Reasons to Travel While You're Young
Top Ten Reasons to Travel Right Now
Thinking about traveling? Do it! Thanks to my year abroad I have become very pro-travel as much as possible and for as long as possible. And I know what some people are thinking: long term travel is not realistic, or its not for me, or its not going to yield many outcomes. But I say stop thinking about the what ifs and travel, especially while you are young. I understand that if you're married with kids it's kinda hard to go pack up for a year and move abroad, but if you're single, unattached, barely starting out you're career, then travel. The job market sucks right now anyway and its not like a year or two will make a difference in your retirement fund anyway (especially since we're running out of social security money). I mean other than seeing the world, which is reason enough to travel in itself, travel teaches you some very valuable lessons that you just can't learn in a classroom. So really, traveling while you're young is good for you. Here are the top ten reasons why you should travel when you're young, or just travel in general. |
| Charles Bridge, Prague |
10. Travel gives you a break from social media. Sometimes there's no internet. Most of the time you're too busy to even check social media. And that's a good thing. It teaches us to see what's right in front of us. To not always be a message away. People will still be there when you get back. You'll still hear all about whatever happened, but in your own time. It teaches us millennials how to interact with people right in front of us, since we are losing that ability.
9. It's easier to travel while you're young and have less responsibilities. No house payments, no kids to take care of, no dogs to feed, no major bills to pay. It's easy to take a break to travel when there's not much holding us back.
8. Travel makes you less materialistic. If it can't fit in a suitcase, is it really worth bringing? That's what I learned. Now I have all these things back home that I know that I can live without, and that's a good thing. Materialism is never a good thing anyway.
7. Travel teaches you new things. Whether its a new language or how to navigate public transportation, you're learning something. And while yes you can learn a new language in school, learning abroad and in the real world is just so much more exciting.
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| Triumphal Arch, Lisbon |
6. Travel makes you more easy going. Things never work out the way that you want them to when you travel. Something's late, the lines are long, or something's closed. It happens. And through extended travel you learn to let it roll off your shoulders and just go with the flow. You learn to laugh it off rather than get worked up.
5. Travel makes you more adaptable. If something falls through, you learn to find a new way. The bus didn't come so you figure out how to take a shuttle. The hotel isn't what you thought it would be, no matter you make the most of the situation. You learn to make lemons out of lemonade with a positive attitude, though a little complaining is allowed.
4. Travel helps you get to know yourself better. How you relate to people, how you interact with the world, what you're passionate about, who you are, these are all things that you learn through travel. And not only that, but you learn to like yourself too. I'm not about to say that I'm amazing, but I'm pretty happy with who I am as a person, and it took traveling to realize it.
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| The Danube, Budapest |
3. Travel makes you appreciate what you have. Whether you see poverty like you've never seen it before or you are missing home, it makes you appreciate all that you have back home. It makes you appreciate all the privileges you had and things you didn't realize that you had.
2. Travel helps you build self confidence. You learn how to do things, especially if you travel on your own. You realize "hey I can be an actual human" and it feels pretty good to know that you can survive on your own. You learn how to be happy with yourself, and when you're happy with yourself, you gain self confidence.
1. Travel helps you grow up. Sure getting a job and paying taxes teach you how to grow up. But you can also learn similar things while traveling. You learn not to be late, otherwise you'll miss your plane. You learn how to budget, or else you'll have to cut your travels short. You learn how to relate to others. You learn to depend on yourself. And you learn that you're not the only person in this world, and its kinda liberating.
