Why You Should Travel While You Are Young

Since schooldays, I always wanted to see the world. Traveling was one of the many things I was really looking forward to when I would grow up. But it was not the same for many of my friends and family.

I am 26 now, and by now I have traveled in each side of India, and I have traveled 8 countries with a goal of 20 countries before 2020. So far, it has been one of the best decisions of my life. In this blog, I will provide you with 8 reasons to travel when you are young. Before you start reading further, I want you to put some music in, the ones which inspire you to travel.

People often put off travel for their retirement plans, holidays with their kids or sometimes forever. It is not really a priority for many of them, as they think it would be expensive, or it will hamper their career. Little do they know, to travel while you are young could be highly rewarding and beneficial for their personal and professional growth.

1. IT IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST INVESTMENT YOU CAN DO IN YOUR LIFE

Yes! You read it right. To Travel while you are young is one of the biggest investments you can do in your life. When you are young you are still learning a lot, figuring out many things about your life, and aspirations.

I still remember, when I was traveling for the first time I didn’t know much about the place, or about the people. But till now I clearly remember everything that I learned on my first trip.

THE KNOWLEDGE, PERSPECTIVE, AND EXPERIENCE YOU GAIN WILL LAST THROUGH THE YEARS OF YOUR LIFE.

2. YOU DON’T NEED A LOT OF MONEY

Why many people give up on traveling? Because they think they need to spend a lot of money. Or it would make a huge dent in their future plans.

But, when you are young, you don’t need a lot of money. Instead of living in a hotel room, you can manage with just a bunk bed in some random hostel. You don’t have to book tickets for your family, or plan a trip well in advance. Just hop on the first bus to your travel destination all alone or just with some friends who decided to join on the last minute.

One of my cheapest trips was when I was 21, managing sightseeing on foot, eating mostly the local street food and staying in a hostel room with 4 other people. I bet! my parents can’t do this or anyone who is in their 40s or above.

3. EASY TO BREAK STEREOTYPES AND COME OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

We all have stereotypes and we all have our own comfort zone. What could be better than breaking them, coming out of it? It’s one of the most liberating things that you could do to yourself. Sometimes being too comfortable makes us rusty and we tend to chill with the same friends we’re most comfortable with. We have the same boring routine, go out to the usual places, and do things which we are familiar with.

If you travel while you are young, surely you will be able to break many stereotypes about people. And also learn how to handle difficult situations more often.

While traveling in Thailand, we were in the middle of the ocean, and I thought I knew how to swim ( I have taken swimming lessons and have swum several times in pools and water-parks). So I jumped in the ocean thinking I will be fine but guess what! As soon as I jumped I started drowning although later was saved by the co-travelers. I would never forget that day because that day I learned how important it is to come out of the comfort zone.

4. YOU LEARN AND UNLEARN A LOT ABOUT THE WORLD IN A FUN WAY

Many of us are not a big fan of history or geography. But whenever I am planning for a new trip suddenly I start checking about the historical places to visit or the climatic condition of the area. Traveling at a young age could make us learn about various countries, waterfalls, deserts etc. That too, in a supremely fun way with a lot of memories to cherish and stories to tell.

Visiting Taj Mahal or hiking in the Amazon rainforest, was like a dream come true for me. Experiences like these are so enriching compared to reading or watching videos about them. Sometimes, moments likes these would leave an everlasting mark in your memories.

5. LEARNING TO MANAGE FINANCE IN EARLY AGE

Most of us don’t get hefty pocket money in our early 20s. And therefore we don’t have a lot of spare money to spend on our trips. This is why traveling while you are young is amazing. You not only start saving money for your trips by cutting unnecessary expenses. But you also learn how to utilize the savings in the best possible way.

Learning about budgeting and making detailed plans about your expenses during your trips is something which stays with you for the rest of your life. What could be more fascinating than learning the art of budgeting and handling finance in a young age?

6. HAVING LIFE-LONG FRIENDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD

It is one of the most fruitful reason to travel while you are young. In this internet age, it is much easier to keep in touch with your friends from different places. When you are young, you tend me meet a lot of new people while visiting pubs, different music festivals etc. on your trips. Some of them become friends for life time.

And then next time when you visiting their city or country you can enjoy their company and if you have a great friendship, you might as well have a free place to stay there.

You learn new customs, fascinating traditions, weird slangs, new music, and different languages. It’s so refreshing to meet people different from you or anyone you’ve ever known.

I personally love meeting new people from different countries and traveling has really made this possible for me. Now I have friends in more than 15 countries who can count on me when they are visiting India or vice versa.

7. YOU ARE IN YOUR BEST VERSION OF FITNESS AND YOUTH

Imagine when you are 50 and your heart wants to do skydiving from 15000ft. Or to do 20-30Km trekking in some Himalayas. You know it, that’s not gonna happen for many reasons. One of them is because you won’t be in your best shape at that age.

Most of the adventures require a great amount of fitness and strength . Nerve Wrecking outdoor adventures like Scuba-dive, steep mountain treks, river rafting, cliff jumping are just not doable when you’re older. Plus, most of the archaeological and historic sites are not equipped with elevators and escalators.

8. LEARN NEW LANGUAGES

One of the most fascinating things about traveling is to experience different cultures, eat different cuisines and learning new languages.

Scientifically proved, learning languages at a young age is much easier compared to learning when we are old. It makes sense because when you are young, you have lesser things to worry about and you are still in a learning phase of life and have much more scope of making mistakes.

When I went to Brazil, I started taking Portuguese lessons and I can tell you it was a refreshing experience and I felt like a kid all over again. Making basic mistakes and trying to have conversations with locals.

So if you are still in doubt check out our travel stories and our other posts to feel inspired. Go out and travel.