Traveling While Young

So, I’m going to start by saying that traveling at any age is great! Please don’t take offense if you don’t fit into this category anymore, it’s okay…really. I kind of feel I’m balancing in between the categories of having freedom to travel more and fulfilling my responsibilities of working and being a wife and mother of children who can now fully dress themselves and even cook for themselves at times (Parents, you can vouch for me, this is exciting stuff!). This post, however, is specifically for my readers that don’t necessarily have too much life experience under their belt. Marriage, children, or a full time job in the career of their choice might not yet be a reality.

 Why am I writing about traveling while you’re young?

My husband and I have recently been giving travel advice and even encouraged a friend to take a solo trip out of the country. He is in the season of life that, although he has a job, he is free to explore the world without the responsibility of caring for those things that require too much of his attention. I would have loved traveling more when I was younger. Looking back though, I wouldn’t have necessarily changed the way I did anything, mainly because I really love my life and the friends and family that I have been undeservingly given. That being said, I hope none of you misconstrue what I’m about to say. Travel is wonderful, but I understand it’s not everything and we all have different paths to take. Here’s what I do feel. I feel travel broadens one’s mind, it makes one understand they aren’t the center of the universe. When I took my first trip out of the country as a teenager, I learned more than any classroom could have ever taught me. Though, I do wish I would have paid more attention in grammar class, it would have helped me tremendously with editing these posts, haha! 

How to Travel While You’re Young

So, to all the young people out there…get out and explore!! Travel with your parents if you can. Find an organization you believe in and take a trip helping others. Plan to go on any and every class trip you could possibly go on while in school. Start a gofundme account to help finance that trip…it doesn’t quite work the same when you’re older, haha! If it did, I would have already tried it;-). Learn about other cultures by being in and around other cultures. Be open minded and ask lots of questions. Be the type of person you want to see more of in the world. Save your money. If you don’t make money, try getting a job! One of you might even be the next Brooke Saward, founder of World of Wanderlust! She saved her pennies to travel full time for a year. She lived with her parents and saved her entire travel budget by skipping out on going to the movies, eating out, etc. She’s now living her dream of becoming a full time travel writer and getting paid to do it. Don’t be afraid to explore and to get outside of your comfort zone. You never know what you’ll learn, who you’ll meet, or what you’ll discover until you live it out for yourself! Read more on my thoughts about travel in this post…My Top 5 Reasons to Travel! 

 I conclude this post by sharing a story that is a personal one. Not too long ago my husband’s grandfather passed away. While visiting him for the last time, we all had a few minutes to say our goodbyes and share our love to him and him with us. He didn’t ask my husband about his job or what he’d accomplished in life so far, he asked my husband to show him photos of our travels and about the experiences we made while visiting each place. You see… he wanted to experience a little bit of the world through our eyes, to hear about places he’d never seen. We looked through photos and told him funny stories, laughed and made one last memory with him. Don’t put off the things in your life that you want to do or accomplish! If you want to travel, travel the first chance you get.

“And then there is the most dangerous risk of all- the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” ~ Randy Komisar

Feel free to share some of your travel experiences in the comment section below.