10 Reasons To Travel While You're Young & 10 Reasons To Hold Off
Traveling Hits At Any Age
We've all heard the cliché expression: "No time like the present," but maybe for some when it comes to travel, it pays to wait. There are definite plusses to traveling when you're young like having fewer ties and being healthy and strong. However, imagine the different experience you'll have if you focus on your career when you're young, and wait until retirement to travel. You could be sipping champagne on a yacht watching the sunset over Santorini instead of sleeping on night buses, desperately in need of a hot shower. The choice is yours. Here are 10 reasons to travel while you're young and 10 reasons to wait.
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1. You'll Grow As A Person
There's nothing more formative in life than travel. Especially if it's a solo adventure or something out of your comfort zone, you're bound to surprise yourself and discover new inner qualities you didn't know you had.
2. You Have More Freedom
Who knows what kind of responsibilities you'll be tied down by when you're older whether it's a career, mortgage payments, or having kids. These days of relative freedom may be more limited than you think so seize them while you can.
3. It Boosts Your Confidence
Traveling to unfamiliar places where you'll face challenges, meet new people, and embrace adventures is a great way of building your confidence. You'll take this self-reliance forward with you in all aspects of life like jobs and relationships.
4. You'll Build Lifelong Friendships
Traveling is a great way to meet friends who you'll share a special bond with. When you're older, it's not as easy to make new friends as everyone in your age group, including yourself, will be more established in their lives and current friendships.
5. You'll Discover Your Passions
It's normal to not quite know what you're truly passionate about when you're in your 20s. Traveling can help you find those things and that discovery will inform your big upcoming life decisions such as education and career.
6. You Have Your Health & Energy
When you're young, you generally have a greater level of health and fitness which allows you to effortlessly travel worry-free. When you're older, you might not have the same mobility or you may have a health issue that limits you.
7. You'll Learn To Go With The Flow
Traveling doesn't always go according to plan. There will be times when you have to pivot and adapt, and sometimes those on-the-fly experiences end up being the best part of your trip. Traveling will give you a more laid-back approach to life.
8. It'll Put Challenges Into Perspective
You'll face all kinds of challenges when you travel and you'll also be exposed to lives that are much more difficult than yours. This will help you cope with hardships you face in the future, and make them seem more feasible in comparison.
9. You'll Learn Life Skills
Traveling takes learning out of the classroom. It's the best way to develop you budgeting, navigation, problem-solving, and communicating skills. Being exposed to activities that don't exist in your own country may even lead to you picking up a new hobby.
10. You'll Become Culturally Sensitive
Interacting with and relating to people from cultures very different from your own will give you a greater understanding of their worlds. You'll become more sensitive and acceping of other ways of life.
Now that we've gone over the reasons to travel while you're young, let's talk about why you might be tempted to hold off until retirement.
1. You'll Be In A Better Place Financially
After years of working and accumulating wealth, you'll likely have more in the bank to spend on traveling, especially if you know early on that it's something you want to budget for. It'll allow you to travel without so much stress about your spending and you'll be able to splurge on pricier experiences.
2. You'll Know Yourself Better
One of the greatest things about traveling while you're young is that you learn a lot about yourself, but there's also something to be said about traveling when you already have that knowledge. Tuned into your likes and dislikes, you can more effectively plan a trip tailored to you.
Nashua Volquez-Young on Pexels
3. You'll Have A Greater Appreciation For Culture & History
Those hours at the museum are much more riveting when you're of a certain age. When you're young, you might not have the same appreciation for learning about the history and culture of a new place or have the patience to put in that learning time.
4. You'll Have More Confidence
The next best thing to building confidence is having that confidence already. When you're already self-assured, you'll waste a lot less time on the wrong people, go forth and conquer a lot easier, and make impressions along the way.
5. You'll Already Have Your Career Behind You
One of the most negative aspects of removing yourself from your life to travel while you're young is that you'll continue to have that nagging voice in the back of your head that's concerned about your career goals. If you travel with your career behind you, that voice won't exist and you can simply enjoy it.
6. You'll Avoid ThUnpleasantnt Backpacking Hustle
Moving around from hostel to hostel with a heavy backpack, feet hurting, and stinky from your body odor: this is how you travel when you're young and broke. When you're a mature traveler, you can skip these things and enjoy a little more luxury, whether that's staying in a comfortable AirBnB or a suite at The Four Seasons.
7. You'll Have The Knowledge & Skills To Plan Better
When we travel at a young age, many of us are just going with the flow, letting our wallets dictate much of our decisions. When you're older, you have more knowledge and resources when it comes to planning. You may even have accumulated friends around the globe already that you can tap into for accommodation or information.
8. You Can Share The Experience With Family Or Your Life Partner
Traveling when you're young, chances are you haven't met "the one" yet or had kids of your own. At times, this can make traveling feel lonely. Whether you still opt to travel solo or with them, having your very own family to share the experience with makes it more meaningful.
9. You'll Have More Time
If you travel when you're retired, you don't have any time restraints. There's no job or young children you need to hurry back to. You can linger, take your time, and truly enjoy. If you find a spot you really like, you can stay for months or even years if you like.
10. It'll Motivate You To Stay In Shape
If you know early on that you want to spend your retirement gallivanting around the world, you'll be more motivated to stay in shape to be able to do so. After all, traveling requires mobility and stamina.
