It may seem like a crazy thought to put everything on hold and travel to your dream destination and that’s probably because it is. There are way too many factors which make adventure tourism restricted to the very limited vacation times that work or school may allow. Even travel in general is mostly left to summer, spring or winter break. Responsibilities, the cost of travel, lack of companionship, and fear are the logical reasons why taking off to another country or even another state on a whim might get categorized under “bad ideas” or “impossible” for college students on a budget.

However, I’m a big fan of these impossible, bad ideas and can tell you exactly why it’s actually a pretty possible, good idea.

Where are you going to stay? Who are you going with? How much will you spend?

These are all valid questions and they sure get asked a lot but what about asking things like:

Have you seen any of the seven world wonders?

Do you need some time off?

Can you afford to cut spending and save up?

There’s a beautiful mix between passionate and practical that makes traveling so great. You don’t need as much money to plan a trip as you do the motivation to get there. Cheap alternatives like hostels or camping, visiting relatives, well done research, and hunting for deals are great ways to secure a trip that will give you adventure, fun, and leave your bank account relatively protected if done right.

Responsibilities will always be there, no matter where you go. Even if you embark on your own Eat Love Pray journey, you’re still responsible for yourself right? If you can’t leave school or your job, you could search for weekend deals to someplace new. Being expensive or foreign are not necessarily characteristics of a worthwhile trip. If you can plan adequate time out of your designated vacations days to go see what this world has to offer, there are plenty of discounts and helpful websites to guide you through the trip planning process. Even if none of your friends want to go with you, there’s always family or a person you have yet to meet that could eventually become your travel buddy. If you open yourself up to opportunities, they’ll be there for you.

For some people, work and school take priority over anything else in life. For others, your youth is a time to explore and experience things outside of these traditional occupations or the usual vacation spots at the beach or local theme park.

That’s the appeal to adventure tourism. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, there’s always a place to visit. You can get an amazing experience from visiting the next city or the smallest town in your state. Hiking, camping, and snorkeling can be done just about anywhere. The point isn’t to fly first class to a paid tour in Europe and spend all of your savings on fine dining you’ll forget the taste of. It’s about stepping out of your comfort zone and daily routine to allow your body to stimulate your mind instead of vice versa for a change. You can study and work weekends whenever but you may not be able to go trekking in Patagonia whenever due to your physical state, climate change, and the simple fact that life is not guaranteed to us.

There’s never a time like the present and you’ll never be younger than you are right now. I know that may sound like something a motivational speaker would say but if you’ve ever been one of the few or only young people in a tour of older travelers with diminishing stamina then you’ve probably been told how they wish they made the trip at your age or noticed when their tiredness made them a bit too agitated to fully enjoy the views.

Granted, that’s not always the case and there are plenty of middle aged travelers who can school the college aged backpackers on experience, endurance, and wisdom.

Whichever the case, I firmly believe that the experience of seeing something new and learning a new culture live instead of from a textbook is just about the best gift there is.

There will always be a reason not to but once you eliminate all of the excuses, you are pretty much just left with three words: seize the day.