How I Told My Family I’m Going on a World Tour

I went on a world tour, lost everything and realized something big… Something like that would probably get a lot of attention, but I haven’t really experienced that… And hopefully I never will 🙂

In about a month I’ll be starting my world tour with Sri Lanka as my first stop.

Well, I know that sounds pretty simple when I say it like that. But behind this decision is a story of months of mental struggle and self-doubt.

It wasn’t easy for me to take this leap.

I’m 30 years old, I live in Turkey, and I’ve dreamed of traveling the world for as long as I can remember. But to get to the point where I could actually do it? That’s another story.

As a kid, that dream seemed like just that – a dream. But the older I got, the more I realized that if I didn’t pursue it, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.

To a lot of people, the idea of dropping everything to travel might sound crazy. But everyone has a dream, right? And for some of us, it’s more than just something we want – it’s something that if we don’t pursue, we feel like we’re missing out on life.

I thought I was going to make it when I was about 25. I was single and the world seemed full of opportunity. But then, well… the pandemic hit.

Suddenly, the idea of traveling seemed more out of reach than ever. I began talking to my family about my plans. I told them I wanted to travel the world, and… well, let’s just say they weren’t exactly on board.

At first it wasn’t a full confrontation. They weren’t yelling or anything. But I could feel the subtle resistance building up over time. It was as if they were trying to push my dream aside without saying so directly.

And me? I’d already made up my mind. I’d caught the traveler bug, and suddenly everything in my life felt like it was dragging me down.

Work? I dragged myself to the office every day, feeling uninspired. Friendship? It just didn’t feel the same. I wasn’t living my truth. Time was passing and I still hadn’t made the leap.

As I approached 30, the pressure to settle down became overwhelming. My family pushed me harder than ever to get married. Every time I tried to talk about my plans, it was like the conversation kept getting redirected to me needing to find a wife and have kids.

The pressure was real, and honestly, it started to feel like I had no choice but to give in. At the time, I was in a relationship with someone I loved. We talked about marriage, but I wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment – not when my dream was still out there, just waiting for me.

So I told her about my dream. And guess what? She said she’d support me. She told me she could come on this journey with me and we could figure it out together.

With her support, I told my family that I was getting married. They were thrilled. It’s been two years. They want grandchildren and they want me to stay. And yet… I still can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to life than what I’ve been living.

One day I sat down with my parents and said, “This is my childhood dream. If I don’t do this, I’m not going to be happy with anything I do in life.

Then I showed them the budget I’d put together for my trip and explained that, yes, it was going to be a challenge, but it was something I had to do.

There was still some hesitation, but eventually they got it. They didn’t love the idea, but they understood that it was something I had to do. And so we came to an understanding. 

To make sure we were ready, my wife and I decided to do a trial run. We spent a week in Albania and Georgia to see if the whole backpacking thing was for us.

When we got back, we talked about it a lot. We looked at the pros and cons, the challenges we’d face, and what we’d need to make this trip happen. And we came to the conclusion that we were ready.

And now, here we are. A new adventure begins.