Jetting of on holiday to see other countries, doing a bit of site seeing and maybe booking a 2 month volunteering holiday it what most people consider "normal"...granted a 2month volunteering holiday is either pushing it...

everything else beyond this for most people is scary and daunting task. It involves a lot of risk and even though its becoming more popular it is still fairly new for people...its different and can be a huge risk take that most people are not willing to face.

For these reasons not everyone will support you...at the end of the day you need to ask yourself why you are doing it, how long for etc...if it just to have a break and re-evaluate things then a year will be great...for longer periods i would focus more on planning to go for a year and if you are there longer then great. Its not always easy, there will be moments that you will want to go home and for some people they dont even make it to the end of the contract - thats the reality...but you have to be doing for you and understand that even though you are putting yourself first you are leaving friends and family behind...it will effect them to and although you want them to support you they also probably dont want you to go...

its a huge step in life to move and live in another country...when you are young you can spare a year or 2...when you get older there is more to consider - if you have children, partners, parents getting old, life long friends, starting a fresh etc...the idea of teaching in another country is great but the reality is it can sometimes suck and go bad...so look at the reason you want to go and be aware of how friends and family might feel if you go 

Jetting of on holiday to see other countries, doing a bit of site seeing and maybe booking a 2 month volunteering holiday it what most people consider "normal"...granted a 2month volunteering holiday is either pushing it...

everything else beyond this for most people is scary and daunting task. It involves a lot of risk and even though its becoming more popular it is still fairly new for people...its different and can be a huge risk take that most people are not willing to face.

For these reasons not everyone will support you...at the end of the day you need to ask yourself why you are doing it, how long for etc...if it just to have a break and re-evaluate things then a year will be great...for longer periods i would focus more on planning to go for a year and if you are there longer then great. Its not always easy, there will be moments that you will want to go home and for some people they dont even make it to the end of the contract - thats the reality...but you have to be doing for you and understand that even though you are putting yourself first you are leaving friends and family behind...it will effect them to and although you want them to support you they also probably dont want you to go...

its a huge step in life to move and live in another country...when you are young you can spare a year or 2...when you get older there is more to consider - if you have children, partners, parents getting old, life long friends, starting a fresh etc...the idea of teaching in another country is great but the reality is it can sometimes suck and go bad...so look at the reason you want to go and be aware of how friends and family might feel if you go 

My mum is really supportive of me moving abroad but my dad worries about me and doesn't want me to go! I'm still going to go to Asia but I think he'll come around when I'm actually packing :)

Some people, especially my father, told me my South Korea plan was the most ridiculous thing they'd ever heard of.  My educational background has a heavy foundation in Spanish and Latin American studies.  He'd always ask me "why don't you go to a Spanish speaking country?" When I left a seven year long airline career to do what I'm doing now, he thought it was the most idiotic thing in the world.  He said "These days if you have a good job, you've gotta hang onto it." He also had free flights as an airline fringe benefit so he had some partially selfish motivations in trying to convince me to stay at that job and "get into management."  Yuck.  If I stayed at that job any longer I was going to murder somebody and would be in jail and he would not have flight benefits in that case either.  After many a heated discussion, when I'd convinced myself finally that it was the best thing I could, do he warmed up to it as now it's my second international living experience and now I'm even more "marketable" than before.  For him, everything is business.   The word "Korea" automatically conjurs negative connotations in many an American's mind. Some people with an overly romanticized idea of what life will be like find they can't handle it after the reality of having to teach in a not always easy situation sets in.  The best thing you can do is read everything you can good and bad that people experience in Korea.  Especially at first, I can almost assure you you'll have your share of teaching nightmare moments.  The only reason I was sure I'd be able to handle classroom difficulties is that before working at the airline, I worked in special education with emotionally disturbed and behaviorally disordered students.  My classes are small but my students can be crazy as hell; so sometimes it's not that much different except they're cursing at me in a language I don't understand.  That's the worse of it

Dont let them put you off! - Are you hoping to travel with your fiance or alone?

Me and my partner would like to go to Indonesia next year and teach, I've completed my course and he is still doing his due to complete later in the year.

Hey,

Loads of people experience mixed reactions from their family and friends when they first decide to teach abroad, but ultimately it's your life and if that's what you want to do and what will make you happy you should go for it!

Good luck!