Does the more you travel and work overseas, make you more unsettled in life?

A friend has just pointed this out to me, she has travelled and worked overseas a fair bit as I have done and just wondering if the more you have the more you want?

How do others feel?

Merlot

i think that there is an element of truth in that.... i have friends back home who have never really travelled - 2 weeks in benidorm doesnt count - and they sometimes appear to be very content...

sometimes i think ive put off going home cause its the start of 'growing up' - like mortgages, etc and that the line has been drawn and you cant get up and go again - you can but its a state of mind thing.......

ive been here nearly 5 years and ive had the kind of attitude of ' well im going to do this, go there' because one day i cant! - have to keep that up in uk also!
dont want to grown up!

Merlot,
When I was a teenager I couldn't stand my home area and have travelled a lot since my early 20s.
However what I have found is that even though I have seen some great places the older I get the more I appreciate the place I grew up in.

I'm really glad that I have travelled and even though emigration didn't turn out too well for me I can still take some positives from it.

Don't be offended if some of the folks back home don't seem to be interested in your travelling stories, they have never 'travelled' and will not be able to Get a lot of what you are describing as it is totally alien to their own experience.
That doesn't mean that their decision to stay in one place is any less valid than our decision to travel.
Anyway even if you do get itchy feet again, travelling is much cheaper and easier from the UK,
Good Luck
JayJay

I agree with JayJay to some extent. I moved to UK when I was quite young, so since then I regarded it as home. Maybe because the country I grew up in, well, doesn't exist any more. Moving to Canada reinforced that homesick feeling. Maybe we will get itchy feet again, who knows? But at the end of the day, I think we'll return home, warts and all.

If you hold an inner desire to 'see more' then yes! I think once you've seen variety in the world, you want to see what else there is. Maybe this is why spending the rest of your days in Oz isn't what you desire (like many of us) - too much to see on this planet and no time to be stuck in a [beautiful] country in an isolated corner of the world.

I've studied and lived/worked in Europe and it certainly added an element of excitement to life - being a stranger in a foreign land, having to fend for yourself, overcoming the many barriers, etc - makes life interesting.

Even now, we're talking about another stint abroad....because we can. (It won't happen for a couple of years now but it's been discussed many times). We took 6 months off to move and travel round Oz in 2002 so that has probably suppressed the desires to go roaming.....but I still feel a litle bit of bubbling under the surface.

How do you feel...do you feel like you want to settle or wander??

This post is certainly ringing true for me, fled my birth home as soon as I could as a combination of being in a geographical area I didn't fit into (I had too much spark for Teeside) and then the usual baggage stuff from a not so happy childhood.

I have moved on so much and now after nearly 34 years on the planet have the courage to go back and face up to it. I actually cannot wait as the real Merlot has appeared from behind the shadows. I want to live all of where I come from, even the not so lovely bits!!!!

I loved every minute fo travelling in my 20's, my only regret is the abuse of substances, booze and cigs along the way as don't do any of that now - apart from a little of the booze I feel like I truly didn't see everything in its complete glory.

There is soooooo much I want to see and do. This Forum is wonderful as it has made me realise there are like minded folk out there, all in different parts of their journey but all united in how we feel.

I can't wait for this year to really kick in, too much planet not enough time!

Cheers
Merlot the Wondering Soul

I've like to travel in my 20s... and eventually settle down.

As much as I desire to see everything, I need my comforts just as much...

I have a friend who's lived in the same place for all his life who's very discontent.

I've been overseas for almost all my adult life and I'm hungering for more.

But - this is it - I'm content.

Wanting to travel doesn't make one discontent. Not being able to achieve one's goals does that perfectly well!

I have never lived anywhere longer that 5 years so nowhere has ever felt like home. It is hard to get homesick when you have no home. Maybe if I stick it here I may get that feeling that I am at home.

I will get itchy feet again and who knows where we'll end up next.

I definintely think that everyone should travel, really changes your pespective and you learn such a lot.

I for one are not going to stop. The wonderful thing is there is no age limit now to travel. I thought I would get to my early 30's and think "enough is enough" but I haven't! Even being married hasn't stopped the urge!!! (Oo eer missues)

Must dash
M

This a funny one to answer, but am just going to tackle from my own experience. When i finished high school towards the end of the late eighties, i decided to go travelling instead of going straight to uni, i did have a place at uni, but i defered it for two years, while i went travelling in Africa teaching maths, science, english to kids, and doing voluntary work.

My mom was not happy at the time of me leaving, but my dad saw it from my point of view, i might never get that opportunity again. I covered 35 countries out of the 46, working my way through it and living in hostels and stuff. I got to clim Kilmanjaro, and see Victoria falls.

After all that, i came back to the UK, got my degree and did europe every little chance i got, Australia & NZ, two south American countries. At my last count, i had covered 25 european countries. After that, it was the united states, where am proud to say i have done 40 states.

Am now living in Canada with my Canadian wife, and the only thing tht keeps cropping on my mind, is where next. We both love travelling, so that helps. But when you have a kid, you can't just pick up and go. That is why am glad i did all i did in the past, considering am only in my early 30s.

Yes....i think if travelling is your thing, you just want to keep on doing !

mick

Heck, I know people that have been born, worked, lived and died in the same town here in Staffordshire....the furthest they ever ventured was 100 miles to Blackpool....and they were content as pigs in sh*t.........now that is some scary stuff....:scared:

I think it's all down to your particular personality...some people are content more easily than others.....it's as simple as that I figure....

Tis only my opinion though....Rich