Comments on: Are you ready to be a Perpetual Traveler?

By: adventuresaddict@gmail.com

adventuresaddict@gmail.com — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:22:10 +0000

I want to add one more point about children. The typical thing to do today is to send children to public schools. But let’s remember that private tutoring had been practiced for a long time. Kings, princes, Alexander the Great included were privately tutored. Oxford students still get tutored in small classes, sometimes one-to-one. It’s much more effective than teaching them in a big class. So I would argue that privately tutoring your kids is an even better way to educate them. You’d be able to give them full attention unlike teachers who have a few dozens of kids to take care of at a time. Moreover, as I suggested, the qualifications that they may obtain are the same GCSE or High School Diploma. They will learn even more on the road.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:59:22 +0000

Irene Maradei, great points here! I don’t say, that this lifestyle is for everyone, but there are many who like it. I still have my parents and love them and we are on the phone (skype, also video calls) at least once a week. They are old enough and perfectly able to take care of themselves and survive more than sufficiently without my help. I visit them once a year or they visit me on a holiday, so we are always in touch and know, what’s going on. We send e-mails and photos back and forth all the time. They are traveling around a great part of their time also. But that doesn’t mean I have to live in close proximity with them all the time. We all live our own lives. Also, in this modern world, any location on this planet is only a daytrip away in an emergency situation.

I know, that you will lose old friends, but you will make new ones also, the more you travel. And do you always want to follow your friends, where they are moving? I prefer to live my own life and see the places I long to see, without giving up to staying in touch with friends and relatives – and making new friends along the way. The real good friends you develop over the years anyway and you will be surprised, who your real friends are. Some past friends will not make it into your future, but there is usually a good reason for that, that either they or you developed in different directions. Then for me it’s better to let go, than being stuck in the past with them.

With children it is the same thing: I met many couples with children on the road; children actually benefit the most from constant traveling. They learn different cultures and languages on the fly, grow up in multicultural environments and and get a non-racist and tolerant mindset, that makes them set much better for the demands and requirements of this modern world in times of globalization.

And why not? But of course, it’s a personal decision, not everyone likes it. And that’s perfectly fine!

Sunny also has some valid points, how you can mitigate the downside of long distance a bit better.

By: sunny

sunny — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:54:57 +0000

To become a PT, you need to have as little burden as possible. There are things like job, status, luxury and house that you can conveniently discard. But there are a few that you can’t. All of us came into this world with parents. So we have no choice with this burden. But we do have the choice to remain single or childless. Aspiring PTs should preferably reduce the number of optional burdens in their 20s or 30s. Once you get married and have a child, it’s much tougher to detach yourself from them. But there are still a few ways.

1) Parents.
Suggest to them that you relocate to Asia together. They may acquire a permanent retirement VISA in the Philippines, Thailand or Malaysia.If they are still healthy, they may spend a few months of the year travelling with you or on their own. They may spend most time living in a preferred location such as a beach or retirement home. If they are unhealthy, you can arrange for them to reside in a nursing home in Asia. Visit them often. With professional nursing and care you would feel safer when you are not with them. If they insist on living in your home country, you can arrange to visit them once a year and communicate with them via MSN often. If they need long term care, then arrange for them to stay in a retirement village. But do tell them that given similar standard of care, it is usually cheaper to move into a home in Asia, and that you can visit them more often if they more to Asia.

2) Children:
You can travel with them and teach them personally using distance education programmes. They may even be able to pass the internationally recognised GCSE or GCE A-Level exams before their peers do. After they pass these exams, they may study in a recognised university on campus, or by distance study. They may also take an accredited American High School Diploma by distance education. You may spend 2-3 hours each day to tutor them on the distance courses. Many universities offer degrees that may be studied at a distance.

By: Irene Maradei

Irene Maradei — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:52:43 +0000

I read your article with great interest. It sounded great. But hey, what about your old parents who now need you? They took care of you when you were young, now it’s your turn to be on their side. What about children? As I have lived in a country different than my nationality, and I went to my nationality’s school, there were all children of moving people (working in the Consulate, Embassy or engineers come only for a couple of years for a project etc…). I kept losing my friends one by one, new ones came all the time, couldn’t form any long-term bond. And those children were ALL traumatized in some way, I could understand it even then, by changing school, home and friends every couple of years (maximum 5). So I believe this lifestyle can work for a few years, when your parents are dead and you are not a parent yet. And even then, even if freedom of movement means everything to you, personal bonds with your friends don’t mean anything? I love traveling all over the world, and I consistently do whatever it takes to be on the move for as much as possible. But I travel happily knowing I have my cozy nest to come back to, the sweet reunion with my loved ones with whom I’ll share what I experienced in those far away lands, and my cat to purr on my knees – after having scratched or avoided me for some time, to punish me for my betrayal.