I think experiences are more important than possessions. I’ve designed my career so I can travel and see the world.

When I buy new stuff, such as a phone or a pair of jeans, it’s exciting at first but then the happiness usually fades away. It’s like I need to immediately buy something else just to get the same feeling again.

Travel, on the other hand, offers me something completely different. The trips I’ve taken to more than 30 countries give me lasting happiness because of the memories I now hold of them.

That’s why I’ve designed my life and my career to prioritize travel.

Travel makes me feel happier than stuff

I became interested in traveling abroad early on in my life. I recall that I loved playing with a pretend passport when I was around 6. I even designed stamps for the different countries I’d traveled to during my pretend play.

As a teenager, I loved playing a computer game called “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” where players followed clues to hunt down bad guys and traveled across the globe to do so.

When I was 18, I took my first trip overseas to Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean, which opened up my eyes to how I could learn a lot about different cultures by visiting them.

Since then, I’ve made traveling abroad a priority, whether it’s with my family or friends, or even by myself. My solo trips forced me out of my comfort zone and helped build my confidence.

Now in my early 40s, I’ve realized that travel experiences, such as sailing in Croatia, eating street food in Vietnam, and snow-shoeing in Japan, have given me the kind of joy that I just can’t get from accumulating material possessions.

Work has to fit in with my travel plans

I have held various jobs in the market research industry over the last two decades. These roles have been mainly project-based, so I could easily take time off between assignments to scratch my traveling itch.

My favorite managers were the ones that allow me to take extended paid time off, but I’ve also taken leave without pay so I could take longer trips.

Travel is so important to me that I quit my first job after college so I could take off to Japan, the UK, and Europe for a few months.

I don’t regret spending my money on travel

For most of my life, while other people were upgrading their houses and buying new cars, I was thinking about where I could fly off to next.

I have no regrets about spending my money to see the world, but I always wonder if I could have squeezed in even more trips in my younger years. Going forward, I’m working to make sure I don’t have to wonder if I’m traveling enough, because I’m making sure that I am.

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