This is part of a series responding to Christine at Almost Fearless' series 30 Ways in 30 Days to Redesign Your Life and Travel the World.
Day 4
I have lived with my long term boyfriend for the last 6 years.
We have done the long distance relationship thing (8 months while I was in Japan) and while that could probably work out for me again for a long period of time, he had a much rougher time.
If it only works for half of a couple - then it doesn't work.
Luckily, he is 100% on board with going to Japan while I finish my language training. He is so on board he is in the process of getting his TESL certification, which will help him find a job teaching English while we are there. That goes a long way towards making this affordable.
Great news, right? Yes! But...
But he is not fond of the idea of going to China later on, nor does he think a nomadic round the world trip is feasible for us. I decided on going to Japan first, for many reasons, but perhaps subconsciously I also knew that I would get the support of my significant other if I aimed for Japan first.
I kind of hope that my boyfriend will experience living in another country and fall in love with it, like I did. He hasn't traveled outside of the US much (that he was old enough to remember). He is also inherently more nervous about change than I am. I'm not trying to be manipulative, I just honestly believe that once he gets his feet wet, he'll decide it isn't such a bad idea.
But for now, we have a plan. A plan he is comfortable with, and I am excited about. For right now, this is working. I don't really know what's going to happen in the future. There may be a time when I have to choose between my relationship and my passions. I hope that time never comes.
