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I’m currently on a 3 (or so) month backpacking trip with my wife, which will be mostly through Europe, before trying to find work in Canada for the rest of the year. It’s a completely new feeling to me, being the first time I’ve been out of the country and honestly, out of my comfort zone.

We both have a backpack with “the essentials” – clothes and toiletries basically.

When we were first packing, it didn’t seem to be enough – it was as though we were leaving all of this “stuff” behind. We felt as though we would never survive without it, but within a day or so that feeling completely left us. All of a sudden I realise the freedom that a light backpack gives you.

At home, when you are tied to many things – friends, work, possessions - it’s very easy to say no to things, because of all of these other external factors, but it is such a feeling of freedom when you remove them from your life. We can make last minute decisions on changes to make; we can literally get up and move in about 2 minutes if we want to.

I’ve only realised the power of freedom over the last few years. With so many possible commitments in life, it’s so easy to become intertwined in things that most people consider “life”. Contracts are a huge one – phones, internet, etc. Car loans, home loans, etc. They lock you in, and as a result, your decisions for the next “x” number of years.

I have no ongoing commitments at the moment – I’m tied to my wife and that is about it. It’s such a breath of fresh air, and I’m loving it. Who knows, maybe my opinions will change, but to be honest I doubt it. Life is great right now!

I wrote in my first blog entry that I’m a hypocrite. It’s the easiest way of saying what I’m about to say.

I have a heap of ideals in life, but almost never meet any of them. For instance, ideally I would be a raw vegan. It is my belief that the healthiest diet to have is when eating raw plant based food. With that said, I eat way too much processed food, and still eat a lot of meat (probably once every two days). Ideally I wouldn’t drink either, would be fit enough to race mountain biking in an elite category, would spend my days outside rather than watching TV, never drive to work, and not even think about drinking coffee.

While some people call me soft for not acting on my ideals, I have learned that I tend to think about all of the options, and make my decisions slowly before actually acting on them. Right now I am in the “evaluation stage” I suppose you could say. My opinions and decisions have been made, I am just waiting to act on them.

Part of the reason why I am slow to act on these decisions is because of where we are at in life. A lot of the decisions that I want to make will impact on my fiancee’s life, and while she is happy with how it will impact her, I’m not ready to put her through it.

Next year we are heading overseas. No rules, just freedom. I don’t want to be in Italy and refuse eating a home cooked dish because it has meat in it, or not drink some grappa because it’s against my decision to stay away from alcohol. We will be in Europe, then North America – how can we not do as the locals do?! How could we not have a ultra king size burger with a two litre cup of Coke in the fattest country in the world?

Freedom is key to my short term life, and I’m fine with that. So for the next two years, take what I say with a pinch of salt. I will form my opinions like I normally do, but chances are I’m not actually going to act on them for at least another year or two.

So now that I have explained my situation, what do you think? Am I a hypocrite?

For the past few days I have been interstate for work. I don’t mind travelling for work – it’s something that I’m prepared to do while I am young, but something that I know I’m not interested in doing once we have kids.

It’s easy to see how people can enjoy travelling for work. Let me set the scene…

Sunday afternoon my chauffeured car arrived to drive me to the airport. At the airport I meet my workmates, we check in, and then head to the Virgin Lounge for some pre-flight drinks and something to eat, all complimentary of course. Just before the flight boards, we drop through Travelex to withdraw our meal allowance in cash, then board our flight. It’s only a short flight – around an hour, and after we arrive we continue to drink at the casino, grab some dinner, then head to another pub to finish off the drinking.

Monday morning rolls around, and we all meet for breakfast at the cafe across the road. Normally the three of us avoid buying food for breakfast or lunch, but when you have a large allowance for food, it’s a lot easier to justify spending the money. The day is a fun day of catch-ups with team members from interstate, a few activities, and before we know it we are eating an expensive meal at a Greek restaurant – drinks included, and we don’t have to pay a cent for it. While half of the team go home, the other half hang around and go somewhere else to drink. Before we know it, it’s bed time at 2am and we’ve all clearly had enough for one night.

Tuesday is a very slow day, half of us are hungover, and it’s all a bit of a joke. The boss doesn’t mind – after all, most workplaces are a bit of a boys club, and realistically, alcohol does make you some friends in the workplace. When the day is over, we jump in a car and head back to the airport, hang around in the lounge for a few hours, and then fly home.

All in all it’s been three days of fun, free everything, and you can’t complain. Or can you?

While I’m mindful of only looking on the negative side of the trip (I’m not – I did enjoy the trip), I wasn’t at home to support my fiancee while she could have done with the support (her work is very busy at the moment). In addition to this, my diet suffered big time during the trip, as well as my exercise and my sleeping pattern.

I suppose I am always conscious of falling into the trap that so many others fall into – thinking that their life is great, just because of the luxuries that they have. Climbing the corporate ladder, going to free dinners and travelling around the world has some obvious attractions, but I believe it’s important for people to think about what they might be sacrificing by living that life. If they can truly justify it, great, but if they can’t maybe they need to consider their options a bit more before making the decision to climb the corporate ladder, rather than enjoy other aspects of their life.