When you're young, you should travel. I'm still young, so it's hard to speak from the perspective of someone with "experience", but I have been fortunate enough to travel to six different countries in my short 21 years and I feel like the luckiest person alive for being given the amazing opportunities of travel. I think every reason to travel is a good reason, but if you needed a reason to travel, here are my top five:
1. Traveling is empowering.
I'm a very independent and driven person, but there are still things that I'm afraid to do. I'm terrified of heights, but when I went to Iceland, I booked a trip to hike a glacier (which was really high up). Although I was pretty nervous through most of the hike, I did it and I can say that I conquered one of my fears on a glacier. And, I mean, how cool is that? Traveling can push you to do things that you never thought you'd ever get to do.
2. Traveling opens your eyes to the ways of different people and cultures.
It's very easy to learn about different peoples and different cultures when you read about them in books, but it's so much more real when you're actually able to experience it. If it was trying to speak conversational French or eating fermented shark (an Icelandic delicacy), it made me feel like I was truly immersed in their culture and I would not have experienced that otherwise.
3. Traveling helps you to relate to others.
When I went out of the country for the first time, my travel group was composed of people from all over the US. I had almost nothing in common with the people that I was traveling with at first, but as we moved through England, France and Italy together, we were able to bond about the different things we were experiencing on our trip and about other random things that we stumbled upon. Traveling with people that I'd never met before had definitely helped me to be more comfortable around new people.
4. Traveling makes memories that will last a lifetime.
My best stories are from my experiences traveling, and although I'm an awful storyteller, my stories from my travels always get a good reaction. The memories I've made traveling are memories that I will remember forever and are things that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I never knew how much traveling would mean to me, but it almost means more looking back on all the incredible memories I've made.
5. Life is short.
No one is guaranteed a long life, so the best time to consider traveling is as soon as you're able. Personally, I think living a full life includes traveling to as many places as I can and experiencing as many different cultures as possible. My advice to anyone reading this is to use your life to travel; do it as soon and as often as you can.
Carpe Diem.
