Iโm an ex-cubicle dwelling pink monkey the world started calling Peter Shaw during the mid 80โs. After spending my misguided youth and 17 years of hard earned education learning to obey my future corporate masters I was left with nothing but the unanswered question: โIs this it?โ floating around my head bumping into synapses and generally causing trouble during work hours.
In my early 20โs I had my first existential crisis while listening to Bob Dylan and realised that my magic swinging ship was sailing ever closer to the inevitable rocks and the most important thing in my life after my family and friends became experiencing the world in all its grit, beauty and wonder.
After ignoring this desire to travel for far too long, I recently quit a well paid and promising career to pursue my dream of long term world travel. I now blog about my journey and my experiences with the goal of inspiring more people to do the same.
So what does Nomadical Sabbatical mean? To me itโs a journey that started with the decision to quit my job to pursue my passion for long term travel and discovery. I had a well-paid career, a nice office, a not unpleasant desk, a good group of fellow cubicle inmates and even a minion coordinator to help with the dirty reporting jobs that Iโm too lazy to bother with. Iโve now left it all far behind for the promise of the open road, a pack on my back and an unknown adventure.
6 Fun Facts about me
- I was born in Hong Kong.
- I hate flying.. hate it (yes, Iโm quite aware of the irony here).
- My background is in digital advertising, I have run a graphic/web design agency turn SEO provider for a few years now.
- In my spare time I practice HEMA – Historical European Martial Arts. In other words sword fighting.. in particular 16th century German Longsword.
- I used to be a model and once did a catwalk show with Miranda Kerr.
- During my university days I made and sold fake parking permits to fellow students so we could park in the teachers parking zones. HAZAR!
I have no fixed address, but in the process Iโm hoping to gain an experience that too many people make excuses not to attempt, an open ended long term world tour. This is the ongoing transcript of my journey, experiences and discoveries.
Well wish you Best of Luck… Traveling on Road can be Exhausting, Exciting , and allowss one To see things from a different perspective… Best of Luck …. May You Move on with your life …
I began while back with websites, blogs +++ it is a challenge … Enjoy your Travels +++
Wow – good on you Peter – inspirational – many dream but only some do. Squeeze the juice out of every day – maybe every now and then think about us poor cubicle dwellers who will log on and read about your magical adventures for escapism. Have a blast on your travels – look forward to reading your future blogs – make sure you get to Dublin – my home town – great city and great people.
Cheers
I read your blog for five minutes and I am hooked. Your writing style is so fresh and catchy. I have a dream of being happy- don’t know what that looks like, but I know it involves travel.
Good on you my friend, you are doing something that most people drool and dream about.
Cheers,
Amy
Do you need a travel companion? I am envious of your courage!
How do you fund your travels? Do you work as you go or did you save a sh&t load before you left?
Cannot wait to read of your adventures. You are my inspiration to head to work every day (ironically, in the travel industry)
Kim
I hate traveling to man, you’re not alone. And, it’s getting worse…beer please.
I’ve also left my job so that I can start a freelance career, I am happy with my decision, but I will be happier if I can travel too, just like what you are doing.
You are an inspiration. Keep on sharing your experiences to us.
I’m so glad I found your blog! We seem to be kindred spirits. I once worked in digital advertising for SEO companies but have been pursuing my dreams traveling the world for the past year. I’m also terrified of flying, in fact I wrote a blog post about it! I look forward to reading more of your posts. Oh, and by the way, your photographs are absolutely stunning.
Thanks for the kind words, I like your blog too! Great new post about returning home.. thanks re the photo’s, I rather like some of your images too. Stay in touch ๐
This is hilarious. How did you came with the idea of putting together a phrase like “ex-cubicle dwelling pink monkey”? I will remember that one for some time. On more serious matters, I am glad you are following your dreams and having a good time. By the way, I hate flying too.
Sounds great Pete, I’m loving reading all about your antics, keep up the awesome work!
I’m looking at doing the same, and I’ve only got one question. What do you do for money mate? Do you work intermittently or did you save a small fortune before you left?
Nice, best thing you’ll ever do. Well I had small bit of cash coming in via some online ventures I have going, but it’s not enough to support me, when I travel to first world countries. Costs are really dependent on where you go and how you go. Head to the 1st world and your costs sky rocket but there are many places that are far cheaper to explore. If you wanted to do a great trip as cheap as possible I would say skew the destinations to suit your budget, which would mean largely going through Asia or Eastern/Central Europe etc.. I’ll save up a bit of cash before I leave and draw from that. You can live very cheaply if you try.
Just followed you on Twitter! I am about to leave my job and travel for the next 5 months. Hopefully longer! I am 44 so working is out of the question, but I have saved some money up and can live cheaply too.
