Many travellers reminisce on past experiences.
Travel experiences are often some of our most vivid memories. The people we meet, the places we see. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.
There are also people out there who have regretted not taking their opportunities to travel at different times. People who said no when they wish they said the opposite.
It’s not too late to say yes.
In this article, I explain why we should all embrace the travel opportunities that come our way and not leave our future memories to chance.
Solo Travel at Nineteen
Catching my first glimpses of the familiar city below me, the big flying bird I was in breached the grey clouds.
As I pressed my face against the glass of the plane window, a sense of deja-vu came over me. I had never been to the city below in person, but it was a scene I had seen hundreds of times before, thanks to the wonders of film and television.
The winding river, the terraced houses and the unmistakable gloom were all familiar.
It felt like I was staring at the iconic opening titles of the BBC TV show, Eastenders. The iconic piano riff of the show’s theme tune went through my head, and I couldn’t help but break into a big smile. My big adventure finally felt real.
“Hello, London. Nice to see you.”
I had grown up with a perspective of London and the UK mainly inspired by music and film. James Bond movies and Chariots of Fire inspired me on the big screen. The hilarious comedy of the Young Ones and Only Fools and Horses had me laughing at the raucous British humour on the small screen.
The music though, the music. Oasis, Supergrass, Radiohead were all some of my favourite bands. They were all so distinctly British. I connected with them all in some way as many of my friends were into American television and music. I felt a bit alternative in a way.
When my pimply face pressed up against the window glass, I saw nothing but opportunity.
“I only saw the promise of adventures, new friends and experiences. Not for a second did I think of what could go wrong. Not for a second did I think I would be out of my depth.”
As a nineteen and a-quarter-year-old, the world was still an innocent place to me. A place where people would be friendly. A place where young people are celebrated. At the time, the world of being a responsible adult seemed far, far away.
Was this naive? Sure was. Was I anxious? No way. I was excited.
Because by jumping off the cliff as I was (not that I knew it at the time), I would grow my wings on the way down.
Travel is an Attitude
Leaving my mother in tears at the airport, I wondered what all the fuss was about. I said my goodbyes and didn’t look back.
There was no fear. Only excitement.
When we are young, we chase our dreams and things that excite us. Often the default response to travel opportunity is one of unbridled optimism. That attitude, my friends, gives you some of the most memorable travel experiences you will ever have.
When and why does this attitude change?
Why does that sense of positivity and optimism leave us as we get older? As we age through our twenties, thirties and beyond, many of us seem to actively find reasons to do exactly the opposite of what deep inside of us, we want to do.
“We make excuses, usually on the unlikeliest of ‘What-If’ scenarios. Scenarios that won’t, or are at the least, very unlikely to happen.”
So, where does that leave us? It leaves us in the same place. You don’t grow or develop as a person when you don’t try new things. Even worse, you can be left with something worse – regret.
Many of us, consciously or not, use these excuses not to take opportunities – to not take calculated risks. Even small ones. We err on the side of caution. Stay in our lane.
Sure, we’ve all been burnt at different times by different circumstances. We are still here though, battling on and hopefully learned something from what happened.
Bad relationships, missed flights, bedbugs in dodgy hostels. We’ve all gone through crap at different times. The irony is that for every bit of difficulty I have experienced on my travels and at home, I can smile a bit about it now.
The paradox is that we have often come out of those circumstances in better shape than we were before to some degree. You learn from those experiences.
“As you move forward and almost every day, opportunities present themselves.”
Sometimes they smack you in the face.
On other occasions, they are more subtle. Occasionally, opportunities can be life-changing immediately. At other times, they might only teach you something small or plant a seed that gives you something to think about.
The path ahead is infinitely more exciting by trying new experiences and making the most of every opportunity.
Opportunity is what put me on the plane to London.
Take Opportunities
For some, new experiences and lifestyles are not even a consideration anymore.
They are set in their ways. You can probably think of more than a couple of these folk.
It’s not to say they never will, but it does take more effort than most because many of these people aren’t even aware of it.
I knew people equally as opportunistic as I was when I went to London. People who were as excited as me about the world and what they could discover.
Then something changed.
