To Remote or Not To Remote?

woman holding a globe deciding about remote year travel
Photo credit: Slava Bowman, unsplash.com

I’ve recently been struggling with a hard decision, a big life-changing decision about spending a year abroad to work and travel.  Like most community-minded people, I asked my friends and family what they thought.  This is the rundown of how it played out.  Note: The names have been changed to protect the guilty and the responses might represent input from more than one person…including the voices inside my head.
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Remote Year? Yes and No!

at airport, waiting to take off
Photo by Ashim D’Silva on unsplash.com

This is a response to my last blog post, which asked “To Remote or Not to Remote?” I admit; I did struggle with this decision. The thought of completely escaping my current life was so seductive. The thought of leaving all the things and people I love was so unnerving. I rode the roller coaster from very positive to “No way, Jose”, often in the same day, and landed on a compromise.
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Why? Why? Why?

I officially joined the Pangea196 work/travel program and, at the beginning of 2018, I am heading to South America for four months. I’ve announced it to my family and friends.  “WHY?” is the question I am asked most often. The simplest answer is “Why not?  If you have a job that you can do from ANYWHERE, why sit at home?”
the globe in your hand

And then, I’m asked… “But, really, why would you want to live with people you’ve never met, in unfamiliar places, surrounded by people who speak another language?”  Right now, I can think of five good reasons.
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