Fuck it, Let’s go

Growing up I didn’t travel a lot, to be honest. As I approached my teenage years, the odd family trip was becoming a chore, something that I had to do for the sake of others. They may have been fun, but somewhere, I realized that travelling, to me, was not going to a place and staying for 10 days and visiting all the tourist places that the guide books would say were ‘must-see’.

I dreamed of seeing places that not many people would go to. Unseen places, waterfalls, and the roads off the beaten path. With the wanderlust gene coming into full force in the last years of my teenage, I was restless and eager to be footloose. And then, one day, I said. “Fuck it, let’s go.”

Young travelers are redefining the term travel and the meaning of it. Typical vacations are being foregone for long and meaningful experiences.

According to the Atlantic, a report by the Boston consulting group reveals that the millennial generation – those between the ages of 16 and 34 (With few exceptions) are the ones most likely to travel. A 20% of all international tourists are young people. Young travelers are redefining the term travel and the meaning of it. Typical long holidays in Greece and its Islands or on the snow-clad Alps of Switzerland are being foregone for long and meaningful experiences. Millennials are redefining the meaning of travel.

For years, I’ve been trying to get my footloose soul travel more than ever. But things like university, jobs, and financial concerns got in the way.

“Get a job, save enough money, make your future secure. You can travel after you retire is what any responsible person would say. But why then? Why not now? Why not travel when you feel like it, instead of waiting for the future to come. A future that is not guaranteed, and not likely to pan out the way you planned it in your head.

Does it not make sense that you focus on the here and now, then putting your dreams and thoughts on hold for an uncertain then and there?

I feel like I’ve waited around long enough, and it is pointless to wait anymore. With recession, increasing living costs and hard to find jobs that demands skills from young professionals that would make any young graduate feel under qualified, why wait? Waiting brings stress, tensions and unhappy thoughts. Why wait for something that you think will happen, when you can make something that you want, happen, especially when travelling has benefits that contribute to your overall happiness and success. It makes no sense to wait when you can start.

So why should you say Fuck it, and just go?

Travel is often used as a break, and it helps one to re-focus, and obtain clarity in their thinking. Travelling throws you out of your comfort zone which can help you in dealing with difficult situations. It changes the way you relate to others. It makes you realize that other people are the same just as you or me. Cultural shock is a valuable experience that places you into someone else’s comfort zone and out of yours. It becomes easier to relate to different people.

You become a much more emphatic, smarter and better person. Seeing is believing. The more you travel, the more you realize how little you know. Travel pushes your education. It is more fun to see the Maginot line in France, or the Beaches of Normandy to understand and realize the importance of history than reading it in a text book. It makes the brain come alive, and remember things long after they are seen and cast away. Everything is new, and we learn and explore like we did when we were children.

Traveling is a humbling experience. The more you travel, the more you realize how little you know about the world and about life itself. Suddenly, your daily worries and complaints seem minuscule and small. You learn to put things into perspective, and understand what is worth being upset or worried over, and what is better to just let go.

Focus on substance rather than style in spending and travel choices.

Travelling when young is important. Life has no guarantee. It is impossible to say when your ticket will expire, or when there will finally be the ‘right time’. Travel is not something that should be kept in a bucket list. If you are footloose, hit the road. Wander. Explore, dream and discover. Take the road less travelled, see where you end up. Take your soul everywhere, and come back.

Sources: travelagewest.com theguardian.com

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