Back In Fiji After Traveling For Two Years

After saving up for the better part of a decade, Patricia Ramlu and James Rao sold all of their belongings, quit their jobs and bought one-way tickets out of New Zealand.

Nearly three years and 43 coun­tries later, they’ve returned to their country of birth here in Fiji.

“It was a bit scary,” said Mr Rao, describing what it was like making the leap to travel.

“Growing up you’re always told about having savings and security. Now I was doing something to­tally opposite, taking this step that you’re told never to take. We kind of had no plan,” he added.

“The goal was to just see as many places as we can and try as many foods and drinks as we can.”

The couple agrees long-term trav­el is an attainable goal for most people.

“The misconception about trave­ling is you need a load of money, but you don’t.”

Ms Ramlu added that they actu­ally spent less traveling than they do at home. Attaining a dream of traveling is simply a matter of mak­ing it a priority, they said.

“In life it’s very simple, you have to sacrifice things to gain things,” said Mr Rao.

For them, gaining the ability to travel meant giving up having a nice car, buying luxury items and living in a bigger house on top of working extra shifts.

“Instead of just saying ‘one day I’m going to do it,’ you have to be purposely working towards it,” said Ms Ramlu.

Experiences

“There’s probably going to be a time and a point where you say ‘this is what I want to do,’ but you do have to jump,” she said.

“That’s the hardest part, but some­thing will push you in the end.”

Both he and his wife both had experiences in life that ultimately pushed them to travel.

For Ms Ramlu, that push came in the form of losing a close friend to suicide after he lost the struggle of trying to live up to the pressures people put on him to be and do things a certain way.

“It made me so angry,” said Ms Ramlu.

“People will tell you ‘be like us, be like this’ but you don’t have to, you can just do what you want to do.”

Mr Rao said the death of his moth­er also pushed him out of a more traditional lifestyle. After strug­gling to come to grips with his loss, he remembered his mother telling him “do what you want to do and don’t care about anything else. Everything is going to be the same when you come back.”

“It’s true,” he said.

“After two years of traveling, eve­ryone is still the same. Nothing has changed and yet I’ve seen so much and gained so much knowledge.”

The couple agreed that pursuing your dreams, whether it be trave­ling or something else, is the key to mental health.

“Just try to do it. It’s hard at first and it’s very scary, but that one step can take you to 43 countries like us or even the whole world,” said Mr Rao.

They also added that if Fijians want to pursue a traveling lifestyle, it’s well within their reach.

“Fijians are the best travelers,” said Mr Rao.

“All Fijians from a very young age learn life skills, and that is one thing that will help you as you travel.”

Even if you can only travel for a week or a few days, Mr Rao says to “just do it.”

His tips for traveling include pack­ing light with a 45L bag and using available traveling resources, such as workaway and couch surfing apps. At the end of his travels, Mr Rao is glad to be back on the island home he missed.

“As I was driving through Siga­toka, I looked at my wife and said ‘this is still my home, this is still me,” he said.

For more information, readers can contact Mr Rao on Instagram @fijiankiwis.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

Feedback: sydnee.gonzalez@fijisun.com.fj