Travel and Photography | Life is a Journey

First of all before I start my rant and rambling, I would like to let you guys know that this article is not for the rich or famous, this article is not for millionaire, who have more than enough. This article is for those of you who always said “I wish I have the money so that I can travel the world”. This article is for normal people, for common people on the street who barely have enough but still have steady of income, not rich but steady.

I’m a government servant, I’m a lower grade government servant, I mean I’m not holding a top position in the government with big fat salary at the end of the month. I’m a family man, a husband and a father to my only son. I’m not rich but have enough to feed my family, to buy some basic needs and that’s it.

Before I get married, I’ve already make it clear to my wife about my life, I’m a photographer and I like to travel. Traveling is my top priority in my life. I want her to understand that, once in a while I have to leave her in order for me to travel.

Why we can’t travel together, we can, but our work are different, my wife is a teacher and everybody knows that teacher doesn’t have much annual leave, they only free during school holiday and I think everyone knows that it is expensive to travel during school holidays, airfare ticket is expensive and sometimes hotel increase their price during school holiday. That’ why it’s hard for us traveling together, maybe later when we can find the right time and furthermore my son was only three years old at the time of writing, it is not easy traveling with children at my son age.

My top priority in my life is traveling and I try to save as much money as I can, I try to control myself from wasting my money buying the stuff that I really don’t need. I’m not rich so I have to be extra careful with every penny that I spent. I don’t smoke, I don’t go clubbing and I don’t buy expensive or branded clothes. I use public transport to go to work and I save a lot of times. I don’t eat at fancy restaurant even though I do take my family to KFC or Pizza Hut once in awhile.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is, to cut your spending, unnecessary spending, just buy something that we really need, we really want. Like I said, if you are rich, why bother reading this article. Actually, the truth to be told, I have save enough money for me to travel to Annapurna Sanctuary in Nepal for more than two weeks but God have another plan for me, I get married and I use all the money for my wedding.

My wife is Sabahan ( Sabah Malaysia North Borneo ), so it takes a lot of money to bring my family there. If I’m still bachelor now, I think my money will go there, Annapurna Nepal.

I know some of my friend have never been to Sabah, Since 2001, I’ve been to Sabah almost every year, sometimes more than once and most of the time with my own pocket money, only few of the trips involved official work. I’ve climb Mount Kinabalu successfully there times and once with my wife. If you don’t have money, cut your unnecessary spending, why do you need an iPhone if normal cellphone will do, do you really need it, do your work really need it.

I do admit that I also have the urges to own them, I mean the iPhone but thinking back, I would rather use the amount of money to buy a ticket to the the place that I wanted to go. Everyone can have the iPhone but not everyone have visited a certain place and for the price of iPhone, I can buy a ticket to Istanbul Turkey from Kuala Lumpur, and I think that would be better spent. If you have the iPhone or any expensive phone like Blackberry and still have extra money, then you are so lucky.

Same goes to camera equipment, do you really need to buy a new camera when your old camera still work great, do you really need super fast lens when your old lens will do the job. Save every money that you can save. Do you really need a brand new sports rim, do you really need a new furniture, a new big Plasma TV for your living room? Only you can answer this. My television at home is more than ten years old already, still working great, big and bulky but still doing it’s job. I don’t have to change it.

If you still don’t have extra money after you cut all your unwanted spending what’s next? Very easy, find another job if you can or make a part time job. Use your imagination or creativity to find extra money.

Most of my blog readers are photographer or those who like photography because this is a Photographers Blog, so use your skills to earn extra money. Shoot wedding, events, shoot anything that will bring extra income.

If you are skilled photographer, have years of experience behind, why don’t you make a workshops, seminars, share your passion, share your skills and secrets, there are a lot of newbie out there hungry for knowledge, help them out, show them the way, show them the right way. Your experience is priceless, something that we can’t get from a books.

When there is a will there is a way. I hate it when people say, they don’t have money when in fact they can do something to get that extra money, whining will not get us anywhere, we know that we don’t have the money and yet we are not working to get that extra money. The money will not simply fall from the sky, we have to work for it. We have to work hard. I know it ain’t easy but that’s life.

I think the nature of my work also play an important role igniting the spirit of traveler in me. I’m lucky to be a photographer, I’m lucky to be able to visit a place that very few people have the opportunity to go and the more country I visit, the more I wanted to travel.

I want to see the world, I want to see how people lives at far corner of the world. I want to see a different culture, I want to see a different colors, I want to feel a stranger. We only live once, I want to make full use of it. I know that traveling will cost a lot of money but with careful planning, we can save a lot. We can see the place that most people only can dream off.

Nowadays in Malaysia especially, we have AirAsia, a low cost carrier, if we plan ahead and book few month ahead, we can save a lot of money from the tickets and spend the rest for foods and accommodation. All it takes is careful planning. Do some research in advance before book the ticket.

Find the right hotel to stay and try to find the best route to follow. Internet also play an important role, there are many site to visit as a backpack traveler, travel on shoestring, like I have said, if there is a will, there is a way.

Don’t procrastinate, buy the ticket and travel, I think if we try to find the right time, the perfect time. It will never come, the time is now, start now, don’t have the money, start thinking how to generate extra income. We are not young forever, traveling not only takes a lot of money but you also need a lot of energy.

Maybe when we retire we have a lot of money, a lot of times but we can never guarantee that we are in a perfect health condition. So if you have the money now and have the time, just go and to those of you who doesn’t have any extra money left, it is time to start thinking, time wait for no one.

Sometimes we have the money but we don’t have the time, sometimes we have the time but we don’t have enough money, sometimes we have both, the money and the time but we don’t have the right kind of friends to travel with. Don’t procrastinate, just go and just do it.

It’s your life, it’s your journey, life is short, live your life. Life is a journey…