A recent survey among older Americans revealed a surprising regret – not that they wished they had saved more money, or that they were sorry they didn’t have kids, or were sorry that they did have kids, or any of the more usual suspects in the regret column. No, the thing they regretted most was not traveling more when they were young.
Now, first we should differentiate between travel and vacations:
Vacations are usually trips to some nearby hot spot (Cancun, Miami, etc.) where the focus is on a contrasting mix of daytime relaxation on beach and by pool, sipping drinks that look like a kiddie confection but are guaranteed to lay you out, and a frenetic nighttime scene featuring more deceptive drinks and some boogieing to the bongos.
Travel, on the other hand, usually entails visiting a culture that is different from the norm (such as India or Morocco), where the money is different, the food is different, the behavioral norms are different, and is not necessarily relaxing at all. Travel often takes you much further afield and into situations that can be unpredictable and challenging.
So why would any young woman choose travel over vacation? We all have lives that carry a certain amount of stress, of obligation, of responsibility. When we get time away from work, why wouldn’t we settle for plopping down on a beach chair and summoning the drinks boy? Here’s why:
Forget your troubles and just get happy
Whenever I travel to a place like Morocco or India, the environment is so stimulating on every level that it is impossible to stay in my obsessive interior world. These places demand full concentration on being in the moment, as they swamp your senses and snap your synapses. Typically, by the time I return home, I find that I have forgotten to think about the challenges in my life for the duration of my time away and, as an added bonus, have subconsciously developed a realization that these problems are not nearly as important or difficult as they seemed prior to the trip.
Get it while you can
Marriage, having families, and assuming the larger responsibilities that come with time, can make it hard to travel, and can limit the places you’re able to travel to. It’s a brave parent indeed that will lug children and baggage off to an exotic locale when the kids are crying to go to Orlando. Partners may also balk at travel to unfamiliar and challenging countries. Go while you are young and carefree and make unilateral choices to visit the places that intrigue and inspire you.
They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot
With the world rapidly becoming homogenized with a Starbucks and/or McDonald’s on every corner (my friend and I counted four Starbucks’ on one block in Hong Kong!!) it’s a good idea to get there before “there” becomes the same as “here”. A good case in point is Cuba which, while a Caribbean island, has retained a flavor all its own because it was cut off from American business and trade. You may be sure that now relationships between the two countries are warming up, Cuba will soon begin to resemble St. Thomas and the other tourist filled islands in the area. Still wonderful to visit, but lacking that individual character that makes a trip truly memorable.
Broaden your mind instead of your butt
Travel to places that have different cultures from ours can present happenings that could never otherwise be experienced. I will always remember being in a tour bus on a rural road in India and seeing a completely naked holy man walking down the street adorned with nothing but feathers and beads. Nobody was paying the least amount of attention to him, while my friend and I were were suffused with giggles at this unexpected apparition.
Driving through small villages where the women were working in the fields harvesting mustard grass, while the men lounged around the communal swimming hole, gave us a glimpse into the division of labor in that part of the world. Visiting Da Nang in Vietnam, a place I knew only from stories about the Vietnam War, it turned out to be a beautiful, barely developed beach community and not the ravaged war zone I had imagined. Cappadocia in central Turkey looks more like a landscape from the Moon or Mars than planet Earth. And so on. These images live on in the mind, long after drinks by the pool at Club Med have faded into oblivion.
Home Sweet Home
And when your travels are done, the sweet relief you will feel about returning to your reassuringly familiar home town is very different to the feeling of regret most often experienced when returning from more traditional trips for relaxation. I always feel an appreciation for what America is and what it offers when I get off the homeward-bound plane, while simultaneously vowing to go far afield again on my next trip.
Bon voyage, and don’t drink the water!!!
