#At twenty-eight, finally walking the Earth
I started traveling to realize the person I promised my ten-year-old self I would be.
I also felt an urgency that, if not now, it would be hard to let go of even small things I was holding on to.
Continuing on this stable, smooth path felt like I would just marry reasonably well, raise lovely children, and grow old and die.
That was somewhat different from the direction I wanted my life to take.
Seeing the children grow up lovely and pure was truly wonderful, but I felt like I alone was standing still.
I reflected that I started teaching too early and felt ashamed about whether I was qualified to discuss dreams with my students.
So I deliberated, decided, and acted.
After leaving, I feel it was definitely good that I tried.
#Elementary SchoolQuit teaching
I was in my third year as an elementary school teacher.
그래서 월급을 받으면서 저축을 했고, 비싼 옷이나 가방에 별다른 관심이 없어서, 통장에 자연스럽게 돈이 모아졌어요.
Combining those savings with my severance pay covered the travel costs. Since I wasn't a student, I needed reserve funds for after I returned, so during the trip I cut costs as much as possible through various saving methods like Couchsurfing and BlaBlaCar.
It was the process of quitting my job, rather than the cost, that was difficult.
It wasn't until a year after I started worrying that I found the courage to tell my parents, my students, my fellow teachers, and the head teacher,
"I need to learn more about life."
After a process of opposition, persuasion, and long conversations, I quit the school, and after about a month of preparation I was able to make my world trip a reality.
I bought a one-way ticket to Mexico and arranged Couchsurfing hosts, continuing to build relationships with them. With the help and sponsorship of close friends and acquaintances, I prepared various travel gear, and I organized the items I prepared on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/travellerssunny) and by organizing everything there I received a lot of support and was able to gather the strength to set off on my trip.
#'Before there are more reasons not to leave'
The fear that a gap year might be a waste was probably what scared me most.
Wasting time, wasting money, wasting my youth.
Thoughts like, "If I didn't take a gap year, I could live fine with what I already have."
People around me also expressed a lot of those worries and concerns.
But overcoming that fear was actually quite simple.
I imagined myself three years from now.When I did, I pictured myself still unable to travel, regretting not having quit back then, and blaming the reasons that buried my courage. It was an image I really disliked.
Whatever choice you make there will be regrets, but you should live by choosing the option that leaves the fewest regrets.
In three or five years, the things you'll have to let go of will be even bigger.
I ultimately decided I should act now—before there are more reasons not to leave—and I'm really proud of myself.
I think I'll feel that way in three years and in ten years too.
#Gap Year Travelogue
I traveled. I had thought about it when I was little.
"If I paint my feet with a highlighter and walk around the Earth, my footprints would be visible from space. They'd sparkle and look so beautiful."
At first I wanted to go as far away as possible from where I lived—to South America, a place so distant I might have died without ever knowing about it.
So I started in Mexico, passed through Guatemala and Cuba, and then headed down to South America.
Learning scuba diving and Spanish, I fully experienced the enchantment of studying what I truly wanted to.
I started in Colombia and spent six months traveling through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, where I witnessed, felt, and tasted many different lives.
With an ironic sense of regretting leaving South America even more than going to Europe, I passed through Western and Eastern Europe and then went down to Africa.
I encountered the very different Africas of Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Kenya, and then I went to Asia—my final destination—to reunite with a friend I had met during the trip.
After finishing trips in Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, I returned to Korea to spend the end of the year with my family, and now I'm in India to wrap up my gap year. It feels like it passed in a moment, but over 467 days I lived a very full life.
#The hardest moment during my gap year
I think the moment the gate closed at Incheon Airport was the hardest.
When I couldn't see my mother's face who came to see me off, the weight of a whole year suddenly felt enormous.
I had quit my job and firmly decided to be away for at least a year, and I left after getting a bunch of sponsored support from friends and acquaintances, but I was so scared.
