The Freedom Project: Travel – Travel Hacking Simplified. The Secrets to Traveling the World and Flying for Free

Escape

What gets in the way of getting away?

Moments

Ever had a moment, or more, where you want to just get up, walk out the door, get in your car, board a random airplane and not even care where you’ll end up? Do you wish you could shrink the world to make certain cities closer to each other, and easier to travel to? Are you ready, or maybe even long overdue for a vacation to a place you’ve never been? You don’t need a winning lottery ticket to get there. Allow me to show you how.

Let’s consider some of the reasons not to travel first, as there are lots of them. Some people simply have no desire to leave their hometown. If that’s the case there’s probably very little this book will do for you, unless you’re looking for a major change in your lifestyle. But even if there’s a burning desire to travel, I’ve heard many reasons to not leave home. Pointing at one’s life partner: “He won’t let me.” Or, “She won’t let me.”

“My finances don’t allow me. I have a mortgage payment, car payment, and credit card payment. At the end of my money there’s always some bills left to pay.”
“We have young children and can’t possibly travel. It’s too much of a hassle, and too expensive.”
“It’s way too dangerous to travel these days. Bad things happen in the world constantly.”
“I can’t get the time off from work, and even if I could get a few days off, I’m just too busy and will never get my work done.”

The list goes on. Most reasons people have to not travel are just excuses, that keep us trapped in circumstances that we think are comfortable. It’s nice to stay inside the boundaries of that comfort zone, whatever we make it out to be. Blaming something external like a job, life partner or the kids is a convenient way to avoid taking full responsibility for our own life, and having to question those “comforts” too much for comfort.

Fear of traveling, or fear of going outside of our comfort zone, is perfectly normal. But fear is often based on perception, some idea we have in the back of our minds. Even though most of those ideas are not based on reality, I still use them as leverage to do some risk-mitigation planning. I don’t shy away from asking myself the tough questions to see what the absolute worst is that could happen.

It turns out that most risks can be avoided, and aside from a few exceptions, most decisions I make today can be reversed later on, if I decide to take on a different path. Life won’t fall apart if you take two weeks off. As a matter of fact it might actually improve. Sometimes those who wander off end up having the greatest adventures.

So go on, explore. Allow yourself to book that trip to that one place you’ve always wanted to go. You deserve it. But you don’t really need me to tell you that – you need to believe it yourself. Travel often. Getting lost will help you find yourself.