On August 5, 2013, I handed in my resignation letter at work (I also sent along this link because I thought it was funny). I had a great job as a Treasury Board Analyst with the Government of Saskatchewan in Canada. But, it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life.
Walking away from a steady pay cheque may not have been the best idea, but I’m not really bothered. I wanted to do something else that sounded more interesting. I wanted to explore the very essence of why this site was created.
Truly Travelling the World
I did a radio interview once about True Travellers Society. The first question they asked was something along the lines of “what does it mean to truly travel? The question threw me for a bit of a loop. I guess I should have anticipated it, but I didn’t. It had been a while since I articulated why I called the site “True Travellers Society”. As a result, I stumbled through an answer.
To me, truly travelling is getting off the tourist track and integrating with the local community. It is about exploring and experiencing culture away from the gift shops and the tourist traps. It is about leaving the all inclusive resorts and going beyond simply meeting the locals. To truly travel you need to immerse yourself with the locals and their culture. The trick is finding opportunities that will enable you to do this.
Filling this void was the original inspiration for the True Travellers Society when it was founded in 2004. I hoped it would become a community where individuals would share opportunities that enabled these types of travel experiences.
As the site evolved, the vast majority of opportunities that were being shared were volunteer related. Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to visit a number of these organizations on my vacations. Now that I am leaving work, I am making this a full time project.
The New Plan
Until the money runs out, I will be Wandering Wahba – Truly Travelling. I plan on seeking out short term volunteer projects and other opportunities that allow me to truly travel.
The objectives of my journeys that will be shared on True Travellers are:
1) to inform individuals how they can organize a short term volunteer opportunity by walking through each step of the process. I will share every detail from the planning stage through to the day I return to my front step at home;
2) to inspire people to think of different ways to spend their vacations and realize that they can experience meaningful travel on a budget without taking a long term holiday; and
3) to showcase great projects and initiatives being implemented by people and organizations all around the world.
I am planning my first trip for January, 2014. Stay tuned for details.
If you have an opportunity or adventure that you think meets these objectives, please let me know in the comments or contact me: andrew @ truetravellers.org.
Check out my first project: Hockey in the Himalayas.
Safe travels,
Andrew ‘Wandering’ Wahba
