Everyone wants to do it, yet not many of us think we can. IF we do travel during our college years, we might take that annual spring break trip to somewhere warm and sunny. Or we might have the opportunity to travel with an athletic team, but that's usually the extent of our travels. For the most of us, life gets in the way and we reside to the notion that we're just too broke, just too busy, or just don't know how... And we're lying to ourselves.
Truth is, now is the best time to be traveling. Do it in your early twenties. The world is literally at your fingertips in that damned old phone of yours! Use it! Life is going to continue to throw its obstacles. You will continue to face adversity, it will not get easier and you will be faced with more and more decisions and responsibilities. Life will get much louder, and it’s not something to fear, but acting now on your traveling desires is likely a favorable move for the long run. Before you know it you'll have that regular 9 to 5 and only a limited amount of holidays off, sick days, and PTO, you get what I'm saying.
Take a weekend off of work, or take a couple days off of school. Get your work done ahead of time, or do it on the road. Perhaps many of us are so caught up in getting the high “A” grades that we fail to see and seek the beauty of the world around us. I think we are doing ourselves a disservice. Yes, getting good grades is important, especially when we are investing so much money into our education. BUT no, your life will not be defined by how well you did in that Marketing class your sophomore year of college or if you were able to get at least a "B" on that last statistics final. It's so much bigger than that, so don’t waste your young years on anxiety caused by something that you’re already capable of accomplishing! Give yourself a break, create a fun-loving balance in your life and start to enjoy things again, or enjoy them more! Indulge!
Gas isn’t too expensive and if the bill is split three or four ways, traveling is cheap! Food is too! Hell, we used live off of PB&J's for days on end just to cut costs. I'm talking breakfast, lunch, and dinner! PB&J's all the time! We didn't stay in the nicest hotels, we didn't get a warm shower every night, or a hot meal, or even a bed, but we did some damn cool stuff and saw things that most will never see in their entire life. And that's what makes it worth it. I'm okay with trading all of that in to see what Lake Louise looks like on a rainy day, or to see the rainbows in the mist that Multnomah Falls leaves in the afternoon sunlight. Sacrificing the luxury of hot meals and comfortable beds is a mindless trade off to me and the easiest choice to make, as it should be for college kids wanting to travel!
The fact is, traveling doesn't have to be all that expensive or luxurious. You can see and/or do some of the coolest things in the world if you're willing to make some sacrifices in order to cut some unnecessary costs. With a little research and effort we can expand our world view and gain some very much needed perspective without spending an arm and a leg. The opportunities are endless; when we look. Go on that mission retreat, go to that county park, that state park, then go to that national park, get a few buddies together to split the bills. Drive until it's dark and then sleep on the rocky ground of that “free camping” public land you found in the middle of nowhere Utah. Or split an Airbnb bill, go stay at a hostel, find a cheap motel. If we spend a little more time looking for these chances to get the hell out of Dodge, we might actually do it!
What are you gonna do? Wait until you’re “financially stable” enough to afford that all-inclusive trip to the Bahamas? I mean that sounds nice and all, but are you going to wait 10 years? 20? And then wait another few years to do the same thing all over again? How boring! I think the spontaneity is almost half of the experience! Take that weekend trip. Hell, call in sick just this once. Go to the lake on a week night. Why not? Camp in your back yard, I don’t give a shit. When you say you want to travel, when you say you want to gain some experiences, when you say you want to create memories and have stories to tell, just friggin’ do it already! Stop talking about it!
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