Advice Needed : Quitting your Job to go travelling.

Hi. I am in my mid twenties, have been to college and University, obtained a degree in geography but still find myself in the same job I had to support my days as a student.

I graduated a year ago with a 2:1 degree but have since not fully applied myself in looking for a job due to saving up for a trip to Costa Rica, from which I have been back home for 5 months and still not looked for a job (yes, this is my own lazy fault, however my friends from my course have tried vigorously to find jobs and have given up any hope for now until this recession passes over).

I currently put fruit and veg on shelves in a well known supermarket 39 hours a week for £10,000 a year after tax.

I have friends who have just set off to New Zealand. And some who are going NZ/OZ/Indo/S.E.Asia/China then perhaps India. The guys I went to Costa Rica with in February would also do a 3 week trip to S.America next year, where I would stay out on my own after they have returned home to their jobs (which they can't just leave).

I have the option to meet either of these groups out there somewhere, sometime. But if I were to go for an extended period of time (around 4 months), i would have to leave my job. It is perhaps a good time for me to do this as my parents who I still live with are moving house about 40 miles away, meaning my current job would be a bitch to get to every day anyway.

What would you guys advise? Meet my friends over there and face the consequences of being a jobless bum when I return? I do not want to go for any longer due to having a long term girlfriend who cannot leave her job and come with me.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Any fast food / grocery-related position you have it absolutely not worth throwing a trip away for.

You are young and have degrees, go on the trip and when you get back the job will still be waiting for you. Or go on the trip and use the experience to mature, so that when you get back you can look for a real job.

I realise that sounds needlessly harsh, but I am guessing you need a stiff kick up the backside to snap out of it and realise that there are worse things than being unemployed for a bit.

Now go have an awesome trip!

Leon

I agree with Leon. Go for it! Now is the time: before you get caught up in a career, family, mortgage payments, etc.

Maybe on the road you'll meet some new opportunity, or get an idea of something you can do when you get back. You've got nothing to lose except a shite job, right?

Quoting madpoet

...before you get caught up in a career, family, mortgage payments, etc...

Makes it sound inevitable.

Go for it, definitely! The worst case scenario is that you have to get a job stacking shelves in the supermarket again when you come back, so you would be no worse off than you are now. When you return to the UK the economy might have picked up a little so you might be able to get something much better anyway. Why not consider getting working holiday visas for Australia and New Zealand and extending your time in those countries?

[ Edit: Edited on 16-Jul-2010, at 14:47 by bex76 ]

Go for it mate. A few years ago I was working in an electronics factory for 9,000 a year. I wanted something out of life so I went back to school and eventually got into university to study English & History. Then I worked washing dishes at that same uni whilst volunteering at na archaeology and museum company. I studied a Masters in Modern European History. I've loved everything I've done but since i left that electronics factory I've never been able to get a proper job. I've been working casually at a museum for the past three years and have just lost that job. I've got no money but if I did, if I had the chance, I'd be off. I've got a girlfriend too so I'd compromise, but there's no way I'd hang about if I didn't have to.

Get out there!

£10,000 a year! im assuming u dont have a car and will use public transport?
think how much it will cost u in travel to get to work.... plus think how u will feel on that bus knowing ur friends are away travelling.... its a job not a career!!
Go for it definately!!

Leave. Now. I'm sorry, but professionally you cannot be worse off (sorry to be blunt). even if you find a job as an office junior (which should be very easy for a graduate) you'd be on at least £14,000 a year. Break away...fast!

thanks for all the advice you've given me some much needed encouragement. Although I do feel as though I'm asking for advice that I wanna hear bearing in mind i'm askin on a travelling forum lol.

I haven't got my head in the sand btw, be as blunt as you like, I know I am a bum!

Anyone got any alternate views lol?

Get work while you travel.

Like I read above, get a working holiday visa for one of many countries and go travel and have fun... another option, a little more financially secure, albeit grounded, but well paid for being so, is teaching English. You have your degree, doesn't matter what in, and you can get work in asia nearly anywhere. Google the EPIK and TaLK program in South Korea, where I presently work, check out Dave's ESL cafe for work in many places, JET in Japan... there are many countries seeking English teachers... meaning you only need to speak English and have a degree in anything.

I've been on this for a year now... you can't even spend the money you make! Cost of living is low, rent is paid for.. you only worry about food and your cell bill.

I'm not looking for a 9-5.. don't know when I will be, but teaching English to little Korean kids has proven heaps of fun, extremely culturally eye-opening, and has let me actually save money while traveling.

Just a thought. Happy travels!