Work Hard, Someday You’ll Be Able to Travel
If you feel like you're wasting your life, that working and making money isn't making you happy, let me share my story with you.
My name is Jin-O Yoon, I'm 29 years old and I'm from Seoul, South Korea 🇰🇷. From a young age I was taught to study — there was no time for children's games like tag, hide and seek, or other games you usually play here in Colombia 🙊. The mindset of my parents, and I dare say most Asians, is: "Study, study, and study so that in the future you can get a good job and enjoy life."
So after finishing my degree in Electronic Engineering, I continued with a master's, and then a PhD 🤓. A few months later, I started working at a major tech company in my country 🙂. Over the years, I climbed the corporate ladder to earn more money, but the higher I got, the longer the workdays became 😥 — sometimes up to 18 hours a day 😰. And if I didn’t finish my tasks, I had to go in on weekends too.
My parents were proud of me because I was following in their footsteps, which they believed would lead me to a safe and peaceful life. But after working for several years, I felt increasingly frustrated and unsatisfied, knowing I was wasting my life chasing money that didn’t bring the happiness I expected 😔.
Escaping that routine was one of the main reasons I decided to start traveling 😎 — to discover new cultures and learn new languages. I began my journey through Asia. My first country was Russia, then China, which was my final stop before returning to Seoul.
That trip awakened in me a curiosity to keep traveling and discovering new places. I started enjoying the little things I had never appreciated because I was trapped in the routine of my city. Let me explain a bit about Seoul: it’s a city with 25 million people, three times the population of Bogotá 😱 and three times smaller in size 😱😰, so living there can be extremely stressful. For those who say they don’t like Bogotá, I wouldn’t recommend my city 😁.
After saving up and working a bit more, I was ready to take a longer trip :). I visited more Asian countries, then Europe, Africa, and South America. My first stop in South America was Brazil, where I spent two amazing weeks dancing to the rhythm of Samba 💃.
Then I continued to Uruguay, Argentina, and eventually Peru — which most of my friends had chosen as their final destination, warning me that Ecuador and Colombia “could be dangerous.”
I considered returning to Korea and ending my South American journey in Peru, but then I remembered that I left Korea to explore new cultures — and now I wanted to go back home without even giving these two countries a chance? No way! So I grabbed my backpack and headed to Ecuador, where I stayed for 15 days enjoying its beautiful beaches and exotic food 😋. Then I crossed into Colombia and traveled until I reached Popayán, where I stayed with a lovely family I met through Couchsurfing. I was amazed at how they welcomed me like family even though they didn’t know me.
I remember Carlos came up to me and said, “Yoon, tomorrow we’re going on a ‘Paseo de Olla.’” I just nodded, thinking it was a place with that name. The next day, the whole family showed up with pots, a car tire, and a chicken. That’s when I realized what a "Paseo de Olla" really was 😍 — floating down the river in a tire, ohhh 😮 now that’s extreme :) — and afterward, eating a delicious dish called "Sancocho" with the whole family and friends. That’s what I call enjoying life. And to think I was going to miss out on this experience because of negative comments from other travelers!
Colombia is the 62nd country I’ve visited so far, and I can confidently say it’s the one that has had the biggest impact on my journey. I’ll leave you with one final piece of advice: Remember that we only have one life, so if you're not happy with what you're doing — leave it and go do what makes you happy.
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