9 Best Reasons to Travel When You Are Young

Travelling when you are young is one of the most exciting life experiences that can happen to you.

Leaving home to travel to the other side of the world at the age of nineteen changed my life.  It could change yours too.

The excitement for travel does not change as you get older – it is just different.  The older you get, the more life experience you accumulate tends to make you warier.  

Age and your life experiences affect the decisions you make.  This life experience could be painful, positive or somewhere in-between.  Either way, it shapes your personality and character.

When you are young, many of us have a blank slate not affected by these things. These events shape our lives going forward.

Here are nine reasons why you should fill that blank slate with travel experiences and travel abroad when you are young.  You will not regret it.

Let’s get started.

You Have Fewer Responsibilities

Let’s state the obvious.  

Before you own a home or have a career, there is no better opportunity to travel the world.  It is the optimal time to forge your path without financial obligations at home to tend to.  

“Life is an unwritten path.”

You should check in with loved ones (sorry Mum) often, but beyond that, go forth and conquer the world.  Our planet is much more fun to explore without the weight of responsibilities at home.

You Will Change Your Perspectives

As we grow up, our lives are influenced by many things.  

It starts with how we are raised, our schooling and the environment we live in. All of these things shapes our perspectives of how we see the world.

I grew up in a small town in New Zealand.  My view of the world was limited to Hollywood and what I had read in books.  Moving to London when I was young made me realise I was wrong about most things.

“It isn’t until you go abroad that you will find you are challenged on some of those perspectives.”  

Experiencing foreign cultures, meeting different people and learning how other societies operate can be challenging but ultimately one of the most rewarding parts of travel.

Having travel experiences when you are young and still figuring out your own identity can profoundly shape your future self.  

Sometimes, you learn that what you thought was true, isn’t necessarily the case all the time.

You are Naive (That’s a Good Thing!)

When I started travelling young and solo, I was naive to the realities of the world.  

In time, you find out naivety has its benefits.  It makes you say ‘yes’ more.

Naivety makes you less anxious to try out that new experience.  It could be walking into a random pub alone and talking to the locals.  It could mean looking at that bungee jump and going ‘Hell yeah’ as opposed to standing there in fear and shaking your head.

Being naive also opens you up to random experiences as you look at life with more positivity, with more opportunity.  Going on that random weekend away or on that pub crawl with new friends you have known for only a few hours.  

Being a bit naive makes you a little more impulsive.  Those impulsive moments made some of my favourite memories and just might become some of yours too.

It is Cheaper

Travelling when you are young is cheaper.  Period.  

It could be solo, with a partner or even with a group of you.  When you are younger, the little things don’t matter as much.  Hotel vs hostel, the street food vs the more comfortable restaurant. As you get older, your tastes often change. 

The little comforts seem to matter a bit more.

Those comforts add up and don’t always add to the experience to any great degree. Instead, it makes your budget smaller.  

By travelling when you are young, you are more likely to spend what you saved on a comfier room with another round in the hostel bar with your new friends.

You wouldn’t find me in a hostel dorm these days, but there was a time in my twenties when I would.  The money I saved for the travel experiences (and the bar) was the priority instead of more comfortable places to stay.

A whole industry around budget travel, particularly in Europe, has been a core part of the tourism industry for many years.  

Companies such as Contiki have been pioneers in this market, with a focus on catering for the adventures of the under-35 market.  Contiki is only one of many tour companies now, do some research and you will find the right operator for you.

As well as tour companies, traditional transport operators have marketed to the budget traveller for years.  Bus companies such as Flixbus and Megabus offer incredible value in Europe and abroad.  The rail network in Europe has always been super efficient and easy to use with deals to be found.  

For the sake of a slightly longer journey (where you see more!), the savings can be put to much better use.

If you are young, you could go now and be part of that movement that has created some of the best travel stories I have been part of.

You Learn to be Independent

Growing up is hard.  Learning to be independent can be harder.  

The world of travel is the best teacher in that regard.  Making important decisions is always a little bit easier when you have a support network around you.  For the time when things don’t go to plan.  

What happens when that support is not there?

When you miss the last train, have a cancelled flight and are on your own, things can get scary. Under that fear though, is a hidden resourcefulness that we all have.  

Travel exposes that at every possible opportunity in the unlikeliest ways.

Expect the unexpected and deal with it.  Before you know it, you find yourself standing on your own two feet.  And those times when you didn’t know what to do and were on the verge of tears, lost in a strange city somewhere?  You will smile and laugh about those times in the future.  

I promise you.

You Make Friends for Life

The best memories are shared memories.  

When you travel young, you make connections from all over the world.  These shared experiences can create lifelong bonds.  It could be something as simple as sharing a bus with someone, a late-night game of pool in a bar somewhere, or a dorm buddy in a hostel.  

You never know who you will meet in the most random of places.

You realise quickly, that we are all similar.  It doesn’t matter where you come from.  

I have friends now from dozens of countries around the world.  We don’t talk all the time or even at all, but the different experiences we shared, will connect us forever.

Travellers chase memories.  The pursuit of those is an incredibly powerful bonding experience.  

By travelling young, you create an awesome opportunity to make lifelong connections with people all over the world.

You Will Probably Be Fit

If you decide to travel in your twenties, or even thirties, you will have the advantage of seeing the world when you are in as good a shape as you will ever be.

Having the stamina to climb mountains, hike trails and have the energy to stay up partying into the night and get back on the road the following morning does not come as easy when you get older.

When you are younger, this type of stamina comes easy.  It is so much fun.  I still love an adventure, but as an older traveller these days, I prefer a quiet book or watching the world go by from a cafe or bar. 

When you are young, use that energy and enthusiasm to make the most of your travel experiences.  It does not last forever!

Travel Makes You a Storyteller (and more interesting)

Do your ears perk up when you are in a travel conversation when someone starts a sentence with ‘I remember a time when’?

I know I do.  

When someone says those words, something interesting usually comes next.  As you gather travel experiences throughout your life, every experience comes with a unique story.  

Your story.

You will find yourself in a position at times where it is appropriate to share your story. Your travel stories become knowledge.  

By sharing that knowledge, you become the storyteller and whether you like it or not, you become a more interesting person. These stories come to shape us, our personalities and our character.

By sharing your stories, you can inspire and help people.  Your stories can sometimes give others the confidence to go out and chase their dreams.  That was the reason I wrote my book, ‘Twenty’.

So go forth, travel abroad and create your own travel stories while you are young instead of always being part of the ‘next year’ crowd.

Next year is not guaranteed to happen.

No Regrets

Having no regrets has probably been the most motivating and influential two words in my life.

Nearly every travel experience I have had went through the ‘No Regrets’ filter. And you know what? I don’t recall a single experience I regretted doing to any significant degree.  

It did not mean I particularly enjoyed everything I did, but at least I knew one way or the other.

The opposite of ‘No Regrets’ is the dreaded ‘What-if?’ scenario.  

The emotional strain of the ‘What if?’ scenario is hell compared to regretting not knowing at all.

I know what bus I would rather be on.  What about you?  How will you live your life? Are you part of the next-year crowd?  Or will you make life happen for you and follow your travel dreams?

The one thing I know for sure is that time doesn’t stop.  So get planning and get out in the world.  The world is safe for travel again.

As 2020 proved, we don’t know what is around the corner.

Now it is over to you.

If you have been lucky enough to have travelled when you were young, what did you learn?  How has it shaped you today?

Let me know in the comments.