Escape route

Someone I know has just done something I've been wanting to do for the longest time. She's just quit her job to travel.

My friends, especially those who know me well, will know that I've been wanting to drop everything and run away for ages. My dream is pretty straightforward- I want to stop working, then travel and write. Pretty simple, right? :)

It's been difficult to leave, though. It's not exactly the 'Asian' thing to leave a stable job to see the world. To quit to study for a year, maybe two years? That's fine. But *just* to travel? Not that easy.

Neither does taking a year out constitute responsible behaviour where I come from, especially if you happen to be female. You're supposed to stay at home and be a good girl, not go gallivanting around the world just to -what was that again- 'find' yourself?

This time, I think, I'm going to approach things differently. Just like how you prepare for a trip, you've got to be ready for big decisions. You've got to get the preliminary stuff out of the way. When you sort out the logistics, your mind will be better prepared to go ahead with whatever you've decided, and stick to it.

So from this month onwards, I'm going to be setting aside an equivalent of US$700 of my salary towards an 'escape route' fund. That's not much, but in one or two years I should have quite a bit of money, enough for me to do what I need to do.

Sound like a good idea?