A few weeks ago I was nominated by Liv from The World is Waiting and Lois and Chichi from We Are Sole Sisters to take part in the seven links project by Tripbase. I think the idea is great, but I haven’t had time to participate until now.
It’s a really simple idea. Nominated bloggers look through their old posts and place seven of them into seven different categories. It’s a unique way to gain an insight into a blogger’s perspective of their work.
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In less than a week, I’ll be on a plane flying to Ireland. By far, this will be the richest country I’ll have traveled through. Up to this point, I’ve kept to poor and developing countries around the world. It’s not that I’ve been avoiding rich countries; I just haven’t had an opportunity to go to one yet.
The fact that I’m well-traveled and have never been to a rich country before seems to make me somewhat of a curiosity to many people. When I converse about travel, I often get asked what draws me to poorer countries. So I decided that I would make a list of all my reasons. Now the next time I get asked this question, I can just point them to this post.
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There aren’t many things that frighten me. But there is one thing I’m particularly scared of that stands out. I’m scared I won’t get to do everything I want to do before I die.
I’m the kind of person who takes a lot of pride in being able to face down my fears. So I’m a little uneasy about sharing this fact about myself. But I think it’s important for me to get this out there. I don’t think I’m alone in expressing this fear; I believe many others have similar worries.
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I’ve never really liked the phrase, “rules are meant to be broken”. Why bother having any at all if everyone is just going to ignore them? I know what it’s implying though. Sometimes it’s better to let go of what you’ve been told and just see what happens.
In fact, I think that if I could go back in time and deliver one message to my younger self it would probably be about breaking the rules. I would make sure my younger self realized that not all rules are equal. Some rules can and should be broken.
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At first glance talent seems to be the biggest indicator of success in any field. Those who have it rise to the top and those without it are left behind. It’s the basic premise behind all the success stories you see in movies or TV.
But talent isn’t everything. It’s very useful and certainly helps, but it doesn’t seem to be the main underlying force behind success. And if you look at it closely, you’ll realize why.
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It’s been said that actions speak louder than words. For the most part this is true. But if you don’t understand what those actions mean, it doesn’t make a difference either way.
The good news is that understanding the actions of other people doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, I’ve condensed it down to just three steps that have worked really well for me. It’s given me a much better insight not only into other people’s actions, but also their underlying character.
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Two weeks is the golden standard of American vacations. So when I had a chance to see Southeast Asia for a month, my first thoughts turned to my job. I thought they would never let me off for such a long period of time.
But if you know me, than you’ll know that not only did I make the first month long trip, but I also made a second two month long trip the next year. Each time I came back to work with the same employer. So how did I do it? All it took was some courage, risk and luck.
An Offer too Good to Miss
Shortly after I graduated college, I started working for an employment staffing company. It was such a small business that soon I was on first name basis with the owner. The work itself was dull and repetitive, but eventually I garnered a reputation for quick, efficient work.
After about a year, I became restless. I was going through a routine that seemed futile and endless. It was at this point that a friend asked me to travel with him to Southeast Asia. It was as if he heard my restlessness and came to my rescue.
My only real obstacle was my job. For this I came up with a brilliant solution: just ask for the time off. I realize that two weeks is the norm, but I also realize that it isn’t written down anywhere. There aren’t any laws about about vacation time.
I also thought I would ask the owner directly. It’s best to get approval from the person who has the ultimate authority to make these decisions. Asking for all this time off was the courageous part, the next part, his answer, was the lucky part.
He could easily have said no, but he didn’t. Because I was such a good employee, he was willing to be flexible. He had a big project coming up that needed staffing workers. Coincidentally enough, I would be coming back from the trip around the time he would need people to work on it. He said I could have the time off and work for him on that project when I came back.
So I made preparations for my journey in full knowledge that I would have a job coming back. It definitely made me more relaxed on the trip overall too. I ended up spending quite a bit of money so being able to go back to work right away and earn it back was comforting.
It ended up being good for another reason. I was quite fully prepared to full-out quit and travel. This trip was not something I wanted; I needed it. So his flexibility not only saved me the trouble of finding work when I got home, but also saved him the trouble of finding a new good employee.
The Next Year
Of course, this isn’t the end of the story. About a year after my first trip I was, once again, offered a chance to travel through Southeast Asia. It was too good to pass up. This time things were slightly different. I wanted two months off to travel this time.
So I asked. I told him I would be willing to work under the same arrangement as last year since I knew he would need people again. The owner was once again very flexible and agreed to the terms. However, I hit a snag this time.
The general manager of the company, who works closely with the owner, called me into his office. He had a nice long talk with me about my plans and made it clear that I had permission to go this year and would be offered the position when I came back if it hadn’t been filled. I knew the risks and decided to go anyways.
Another thing he told me was that they wouldn’t accept a vacation request like this ever again. The message was clear to me that this would absolutely be my last long term vacation with this company. I had no other choice but to accept these terms.
The End of This Story?
While I do admit that I had a lot of luck in this story, there’s certainly nothing special about my circumstances. I think if more people were to ask for longer vacation times, more people would receive them. Having a lot of flexibility really helps. Of course I do realize that not all employers are so generous. A few years later, I asked another employer for a month off to travel. In that case, there wasn’t even a willingness to be flexible about it. The answer was simply no.
It’s just a shame that the two week vacation is such a standard in the country. Some workers are pressured by employers to not take any vacation at all! But as long as you’re not in one of those situations and you find the courage, maybe you can be lucky enough to travel long term and keep your job too.
photo credit: archer10 (Dennis)