Quitting my job is the best thing I’ve done for me in my life to date, next to choosing to go to music college 🥁 and going to university to study conservation 🌿… basically the first two things you can actually choose for yourself after 12+ years of school. Travel has changed the course of my life in ways I’m not even aware of yet.

I’m not slating having a job. Of course I had to have the job to be able to quit it in the first place, have the job to be able to afford to leave. I worked for a charity so hardly earnt the big bucks but I saved carefully enough to pay off my £8,000 credit card bill (it was nice, but I never did need that fancy car 🚘) and have enough money left over to travel Asia on a comfortable backpacker’s budget for seven months (that’s the plan at least). (I’m not currently making any money whilst travelling.)

I just spent £170 (all-in) on a three day, two night trek in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. I am spending, on average, £15 a day in Nepal for food and accommodation. That makes £170 around a third of my monthly “day-to-day” budget. Not much money for some people, but a lot for me.

Happily, I had the money available to spend, but the best part about it was that I could afford to spend those three days there. Of all the people I bumped into in the Park (four different groups) or I spoke to at hostels, no one else had the opportunity to explore for three days – they said they were doing one or two days treks as they didn’t have much time to spend in Chitwan. Everyone sounded envious of the fact that I was doing three days!

I am time-rich. I spent two weeks in Chitwan on this trip and another two nights a few weeks ago. I think I spent 16 nights in Kathmandu, far more than the average backpacker. I got to know people and places and menus and markets.

I could have a million pounds (dollars, Euros, rupees…) and never have the experiences I have had if I didn’t have the time. I think of people back in the U.K., those who have enough, and are still working for more. More hours, more money, more stuff. If that’s what they want that’s fine, but the majority of people who have spoken to me express a desire to be able to do what I’m doing. To leave work. To travel the world. To do whatever they want with no time constraints. But they don’t have the time. Because of work, responsibilities, or the because of the mental barriers they have built for themselves.

I had a career, I have a family, I own a house, I have a partner. We all have the same amount of time each day, or in a year. It’s up to you on how you spend it. Spending time wisely is much more important than money. Money could buy you every experience in the world, that you might not ever get to do if you don’t give yourself the permission to give yourself the time to do it.

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16:40 I just saw a spotted deer walk past. And then a herd. Camouflaged behind the leafy trees. I wouldn’t have seen them if I didn’t have the time to just sit. You could say “It’s just a deer” but they are still wildlife. Still part of the fabric of nature, contributing to the richness of our rapidly declining biodiversity, and I believe they deserve to be marvelled at as much as this little red bug I found or a big tiger 🐯 (that I, spoiler alert, did not find).

Whilst sitting in this beautiful location I have seen a common kingfisher three times, a white throated kingfisher and a pied kingfisher. I met a friendly group of school kids who wanted a photo.

Three Chinese ladies approached where I was sitting and one lady put some serene music on and began dancing in swirly motions, with her arms and body. With the peace and the sunset it was quite surreal, and quite special.

I wish more people would appreciate the 86,400 seconds that they are blessed with each day, the 31,536,000 seconds that we are given each year. These are the numbers that really matter. The numbers that start with £ or $ or € or ¥ are useful and sometimes necessary, but as a means to an end, not the end itself.

I believe the world would be a lot richer if time was valued as much as money.

On this trip, the more money I spend, the richer I become.