Renowned author, chef and all-around badass, Anthony Bourdain, once said “If you’re 22, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel–as far and widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them–wherever you go.” You heard the man.
1. There’s no time like the present. Chances are you’re not married, without kids, don’t have a mortgage and early on in your career; you’ll never find a better time in your life to just go.
2. You can afford to travel now. Sure, the idea of travelling may seem like a luxury for Apple Watch wielding tycoons but the truth is that travel is as expensive as we make it. Be savvy to the tricks on shaving dollars off airfare and travelling on a budget. You got this.
3. You’ll regret not travelling in the future. Imagine foregoing that trip to New York to spend your days working on Excel spreadsheets instead. At the end of the day, our experiences, the people we meet and the memories we make are what make our lives beautiful; never miss out on a chance to see the world.
4. You’ll grow more from travelling. Travelling is like a litmus test that brings out your true colours and teaches you to take things in stride.
5. You’ll make incredible friends. You will meet incredible people who share your passion for globetrotting and impact your life in wonderful ways. If travelling with a loved one, group of friends or on a Topdeck trip, travelling teaches you things about each other the routine of everyday life won’t.
6. Because you’ll work forever anyway. Unless you find yourself holding a winning lottery ticket, you’ll be working a job for many years to come. The work will never end but your youth will, so enjoy it now.
7. You’ll never eat better. Rather than sit at your desk eating another lacklustre salad, you could be trying deep dish pizza in Chicago or fro-yo in Los Angeles. It is worth travelling in your twenties simply to take your palate on a tour of the world.
8. Taking the time to figure out what you don’t want. As hard as it may be to discover what you want out of life, it can be equally challenging to eliminate the things you don’t want. It takes time to realise what accommodations you’d rather not experience again, what countries you aren’t keen on seeing or what personality types you’d rather avoid. An understanding of all these helps paint a clearer picture of what you do want.
9. You’ll learn to budget your money. Budgeting money while home can be tricky as you rationalise ordering that $14 cocktail, but while travelling you learn to budget money since stretching your dollars makes for more days on the road.
10. Master your social skills. Travelling in your twenties pushes you to meet new people, strike up conversations and step outside your comfort zone.
11. The bills will still be there. Be it student loans or credit card bills, chances are the bills will still be there when you get back. Like work, you’ll always be paying bills so take advantage of your twenties and go explore the world.
12. You’ll become a more interesting person. We all know that one person who has clung to the conventional life like it is the last helicopter pulling out of Saigon. Their conversations revolve around dreams to buy homes and plans to have babies. As lovely as it may be to hear about that person’s plans, it is always more enjoyable to listen in awe as a friend recounts their global adventures.
13. You’ll refresh the conversation in your mind. On a day-to-day basis we tend to have more or less the same thoughts or concerns. We wonder about the same to-do lists and mull over the same worries–yet travelling takes that internal monologue and refreshes it by throwing in new questions, ideas and perspectives.
14. Just go! There will never be a perfect time to leave. You may up for a promotion at your job, in a relationship or have just signed a lease. Whatever the hurricane of reasons that shroud your desire to go, the truth is that if you just go, the rest will fall into place.
