I landed a big job in California that pays well, so sadly my seemingly endless trip will come to an end. My new goal is to make it down to Nicaragua and do some Volcano Boarding and finish my existing client work while I’m on my way down there. Once I’ve finished my trip, I will fly back to Sacramento, California to start my work at my new position.
It’s bittersweet. Honestly, a big part of me doesn’t even want to accept the job offer. I almost vomited when I realized that I would accept the job. It’s difficult because I feel like I finally earned my independence to travel freely, to have a sustainable way to travel (through my freelance programming) and I have nothing holding me back from traveling. Well, nothing could hold me back except a job offer apparently.
The position that was offered to me is at the University of California – Davis, at their medical center. I would be a software analyst and programmer. It’s a huge career opportunity, the biggest I’ve ever had in my life. I’ll be making almost six figures, working at a world-respected education institution, never mind the potential doors it could open for my career in the future. I really don’t have an option – I need to take the position.
Two once in a lifetime opportunities.
My freedom to travel and this big job opportunity are two once in a lifetime opportunities. I’ve made the decision to accept the job, however, it was really hard for me to come to terms with that. The other travelers I was with at the time – when I made the decision, they could see how disappointed I was that my travels would come to an end. It was brutal.
I’ve always wanted to travel freely. Not like…for vacation, but as a lifestyle, similar to those people that have sailed boats around the world, or those that have travel-blogs and visit every continent. Being free-spirited, without limits, living simply and being happy with less has always been something I’ve aspired to do. It’s always been a dream, since I was young. My parents tell me about how I use to talk about traveling all the time when I was younger. It’s never been possible for me until now.
Job offer accepted.
Now that I’ve accepted the job offer, I’ve been thinking of my plan. I refuse to get stuck in the cubicle life forever. I love Central America, I love traveling and one of the reasons that I love programming is because it allows me to live where I want to live. Unfortunately this job does not allow me to work remotely. I must be in the office and I can’t do work from anywhere else. Lame. But fortunately I’ll be given a lot of vacation days, which I’ll definitely use for traveling. But it still feels limiting already.
My goal is to save money to give me more freedom in the future – freedom to travel and freedom to live abroad. I definitely will not settle into a cubicle job for the rest of my life, and I am serious about that.
I’ll give the job 1-2 years before I leave. I’ve promised myself that I’ll give it at least 1 year and I’ll push hard to stay at it for 2 years if I can manage to survive that long living in the United States. I’ve lived in the USA for so many years, that I’ve become bored with it. I’ve lived in 6 different cities in the USA and after a while they all start to feel the same. So, I somewhat dread moving back. Additionally, I know that it’s likely that I’ll want to have children someday, so I don’t want to get stuck in a cubicle while I’m younger’ish. I want to continue my journey traveling, after I’ve put in some decent time at this upcoming job.
