I want to leave my job and travel around South America for five months next year. Am I Crazy?!?

I have a 50K a year job (not stellar, but good for a single 27 yr. old male). Next June I want to quit and backpack around South America for 4-6 months and just be free and see the world. I've been actively planning this trip for a month or so now...learning espanol, saving $, checking flight prices, reading Lonely Planet backpackers guides, etc. While most people think it at least sounds like fun, one of my best friends in the world (who happens to work for the same company) thinks it's the most retarded thing he's ever heard of. He thinks I should stay put and focus on retirement and positioning myself to buy a house. I *think* I'll still have a job when I get back, but I may have to take a pay cut/demotion for such an extended leave. But I'm willing to go even if it means losing my job. AM I CRAZY? Should I seriously re-consider this trip?

You should do what your heart desires if that is what you want go for it.
Ask them if they could give you 4-6 months of time to get your mind clear and find out what you want to do in life.

I would go for it man, think about the life experience youll gain from this trip!!

Your "friend" is the kind of person who will end up being 65 years old someday never having gone anywhere and never having done anything. Except slave away at some company, that is.

Don't listen to what other people say. Listen to yourself.

I traveled for a year after college (was 25 at the time) around the Pacific Rim--Australia, NZ, Fiji, and up through SE Asia. Came back to the US and worked for two years, then said "f**k it all" and left again. Lived and worked in Europe for two years. Came back to the US and worked for 3 years, now I'm ready to head out again. I leave in two weeks to live and work in South Korea for a year. I'm currently 33. Who cares what your age is?

BTW, I'm still saving for retirement at the same time. When I'm working, I put money away each month in a Roth IRA and various mutual funds. I probably have more in savings than the average cubicle worker who never travels or does anything! :)

If you want to travel DO IT NOW! Once you are tied down with the "3 strikes" (Mortgage, Marriage, and Kids) your life is over.

We have this really screwed up sense of reality in the USA that the point to life is to get a job, buy a house, "settle down," live in Suburbia and acquire mountains of material possessions along with rivers of credit card debt. If that's what you want, stay at your job with Corporate America.

If you want to feel alive, get out and see the world. Travel, you won't regret it. You only live once.

I think thats great. I think you should go. It is a chance of a lifetime. This is not something you can do when you have 6 kids and a demanding wife, so go for it. I hope you have a great time. I am jealous

GO BECUZ U CULD FIND A WIFE DER AND LEARN BOT DER CULTURE

You should go, expecially while your young. You can't take off from work and see the world once you have kids.
There is always other jobs.
It sounds like your friend is a little bit jealous that you want to leave and be so adventures!

Good luck!