I just wish I could find some way of making the cash! I don’t want to come back to Oz too often!!
C
Great to hear you are starting you own journey Carrick, 44 is not too old to work at all. Why not check out some of the work away sites where you can save money by helping locals out, often food and lodgings are provided in exchange for a little work, could be a good way to save some cash at least.
Seriously, this “quitting job and travel around the world” thing really makes me envy, dude! Wish I can have enough guts to do the same thing, since there must be bunch of considerations and I dont think that I’m ready for that. I’m gonna keep your story stickied to enjoy your around the world trip
Love your blog. I’m now joined the rat race after almost travelling for a year. It’s definitely an adjustment but am coping by moving to a new city ๐ A new adventure in itself ๐
haha yeh it’s always in the rear-view mirror.. still the money is nice!
Just saw your article on travel tips through news.com.au and came for a snoop. I find myself being drawn more and more to these sort of blogs as time goes on and I get closer to taking a ‘sabbatical’ of 13 months (or so I think, apparently it quite often ends up being much longer) myself at the end of next year. Question for you- did you start off with much money to fund your travels? Currently trying to decide how much I’ll need saved to get by until I can start the thrilling process of finding odd jobs all over the world. I ask because I met a fellow travel blogger (Brendan from the world is my jungle gym) on a trek through south america two years ago and at the time he was going through a save money by eating your left over kind of phase. While he’s since been paid and can afford to buy his own food, I would generally prefer to not hit that point if possible!
haha yeh it’s funny how that works, you start out sticking to your predetermined budget but after months of travel you kind of realize that your money is not going to last forever and you start revising your budget down, I initially started by aiming at $10 AUD per meal ($30 a day on food) in my budget now if anything’s over $5 AUD (per meal) I consider it expensive.. Haven’t quite hit that ‘leftover’ point yet (nor do I really intent to!) but things do change as you go along. I would say that it really depends on where you go as to how much you need to live per day, also things like your tolerance for sleeping in a large dorms (cheaper) or ‘slumming it’ in cheap hostels/hotels/couch surfing have big factors on how low your budget can be per day. Ultimately its’s a trade off between doing awesome things and time spent travelling, unless you have an income while abroad. I have found that im really happy living on about $60 AUD per day including accommodation, this is an average because for example, while in the UK I spent a bit more per day and now that i’m in Turkey, it’s a good chunk less. The other thing to factor into your budget is travel costs.. actually getting from one place to another is the ‘hidden’ cost of long term travel, busses and trains can be surprisingly expensive if you’re not prepared for them. Good luck with it, let me know when you take the plunge!
Pete, I stumbled upon your blog while waiting at Jo’berg airport for a flight back to Australia on Sunday. Wow what an inspiration! I’m considering taking the leap of faith next year and leaving my job for travel. Have already done a year stint in the UK but still feel I need to see more. Good luck with your travels and look forward to reading more!
Hey dude,
The Earth has been calling me out for sometime now. I can’t ignore the signs any longer. I’m nervous, but I gotta spread my wings, take a risk and live the dream. I have found inspiration from friends and family and your story certainly confirms my need to explore this beautiful planet. Cheers Dude. Rod
Thanks for the kind words mate, hope your travels treat you well. You won’t regret it, i’d never take back my decision to travel the world for anything.
We are heading to Europe and UK next year for the first time so thanks for the tips. Cant fit in all you mentioned though but most of them, Cheers
Good info. Lucky me I discovered your site by accident (stumbleupon).
I have bookmarked it for later!
I was just reading your article “NZs north island, a beginners guide” and nearly wet myself. Unfortunately I was at work so I’m guessing my boss knows I wasn’t actually working. Love your style…Surprised to see you are not the mid-fifties funny uncle I was imagining in my minds eye ๐ keep up the laughs
haha thanks for the kind words Caz!
I am really glad I saw your blog! I also just quit my well paid expat job in Hong Kong to travel long term. Freaked out about the whole prospect but super excited! I love your sense of humor in your blogs and have been sitting at work for the few hours chuckling to myself while reading them ๐
Thanks for the kind words Kristin! – Best of luck with the travels ๐
All good things come to an end, unless you have some passive income on the side, or some skill you can do remotely it’ll be hard to travel indefinitely (not something I would actually want to do myself, its get’s pretty tiring!). Even with helping hands like Work X and couch surfing etc.. you will still spend some money. Wandering Earl a fellow travel blogger has some really good stuff on how he manages it, and ultiamtely though it does start with sacrifice, options like buying a house etc.. are limited if you want to pursue a nomadic lifestyle (course there’re always exceptions). Personally I save a lot, i’m frugal in day to day life as well as when I travel and I generate a small passive income on the side online, which can go along way if you’re careful and supplement with work for board type travel arrangements.
hey pete, hope you visit philippines too