I cried my heart out throughout the flight from Incheon to Seattle, LA, and on to Guadalajara, Mexico, imagining that people would all change over four seasons and completely forget me.
All my loved ones were in Korea, and I felt guilty about leaving and causing them to worry.
But those worries disappeared as soon as I arrived at the Mexican airport.Instead, we kept in touch more meaningfully, and writing handwritten postcards for the first time actually made our relationships feel stronger. When I returned to Korea a year later, the only real changes were a few couples. Now I think I should enjoy myself as happily as I can so I won't feel guilty about the times I couldn't be with the people close to me.
#The happiest moments during my gap year
What made me happiest was,They were all the times I met people I never would have known if I'd stayed in Korea, talked with them, built relationships, and formed new bonds.During my travels, I received so much help and love.
The Moroccan friend Zineb I met in Barcelona was traveling in Spain for ten days. We traveled together and she invited me to her home, so I ended up visiting Morocco unexpectedly. Even during Ramadan, I ate my fill, slept, and lived like I was at home.
Mr. Hassan, who runs the Beng* Hostel in Budapest, worried about me, a strong girl traveling alone, and treated me to lots of food — agu-jjim, yukgaejang, bibimbap, and makgeolli — at an expensive Korean restaurant in the heart of Budapest.
In Santiago, Chile, after I missed the bus by a hair and was on the verge of losing my mind, Beatrice and her mother appeared. They said I couldn't sleep overnight at the terminal since they lived nearby, and they provided warm food and a warm place to sleep.
Even if I tell these stories in bits and pieces, I received and shared so many unbelievable things that I could talk about them for three days and nights without sleep.
Because these memories come back to me in a linked chain, I'm still incredibly happy now. Thank you.
#Me before and after my gap year
I've become less fearful when it comes to pursuing things.
Instead of worrying 'Will this work or not?', I think 'How can I make this work?' From experiences like doing skydiving that seemed impossible, missing buses, sleeping rough during taxi strikes, and literally suffering from lack of food, sleep, and bedbug bites, I learned that things that are meant to happen will happen.
Oh, one more thing. Before traveling, if someone asked the absurd question 'What if a war suddenly breaks out now?', I felt like the sky was falling. I had so much left undone and felt like it would be such a waste to die now. ButNow, to exaggerate just a bit, even if I were to die now, I'm happy enough to close my eyes with gratitude for my life.This, I think, is the biggest change before and after my gap year.
#Still traveling
I'm still traveling. India and Pakistan will be the last stops, and then I'll probably return to a life that feels like traveling again.
A question I heard a lot while traveling was 'What will you do when the trip ends?'
At first I felt frustrated. I had a whole year of living by travel right in front of me.
My entire concern was simply where I'd sleep tomorrow, what I'd eat, and what I'd do for fun, yet I felt forced to think about what comes after that.
So I used to laugh it off, saying that when I go back to Korea I'll be the happiest unemployed person in the world.
Now, when I return, whatever I end up doing, I plan to pick the most fun and meaningful thing among what's in front of me and dive into it with more happiness and gratitude than before I traveled — as I always have.
That could mean learning something new, teaching someone again, or something completely different.
But I have the confidence and self-esteem that I'll do well this time too.
The year of achievements I pursued proactively continues to give me strength. I'll gradually make it take shape in my life.
# TIP for those taking a gap year
Whether you stay where you are, move forward, or step back,
If you have a reason you can accept, then any choice is valid. Don't be afraid.
But please remember this.
Whatever choice you make, the choice is yours and you are the one who must take responsibility—not someone else.
So make a choice you can gladly and happily shoulder the responsibility for.
# A message to the youth of South Korea
Be someone your childhood self can be proud of, and someone your middle-aged self will admire,
무엇보다 지금의 내가 행복한 삶을 사시길,
I support and cheer for all young people, including myself.
100인의 갭이어 추천 및 제보는 언제든지 환영합니다.
Please leave a comment or email the marketing manager, Haein Jo (dorothy224@koreagapyear.com)!
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