Seven Surprising Facts About My Travelling Lifestyle

Everyone travels differently. Whether it’s a few weekends and a summer holiday each year, a longer backpacking trip, or years spent on the road, everybody has their own way of seeing the world. I pretty much fall into the last category, having spent most of the last six years abroad. This is the era of Facebook and Instagram, where we showcase a highlight reel of the best parts of our lives. And this often leads to assumptions being made about how we live those lives. I constantly joke about running away from a “normal” life, whatever that’s supposed to be. And many people see nothing “normal” about the travelling lifestyle I’ve created for myself. I get it, some things many people take for granted are almost alien to me at this point. But I don’t want to live any other way, at least not for the moment, but it’s not always as fun or exciting as my social media accounts (or this blog) make it out to be.

I never pay rent.

Since graduating university and leaving Ireland in 2013, I have paid rent on one occasion – the three months I spent living in Perth, Australia. For the rest of that time, I have either been travelling (I don’t count hostels as rent), living in my car, back home with my parents (thanks, Mom and Dad, for not asking me for money!), or working jobs that came with accommodation included. Examples of this last one includes: turtle ranger in Cape Verde, wildlife rehabilitation assistant in Malawi and Canada, kestrel intern in Spain, and bartending in remote towns in Australia.

I have held 24 different job titles.

All the jobs I’ve worked since starting my travels fall into one of two categories: 1) work to save for travel, or 2) work to further my career. Unfortunately, at this point no job fits both.

Each of the following jobs were done in exchange for either a paid wage or food and accommodation, sometimes both!

• Administrative Assistant
• Dog Walker
• Pet sitter
• Photographer
• Field Assistant
• Wildlife Rehabilitation Assistant
• Wildlife Rehabilitation Intern
• Bird Monitoring Intern
• Hostess
• Waitress
• Bartender
• Groom
• Childminder
• Hostel cleaner
• Horse Riding Instructor
• Housekeeper
• Artist (I’ve sold a couple of paintings)
• House painter
• Charity Street Fundraiser
• Blogger! (though this blog doesn’t earn me an actual salary, because of it I have earned some free and discounted tours, like a boat tour to see beluga whales in remote Canada)
• Freelance Transcriber
• Social Media Manager
• Website Designer/Manager
• Graphic Designer

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I never spend longer than about four months in one place.

This is probably the fact that people find the strangest. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t handle the idea of staying in one spot for any length of time. I continuously have this feeling that there’s so much more to see in the world, and the longer I spend in one place, the less time I’ll have to see all the rest. Many people have pointed out that this doesn’t give me a chance to get to know the places I see, but I would argue that a) four months is plenty of time to get to know a place if you try and b) the less time I have, the more productive I usually can be. Nothing like a deadline to get my ass in gear and out exploring.

Side note: I have now broken this “rule” on two occasions: six months living in the stunning mountain town of Banff, and ten months in Ireland because of a certain pandemic…

I have pernicious anemia.

In August 2018 I was disagnosed with a Vitamin B12 deficiency caused by pernicious anemia, an autoimmune disorder that means I have to have B12 injections every few months. I’ve spent most of my life feeling tired all the time, and I just thought this was normal anemia brought on by my pretty shitty diet. Guess not (though the shitty diet certainly doesn’t help). Until recently I always had nurses, vets or biologists nearby to help out, but I’m very proud to say that I can now administer my own injections! It’s something I will have to deal with for the rest of my life, but my constant feeling of tiredness has never slowed down this travelling lifestyle of mine or stopped me from working, and it’s never going to (though it does make it harder).

I take antidepressants.

Think my life is just one long instagram feed? Think again.

Five years ago my dog died. It gutted me. Afterwards, I spent about nine months in a numb haze, all while backpacking Asia, working in Australia and getting a dream job in Africa. Would you know it from my social media accounts? Not at all. And while I had some amazing experiences during that time, I was also pretty miserable. Not the kind of travelling lifestyle you want. Eventually the depression subsided, but I was left with hormonal mood swings that controlled my life. It was only in 2018, when I decided to finally see a doctor about it, that I was prescribed a low dose antidepressant for PMS (yes guys, that’s a real thing, and it sucks). And they changed my life. I am not at all ashamed to admit this to people, it’s a part of who I am, and I am thankful every day not to experience what I used to called my ‘depresso days’ at certain times of the month.

Update: as of 2020 I no longer take these anti-depressants. I suddenly didn’t want to be on them anymore, so I decided to stop taking them (with advice from my doctor, of course). It’s been a a few months and I’m cautiously optimistic that I won’t need them again.

I never arrive somewhere without knowing when I’ll leave.

Not to the exact date, but I always have an idea. Mainly it’s because I’m always planning ahead to the next step in my journey. This definitely links in with the not being able to stay anywhere longer than four months part of my travelling lifestyle. Whenever I decide to stop and stay somewhere for a while to save some money, I always know when I’m going to leave, sometimes even before I get there! Whether it’s the specific term of a job, or the length of a season, or just my mental incapacity for commitment, there’s always an end date in sight.

I don’t get homesick.

It’s not that I don’t love home. I do. I love everything about Ireland, I love my friends and family, I love where I live. But I have no desire to spend the rest of my life there. Not getting homesick is definitely a benefit when you travel as much as I do. I don’t know why, but it’s like my brain is configured to simply accept the situation I’m currently in. This often applies to people too, which is why I don’t find it difficult constantly meeting new people, becoming friends, then saying goodbye knowing it’s unlikely we’ll ever see each other again. We’re always being told to live in the now, in the moment, and while I spend a ridiculous amount of time thinking about the future (and the past), I guess this is just my brain’s way of doing what it’s told. Funny, huh?

Do you travel much? How does your travelling lifestyle differ to mine? I’m always interested to hear about other people’s lives.

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