been traveling the USA with my dog solo for the past two years.
http://www.alisonslife.comI’ve enjoyed this journey and sharing pictures with you!
Thanks!
Alison↵ -
If my wife, Nicky, and I check out one of these sites per night, we should gain the courage to take the plunge again and head out into the wide blue yonder. Great inspiration!
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Great list, and some inspiring stories! We, too, have been traveling, from Australia to the UK and Costra Rica to Canada! This is our time to travel, and we have a website we are recording our adventures on for ourselves and anyone else who is interested. It’s http://www.offthetrails.com. Check it out!
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