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Ask just about any long-term traveler why they’ve turned to the camaraderie of like-minded internet friends, and they’ll probably tell you it’s because their “real-life” friends just don’t understand why they’re so intent on hitting the road for so long. To a certain extent, that kind of confusion is understandable. Long-term travel isn’t for everyone. But even if your friends and family don’t totally “get” why you want to do it, you really hope they’re going to support you anyway.
Unfortunately, BootsnAll member K2 recently not only didn’t get support but actually got laughed at when he said he was planning a gap-year RTW backpacking trip. Worse yet, the girl doing the laughing was his date! I have to say, he really took it in stride:
I didn’t take offense to it because I know it’s not for everyone. But has anyone ridiculed your plans when you revealed them?
K2′s date called his plans “unrealistic,” which seems to be something many of the BootsnAll members replying to this thread have heard before. Several people can identify with people not understanding their travel ambitions, and many have contributed suggestions for how they’ve handled it. What about you? Have you ever been laughed at when you told someone you were planning a RTW trip? How did you deal with it? Share your thoughts in this thread on the BootsnAll boards!
August 24th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
when people say things like that to me (like long term travel is “unrealistic, avoiding the real world, or something for old hippies”) i can’t help but feel sorry for them. they have no idea of what they are missing out on, and even more sad is the fact that they don’t care. But then I ask what fun thing they’ve done lately and their response is always something lame like a company party, etc and I just laugh.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Those who dont believe will never do. The same applies to those who criticize. The idea of long term travel is so far off to them they can’t believe anyone they know can do it.
You brush them off and make sure you show the photos and videos of your trip. Keep these ‘dream stealers’ out your life and live that goal out.
August 27th, 2009 at 12:00 am
[...] a recent post, Jessica Spiegel talked about the reactions that our loved ones may have about our long term travel [...]