I promised myself that I wouldn’t travel anywhere until I’d found a job and somewhere to live and paid off my medical and credit card bills. And although it hasn’t been easy (I had to turn down a free trip to Los Angeles last week), so far I’ve remained true to my word.
To be perfectly honest though, the reason for this has less to do with will power and more to do with the fact that I have a new job. And unlike my last job (working for an airline) this one doesn’t come with free flight privileges. I’m now teaching English at a language school in San Francisco, which means that the few hours a day I’m not lecturing French college students about compound adjectives and past participles, I’m either lesson planning or lying in an exhausted heap on my parents’ couch; images of copy machines and dry-erase boards dancing through my head. I’m usually so exhausted by the time the end of the day rolls around that even if I had the time to travel right now, I’d wouldn’t have the energy. I barely have enough energy to write this blog post.
The good part about my job is that it pays nearly 30 dollars an hour. The bad part about it is that it’s only temporary. I’m subbing for a teacher who’s currently on vacation and due to come back in a couple of weeks. And when she does, I’ll be out of a job again. A fact that could wind up working to my advantage.
Last week, one of my airline buddies text-messaged me this:
“Wanna go to Germany for three weeks in December? I can get you a free pass on Virgin Atlantic.”
To which my first thought was: Okay, let me think about this…
…………………………………………………
(then three seconds later): Um. Would I ever!
But then, like the responsible adult I’m now trying to be, I wisely text-messaged him back with a:
“That sounds amazing, but I don’t know if I should. If I don’t have a job by then, I’ll be too broke to go and if I do have a job by then, I’ll be too busy to go. But I’ll think about it and let you know?”
I’m still thinking about it.
I’m almost 2 months into living in Munich, Germany is the best country. You should come! Though it’s getting a little chilly here now for my Cali-grown tastes.
Go! And hop over to Poland while you’re there.
It always amazes me how you manage to get by without a steady job! And travel so much to boot. Enjoy these days because they probably can’t last forever…or can they? For you, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Hang in there! I’m in the same boat. Working for the next travel destination. I actually like my job but it pales in comparison to my passion which is traveling. I’m sure we’ll find a compromise somehow. But until then…
I’m secretly rooting for you to go to Germany 😉
You guys are a bad influence! : )
@ Alex and Ania – I’ll be sure to let you guys know if I end up in your neighborhood. That would be cool to meet up, no?
@ Erin – Ha. I’m not exactly getting by…I owe 500 dollars on one of my credit cards and about 1,000 dollars for a medical bill! : ( And then there’s the fact that I’m kinda homeless at the moment because I can’t afford the security deposit to rent an apartment. But other than that…
@ Lois – What kind of work do you do? And where will you be headed next? Thanks for linking to my blog, by the way.