You need to know why we absolutely don't want to go back home

Friends, family, everybody's favorite thing to ask while we're stuck in Chile is why not go back home? This is probably the least pleasant thing we hear nowadays. Therefore, we decided to write about this topic and all the reasons why we don't want to go back home.

Yes, we understand that the novel coronavirus pandemic is something we cannot control. We are also aware that at some point, we may need to go back home. But until then, we are willing to do anything in order to stay.

So what are the reasons why we don't want to go back home?

We don't have a place to stay

When we left on our big trip in February, we rented our studio to one of our best friends. In addition, our studio was becoming smaller and smaller for us to live in. We were planning to move into something bigger after we returned from our travels and managed to open our own business. We could stay with my parents for a while, but for how long? Although we love them dearly, we would eventually need our own space.

We don't have a car

Also, when we left for our travels around the world we sold our car. That means that if we want to go back home, we will need to buy a new car. And we will have to pay that from our travel budget.

We don't have jobs

And we don't want to. First, the company I worked for went bankrupt in September 2019, so I cannot return to my old job. In addition, Chris has also ended his work collaborations before we left. Even more, we have put our heart and soul into starting this blog, which is our true passion. However, if we went back home and wanted to survive, we would eventually need to apply for jobs. And most of you know how daunting this process is. Furthermore, we worked so hard in the past few years in order to be able to travel. We've put most of our time to build other people's dreams and pockets that we just don't want to do it anymore.

We would spend more money back home

Although we really miss our friends and family, going out all the time used to be more expensive than what we spend now. Of course, if we got jobs we could do it all over again. But that's something we don't really want to do.

We gave everything in order to travel

I saved money for the past 7 years in order to go on a round-the-world trip. Chris has saved with me ever since we met. This means that we both worked extra hours, stayed overtime and took other projects in order to save as much as possible. We did not spend money on expensive clothes, shoes, electronics or makeup because we knew that traveling would be more valuable for us.

But you can travel again, some may say

If we quit now, it doesn't mean we cannot travel again. But we had our lives on pause for so long and if we go back we would need to start saving all over again. And that takes time, maybe a few years. We wanted to travel the world, enrich ourselves with new experiences and then probably go back home and settle down. You know the drill, get a house, have a stable job, buy a nice car, maybe build a family, who knows?

Now there are two options. We can forget about traveling and continue with the rest of the plan. However, that would make us miserable and regretful, at least for a while. The second option is to delay everything more, another X years on pause. And we will probably be happy when we're in our forties.

Related: How the pandemic impacted our travels

Of course, we enjoy our time even if we're not traveling, we know how to have fun, but that doesn't mean we're fulfilled.

We have a lot of travel credits

So many of our flights have been cancelled, including our G Adventures tour. As you may have heard, most flights and tours don't refund you, but they give you some credits with the company. Well, we have plenty of unused credits, but we can use them mostly this year. Therefore, if we were to go back home we would need to spend extra to return to South America. And we would still need to travel in order to use our credits this year or at the beginning of next year. So not only we spent thousands of dollars, but we would need to spend more so that we don't lose the credits. However, many airlines are going bankrupt because of the pandemic, so it's better to use the credits as early as possible. Otherwise, we may not be able to use them at all.

Where do we stand now

We told you all the reasons why we don't want to go back home. But what's our situation at the moment? Well, we have been stuck in Chile since March 13th. We've been in Iquique, Chile since March 18th and in full lockdown in the past 8 weeks. So, we now try to go somewhere else, because the weather is getting colder, and we still cannot get out of the house. We looked at Mexico and plan to go there for a while until things start to settle. Therefore, we booked flights and accommodation, and we hope to leave soon.

Related: How lockdown feels like in Chile and what it feels like to run errands during the lockdown.

We're doing our best to stay safe, informed and most importantly, sane. The absence of control over the situation is daunting for everyone, but we work hard to stay positive.

Conclusion

There are many reasons why we don't want to go back home. However, we are aware we may need to in the end. But, we cannot give up just yet, not without doing everything in our powers in order to continue our travels. We know that our plans won't be the same as they were before we left, and we will need to stay flexible.

Do you find yourself in a similar situation? We want to know about your experience!