6 Reasons Why You Should Travel While You're Young
My first trip overseas was to Germany when I was 19. I am a firm believer people should travel young and travel often. There is so much in this world to learn, and travel is the greatest teacher.
Our brains are still developing well into our mid 20’s.
I remember watching an episode of “Gilmore Girls” where Rory was having a breakdown because she was nearing the end of her college degree and she had no idea what she was going to do next. She did not have a job lined up, she was feeling pressure to have a plan for the rest of her adult life, but she wasn’t even sure what she wanted out of life. It’s not a big surprise most people between the age of 18 and 26 (especially Americans) feel overwhelmed by the mere idea of ‘adult life’. People are still developing cognitively, how are they suppose to know exactly who they are or what they want out of life? Travel gives you space and time to ask yourself the hard questions. (Who am I? Do I want to be an accountant? Is the suburbia life with 2.5 kids right for me?) Travel also gives you an opportunity to learn to be independent, and how to depend on yourself.
The world is smaller than you think.
I was at the “Old Town Festival” in Trier, Germany and remember hearing English conversations. I stopped in the middle of the walkway and searched for that English speaking voice. Turns out there was a group of tourist from a neighboring suburb to my home town in Texas. There in Germany! At the same festival I was in! Halfway across the world! What a small world!
The experiences you get from traveling will impact you like nothing else.
Whether it is learning how to navigate pubic transportation in a foreign country, or trying to order food off a menu in Italian with a waitress that doesn’t speak English. Or the time you are invited to a strangers home for a Ramadan feast and learn a totally different meaning of hospitality. Or maybe standing in a overcrowded Jewish cemetery in Prague and feeling the weight of history staring at you. Every experience is a learning opportunity and is shaping you into the person you are becoming. I read a quote from Anthony Bourdain one time that has stuck with me ever since. “Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small, and in return, life-and travel- leaves marks on you.”
You learn there are other ways to do things.
An example would be light switches; some places put light switches on walls BEFORE you walk into a room. So unlike in America where we walk into dark rooms and grope walls trying to find a light switch so we can see, some places light up a room before they walk in. MIND BLOWING! Another example is trash/recycling. While staying in Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia, I learned that some communities compost their food waste. The home owner had left us a list and instructions for throwing away trash. Not only trash, but there were different bags for different kinds of trash. I had never been so stressed out trying to throw away a pizza box in the correct bin! Although it was stressful for a novice, I loved the ideology behind the complicated trash system, and it made me question the way we deal with waste in Texas.
The best way to appreciate history is to see it in person.
I read in a book, a brief history of Prague and the Czech Republic, how Prague was occupied by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. I didn’t fully understand the depth of this until I was standing in Wenceslas Square. A square that was originally built in 1348, and was center stage for so much history. It was like looking at a timeline of Prague’s history in the faces of their buildings, between the beautiful ornate buildings, and the dare I say, ugly gray square concrete buildings of the Soviet Era. Where the Nazis’s paraded during their occupation, then the Soviets, and where the Velvet Revolution all took place. It is an amazing experience to stand in one place that was witness to so much history.
You learn to appreciate ‘home’ and all that entails.
When you come back ‘home; you find yourself appreciating the smallest things. The size of your car, knowing how to operate a vending machine or knowing how to navigate a parking garage. The ease with which you find the light switches, or dispose of waste. Family dinners, holidays surrounded by loved ones.
There is nothing in this world like travel. Travel young and see what the world has to offer.