Travelling is not just for the rich.. I only started when I was in my mid-twenties and was working and saved up to travel. I didn’t have parents that could afford to take me on overseas vacations or pay for an overseas edu or buy me a car or anything other than basic food, home & education. But travelling is always something I wanted to do.. and it kinda pisses me off when people say that’s great for me but they can’t afford it or have no time and are envious. Skip on the daily/weekly Starbucks or the monthly facials/slimming or that branded handbag that is 1 month’s salary… and tell me again that you don’t have money to travel…
How travel affects you doesn’t have to be complex or profound; it’s as simple as the difference in a street lamp in London or the beauty of a manhole cover in Budapest. 🙂
Travel changes your perspective and opens your mind to your environment because it stimulates you in all ways, emotional, physical, visual.
And I appreciate your blog and your writing, but I think a lot of people don’t understand the damage they’re doing to the planet by travelling. Look at the recent issues on Mount Everest, for instance. The place has turned into an amusement park. If someone feels it’s a rite of passage to climb up Everest then I’d urge them to, instead, give the money to the poverty stricken locals in the vicinity instead of some superfluous, egotistical need to go up a mountain… There should be a limit to where is open to tourist.
what a narrow-minded outlook. It’s quite easy to travel without destroying anything .. and it also helps bring money to places, that without travellers, wouldn’t get it..
Spoken like a true world- traveler! This piece was fantastic! You so eloquently put into words a feeling that I’ve long tried to express about my travels. Sometimes you feel a bit let down when you finally return home and those around you have moved on, gotten degrees and had families. You know that the experiences you have had are worth their weight in gold but until someone else has had those same experiences that can’t really understand how you feel. I will never regret the years spent roaming the world and you’ve just reminded me why. 🙂
Great post, and so true! Another thing to consider is that you never really know how long you’ll live. It would be such a pity to work until you are 65, hoping to get to see the world once you retire, and then die, a la “Up” 🙁
Everything else tHat “gets in the way” is just an excuse. You will never have enough money, or time to travel, if you choose to live your life that way. It only really takes commitment (and guts) to take the leap, save money, take time off, and fly away.
Would I still get the same experience if I study at varsity, and then travel in the holidays? Say I got this bursary to go study, should I pass it up? My family isn’t that well off, and I can’t allow my parents to pay for my studies. So although I am prepared to undergo the debt in order to experience everything you mentioned… can I make both work for me?
I really want to travel so much. I’ve travelled around the east of Europe for a month, spent a month in Spain and been to many different countries. My one problem is that I don’t feel like I can leave my dog. I know you people will think it’s an excuse, but it’s really not. Me and my parents rescued her 18 months ago and my dog and I have formed the strongest bond. We’re very close and I feel like I understand her more than anyone else. I know that she has been abandoned twice in the past and for me to leave her and go off travelling would be so hard. I’d feel so guilty, as if I was abandoning her just like her old owners did, even if she got over me leaving. I’m in a real conundrum. This is not about making excuses, it’s a really hard decision. I really want to go travelling for an extended period of time, probably at least a year, but I just don’t feel like I can leave my dog ?.
I was in the same position as you. Its a tough decision but you have to choose. I regret that I didnt spend much time traveling, but I dont regret chose my cats over traveling. I know “Eiffel tower has been there for years” is a cliche, but your dog wont be there forever. It may be a part of you world, but you are is his world. Remember that. It doesnt have anyone else.
Okay I just need to throw this out there…you can leave a boyfriend or a car but you cannot just leave a dog!!! That truly is a responsibility that you cannot just abandon!!
I think that we love to travel because it makes us fall in love with our lives. ?
This is beautiful, and I agree wholeheartedly with what you’re saying. For me, I love to travel because there is always something new to taste. Travelling makes me feel free and alive. It even makes me appreciate everything. I appreciated your perspective on travelling so much!☺
My main reason for traveling is I’d like to spend quality time and try out new things with my boyfriend or friends. Honestly, I don’t travel alone. I just don’t feel the full satisfaction of travel when I’m alone.