Their lives led them down a path where now they are a shadow of the person they once were. What can happen to change those very people into who they are now? It didn’t happen overnight.
“The longer you say no to things, the harder it becomes to say yes to something new.”
This cycle affected me for nearly a decade. It was only when I came out the other side did I understand how it works. I’ve got scars from that time, a lot of them.
Many are still healing.
My outlook looks forward now, my eyes open to opportunity. I rarely look in the rearview mirror anymore. If I do, the life-changing experiences that travelling has given me stands above everything. Why? Because the things I have experienced on the road have made me the man I can look proudly into the mirror every morning.
“Many of those stories and experiences were born of naivety. Of going with the flow and seeing where the journey would take me.”
Saying ‘Yes’ more.
It wasn’t like that when I left New Zealand the first time. I was fresh out of school with little more than a pimple for a scar. My story was one yet to be written.
Being Anonymous
It’s easy to be anonymous in London.
People would ask me my age constantly and look at me with a sense of disbelief, yet with a big smile when I said I was nineteen. I looked a lot younger.
I would always nod and smile but silently wonder what the fuss was about. Isn’t this what everyone did?
“While I embraced and loved life in the local community in West London, I also loved to explore London on my own.”
Every so often, I went into pubs on my own, pull up a stool at the bar and chat with the barman and other patrons where my foreign accent would often be a conversation point.
No matter where I was, I’d usually end up chatting with random strangers, from all walks of life. Making friends, meeting girls. I felt like I was anonymous but also more genuine. More genuine than I had ever been. I was an open book. A book with pages written every day thanks to new life experiences.
“Not for a second did I think the barman would be trying to rip me off. I never thought the couple of tattooed guys I played pool against would do me over either. Were they bad people? Maybe, who knows.”
The other way of looking at it is that maybe my genuineness and naivety were the reason people left me alone.
At the time, the universal language of a smile and banter only created positive experiences. This happened time and time again.
All over the UK for years as I stretched my boundaries and embraced new experiences through meeting people.
Can You Travel Forever?
The question I often ask myself is ‘Would I do this now?’
The answer is an absolute yes. How do I know that? Because I still would. Why? Because travellers continue to chase new experiences. It makes you feel alive.
Do I see threats or reasons not to do things? Sure I do and I am sensible. I have the benefit of making decisions based on over forty years of experience now.
Without trying things, I would not have that experience to rely on.
“The thing that has never changed in that forty years is that people, wherever you go, are usually nice. No matter where you go.”
Some will talk and engage more than others. That’s fine. The ones who talk can be hard to keep quiet as they are excited to talk about their hometown, what to see and make food recommendations. More often than not, I make friends. Sometimes, only for an afternoon.
By saying ‘No’ to travel opportunities, we also say ‘No’ to so many other possibilities, including ‘No’ to new experiences.
New experiences at home take you out of your comfort zone to some degree but by taking travel opportunities, you can gain so much more.
The fact I chase those experiences decades on makes me a bit unique I suppose.
When camping for three months through Europe in 2019, I often found myself out and about, taking walks through old towns or up in the hills. I would cross paths with others, have a brief chat or even share a drink break. Sometimes only briefly, but long enough for me to have left with a memory.
Just like twenty years earlier.
The nineteen-year-old traveller I was in 1998, would gladly sit with the 43-year-old me now and share a pint. We aren’t that different. People aren’t that different either. People still love a laugh, curious and love a conversation despite technology providing barriers in the present day.
“If we all embrace our nineteen-year-old selves more, instead of the cautious, risk-averse older version of ourselves, our lives could be so much richer.”
Through naivety, I began a journey that led me to places I never thought possible.
Through seeking and taking advantage of an opportunity, my life changed for the better. Sometimes, we think about things too much. By saying yes to adventure, you erase possibly the emptiest of feelings. The dreaded ‘What-If’.
Through travel, through experiences, you all have the opportunity to continue your story or create a new one. You always have the opportunity to create your own narrative.
Sometimes, you need to get out of your comfort zone to write your story.
Make your story one you are proud of.
Now, it is your chance to share.
What opportunities has travel given you? Has it been the life-changing experience that I described above?
Let me know in the comments.
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