Many of us have grown up with dreams of seeing the world, experiencing different cultures, and meeting lots of people! Somehow, however, we get sidetracked by life and can often end up sacrificing our dreams in the pursuit of the mundane.
Here are six of my main reasons for making the change and getting out there:
You can afford it!
We often use money, or lack of, as a reason not to travel. As with anything, the cost of travel can vary hugely, depending on how you do it! If you look to go to places where you can leverage a talent, hobby, or skill or even where there is local employed work you can earn enough money to cover your expense whilst still having enough free time to enjoy yourself.
Chalet Staff and Tourist Reps are perfect examples of how this can be achieved.
Travel can often BROADEN your career prospects, rather than just losing you time.
Another concern that people often voice is that they are in the middle of an important project, or a couple of months away from that promotion. Often employers will support a career break in order to pursue a dream or grow as an individual. If they don't, then it's their loss that they don't want a better-travelled, more worldly version of yourself when you return.
You can always come back home.
When I tell people I am leaving my job and home to go travelling, the first response I get is "What if it doesn't work out." Then I'll come home. The point to remember is that you aren't going travelling to have a regimented experience guaranteed to be easy and vanilla. You're going travelling to challenge yourself, learn about yourself, and teach yourself not to be afraid of the unknown.
It's important to think of the risks associated with striking out into the unknown, but allowing that fear to take over can ruin everything.
You will meet new people.
Travelling is a brilliant way to meet new people, learn languages, share cultures, and just generally broaden your human experience! When we meet people from different cultures, we open our minds to different ways of living and banish ignorant stereotypes. Serial travellers will often have a strange mix-up of their personal habits and culture that often incorporates the best bits from around the world.
Meeting new people is one of the quickest ways to learn new things and broaden your horizons, and the fastest way to meet new people is to travel.
See the sights.
There are some truly breathtaking sights to be seen. Whether it's natural and geographical attractions such as the Grand Canyon or the Northern Lights or feats of engineering including the Golden Gate Bridge or the Taj Mahal, your eyes will gorge themselves!
I will never forget the first time I saw a giant golden Buddha in Thailand. At first, it didn't even make sense as it was so far out of the ordinary I couldn't quite wrap my head around it!
Nothing lasts forever and The World won't wait for you to see it.
It's crazy, and sad, to think of all the Wonders of The World across history and to think about how many people missed their chance to see them. The world is a constantly changing place. One year, Egypt is a brilliant tourist hotspot and the next, civilians are being killed in the street in peaceful protests. Iran was once an international hub and link to the West, and now you can't go anywhere without being under the watchful eye of a guide.
This earth is not permanent, and neither are the lives or cultures existing on it. Grab your opportunity to see as much as possible.
So, with that said, where are you going first?
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