Achieving the dream of international or even global travel doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive—maybe just a few square meters in a major city would do. Jiang Jing, a media professional from Chongqing, is among those who quit their jobs to travel. Their stories demonstrate that with courage and action, the dream of seeing the world is more attainable than you might think.
Jiang Jing quit her job to travel because she wanted to see the world with her own eyes while she’s still young. Along the way, strangers touched her deeply.
Cycling the world, bumming meals and drinks along the way, documenting the journey through online interaction
Jiang Jing, a media worker from Chongqing, decided in June 2011 to hit the road with her camera on a bicycle “just to wander around and have some fun,” so she quit her job with an annual salary of over 100,000 yuan. This wasn’t an impulsive decision: years earlier, she had been a special correspondent covering the FIFA World Cup in Germany, interviewed Jacques Rogge, taken a photo with Prague, and one day in Hamburg, as she dragged her weary body, she was moved when she saw a group of American backpackers gnawing on compressed biscuits with pale faces and sharing a smile.
Before deciding to cycle through India and other countries, she had also traveled the Sichuan-Tibet Highway with her boyfriend. She felt life shouldn’t be limited to having a stable job or a place to live. “As someone who considers herself a bit talented, I believe talent should be expressed, not wasted on monotonous daily work.” Traveling with her were her boyfriend “Tui Zi” and his high school classmate “Front Tooth.” Tui Zi worked two jobs before the trip—one as a sound engineer at a nightclub and the other as a magazine photographer. Front Tooth sold exotic pets online. Jiang Jing and her boyfriend set off from Chongqing and cycled all the way to Lhasa, where Front Tooth joined them. The trio then cycled to Nepal and onward to India.
A set of utensils that could function as both a bowl and a pot, but tied to the back of the bike, still made its presence known over long distances. In places with no villages or shops in sight, they’d whip up a DIY meal—only then did the gear find its “moment of purpose.” But most of the time, they bummed meals and drinks. Often, locals, moved by their cycling efforts, invited them for meals, let them stay in their homes, or offered space in their yards to pitch tents.
Jiang Jing said that traveling the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway mostly meant eating and sleeping with road construction workers, covering over 2,000 kilometers this way. They once met a group of workers from Henan who usually ate plain noodle soup but insisted on giving them eggs—which they had saved for breakfast.
They documented their journey with cameras along the way and also interacted with family, friends, and netizens via Weibo and forums. “Most of the time, we relied on paper maps or looked things up online.”
The whole of Lhasa was “chasing the sky dog.” The two couldn’t help but dance and shout at the sky with Tibetan friends and tourists.
Entering Tibet in winter, “chasing the sky dog” with wild dancing
It took Jiang Jing and Tui Zi seven months to travel from Chongqing to Lhasa. They set off in summer, passing through Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang, arriving in Tibet in winter. “The same route—you might cover a hundred kilometers a day in summer, but only twenty or thirty in winter.” Along the way, they once rescued a motorcyclist. “He was blown sideways by the wind, fell into a ditch, and was covered in blood.”
The happiest moment was in Lhasa during a total lunar eclipse. That night, she and her boyfriend watched it from the roof of their guesthouse. “People for miles around in Lhasa were banging pots and shouting—the whole city was chasing the sky dog.” They couldn’t help but dance and shout with Tibetan locals and tourists, banging on pots together.
The most dangerous moment was in India—they were robbed on the second day in the country. Ironically, the robbers returned some items the next day to the spot where they were robbed, including their passports, family photos they had on them, and Front Tooth’s underwear pouch. The socks were returned, but the underwear was gone.
After returning to Chongqing, Jiang Jing planned to find a media job and write a book while working.
Adjusting plans slightly, continuing the journey and writing a book after returning home
Through this platform, Jiang Jing wants to remind everyone: don’t harm others, but always be cautious—safety is paramount when traveling.
After being robbed, with permission from local police, the trio went to Varanasi in central India, staying at a guesthouse that often hosts foreign travelers, “Kumiko’s Home.” They stayed there for 14 days, meeting many friends from Japan, Korea, and around the world. When interviewed by reporters, they were visiting temples in Khajuraho, India. They still wanted to keep traveling, though they adjusted their route—skipping Sri Lanka and choosing to backpack within India by train or bus. Their latest plan is to fly to Thailand in late March after getting their visas, then cycle through Southeast Asia. They’ll tour Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, then cycle back to Yunnan and Guangxi, and finally return to Chongqing.
Jiang Jing said she’d look for a media job as soon as she got home—she still needed to make a living—and write a book about this rather extraordinary journey. But she has no plans to become a professional traveler. “Traveling is my fuel.”
Implementing paid leave means you don’t have to quit your job to travel
Glenn from Hong Kong and his wife Liang Fei quit their jobs resolutely to realize their dream of traveling the world before turning 30. In 2010, they started from Mexico and traveled through nearly 40 countries in Central and South America, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Cantonese native Xie Xie and Shanghai girl Cai Cai are also devoted fans of world travel. Xie Xie is a state-owned enterprise employee, and Cai Cai is a white-collar worker at a foreign bank. Though their lives seemed unrelated, love sparked between them during a trip. From then on, they were inseparable. When Xie Xie said he wanted to quit his job to complete the Silk Road journey and travel the world, Cai Cai didn’t hesitate to join him.
On one hand, many people under high work pressure want opportunities to travel but fear losing their jobs. Quitting to travel is, after all, a brave move. Xu Hong, vice dean of the Tourism and Service College at Nankai University, believes that while quitting to travel—as Jiang Jing, Xie Xie, and Cai Cai did—is a personal choice reflecting the individuality of post-80s and post-90s generations, “but if paid leave can be properly implemented, such situations can be avoided.”
China established a paid leave system long ago, but it has never been well enforced. “In some companies, if you take leave, someone else might replace you.” So even though the policy exists, it’s not well promoted. There are many reasons for this, including lack of awareness among individuals, high population and employment pressure, and companies wanting to cut costs—so few dare to ask for leave. Abroad, paid leave can range from a month to three or two weeks. “You can decide how many times a year and when to take your leave.”
Currently, the government is promoting a national leisure plan. “If holidays are shifted earlier or later to create relatively concentrated time blocks, it can meet travel needs.” Japan has implemented this approach for years—shifting dates creates three- or four-day mini-vacations. “Our Golden Week follows a similar model.”