Traveling will make your life richer even when you’re poor. If you don’t know what you’re doing after college and have money saved up, travel. If you want to travel but you’re broke, work tirelessly for a few months and save up. Do anything you can to buy a plane ticket away from your comfort zone.
Each place you go to will teach you something new about yourself. You will discover what it’s like to be a new type of independent. You’ll uncover things you never thought you could imagine, and what 18 years of your life in school, unfortunately, did not teach you. You will find yourself, or you will change into someone you’ve never met and never knew you could be. Do not stay at a five-star resort. Don’t make it a luxury vacation. Treat traveling as a pilgrimage for discovering yourself, other people, and building on your growth as an individual. Stay in a hostel. It’ll save you money. If you have a long-lost relative you can crash with, even better. Wherever you go, visit the tourist landmarks; have fun, but stay in the cultural, local parts of town. Meet and talk to the local people--hear their stories. Make an effort to learn and speak their language
Even if you can’t spare a summer’s worth of world travel, do it in increments, little by little. Work freelance to travel. Wait those tables to travel. Work anywhere professionally to travel, until you want to settle. It will be worth it. Do not get married or settle until you have travelled because your Mr./ Mrs.Right could be on the other side of the world. You might have a picture of the perfect love of your life not, but once you’ve traveled there’s a 95% chance that that picture will ruffle.
There are so many travel tours like EF College Break that’ll give you a glimpse for a few weeks into what you can expect. If you’ve never left home, this could be a good push.
If you find work while you’re on the other side of the world, that’ll help you build your resume keep your skills fresh and going, that would be ideal. There’s tons of websites that you can help earn you money like UpWork.
You also have your whole life to work and find work. Traveling when you’re younger is worthwhile. Do you want to be 60 and not have any stories to tell your kids or grandkids? Build your own adventure. Be brave and believe in the impact you could have on the other people you meet. Be curious about the impact people will have on you.
Traveling in your 20s will help you decide what kind of life you want to settle for or worse--it could make you realize you never want to settle. It’ll build your mind and personality. If you can travel to a developing nation alone in your twenties, you can do anything. You’lll be able to strike up intriguing conversations, build your worth as a person, and keep people interested.
Book yourself a flight to India, go EVERYWHERE. Goa, Kerala, Kashmir, etc. Go to Nepal, Visit Europe, travel to Grenada, Seville, and Cordoba. Learn about the history of every country. Learning about the history will make you deal with real-world issues, better. See if you can get involved in mission trips to South America or Africa. If you want to continue your studies, do it in another country.
Most importantly, journal every adventure. Read it back to yourself in a few months or years to see the person you were and what you’ve become. Smile on the memories and stories you’ve created for yourself. Be adventurous and treat your eyes to wonders of the world.
Immerse yourself in all the cultures. Be as respectful as possible. Wear the local custom clothes and eat the food. Remember to call mom and dad any time you can to tell them how alive you really are.
Take it from me. I have been blessed enough to travel to over 23 countries throughout my lifetime, and I can’t stop. I keep wanting to travel and discover new things, even if it’s in my home city. Every place I go to teaches me something different about myself, and inspires me to be unstoppable. My brain craves to be fueled.
Travel in your 20s because it’s the best thing you can do for yourself.
