Why I Wish I Traveled Long Term In My 20’s (and 9 Reasons You Should)..

By Posted in - Big Trip & Budget Travel & Featured Post & Personal & Published & Travel Resources on November 24th, 2010

In an effort to catch up on some of my published articles I am posting what became a pretty popular article over at Emily’s website – Maiden-Voyage-Travel.com a few months ago.

Emily’s website is geared more towards the 20 something traveler and even though I am in my 30’s I had a great piece that I wanted to write about. I had been thinking about it for quite sometime and was going to post it on my site before the opportunity came up with Emily. It was meant to be a humorous and funny post and I wrote it with a bit of dry humor in hopes that people would giggle a bit as they read it.

Not everyone who commented agreed with it or saw the humor in it but everyone left excellent comments and I was really happy with how it turned out. Plus from the people who left comments I was able to find a fantastic selection of new blogs to follow!

You can take a look at the screen shot below but if you want to see the article (and corresponding comments) then you can visit Emily’s fantastic website – Maiden-Voyage-Travel.com

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*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!

(20) awesome folk have had something to say...

  • Emily -

    November 24, 2010 at 7:13 am

    Thanks so much for blogging about this, Bethany! I’m happy that you were able to write that for me–it was a hit!

    • Bethany -

      November 24, 2010 at 8:31 am

      No problem Emily – sorry it took me so long to get it up here! @Emily,

  • ayngelina -

    November 24, 2010 at 9:18 am

    I commented on that post and wanted to comment here as well. It’s no better or worse, just different. I rarely self-promote on comments but thought this post was relevant:

    My first long-term travel was at 23 and this year at 33 I started a RTW and started to see the difference in how travel changed me:

    http://www.baconismagic.ca/nicaragua/the-difference-ten-years-makes/

    Hope you enjoy.

    • bethany -

      November 24, 2010 at 12:35 pm

      Thanks for including the link Ayngelina! I think you’re right – it’s not really better or worse, just different. @ayngelina,

  • Anthony Baldman -

    November 24, 2010 at 10:04 am

    Wow, what a great post Beth! I feel I should have traveled in my 20s too. Now, at 34 with a mortgage it doesn’t seem practical. At least I don’t have or WANT kids so I have that in my favor. Very interesting about the frontal lobe, had no idea.

    • Bethany -

      November 25, 2010 at 10:35 pm

      haha… oh yes, the frontal lobe – I least I know now there is a reason though! @Anthony Baldman,

  • GlobetrotterGirls -

    November 24, 2010 at 10:40 am

    Amen! This is a hilarious post to read, mostly because it’s right on the money. I have done both, 20s and 30s travel, and the one thing I notice more than anything else is the not-being-able-to-hang factor. I am tired earlier, love to go to sleep, and, like you, no longer enjoy a buzzing hostel if it infringes on my sleep time. And hangovers are a bitch, that is for sure! However, I would recommend people travel in their 20s and 30s, because they are two really different ways of seeing things. When I was in my 20s it was all about making friends, partying, and secondarily, learning about the culture. Now I find I have much more of an interest in each country and culture and am learning much more about the world. Ho hum, I know, that’s so thirty of me 🙂

    Jess, from the Globetrottergirls

    • Bethany -

      November 24, 2010 at 12:37 pm

      Hi Jess – Thanks for commenting! Yes, priorities def. change as you get older. It’s good you got to experience two different ways to travel! 🙂
      @GlobetrotterGirls,

  • Gillian -

    November 25, 2010 at 7:13 am

    Different, for sure. Better…I don’t know. I wish I had traveled in my 20’s AND my 40’s…but I didn’t grow the balls until later. My trip was fabulous but would have been much different twenty years ago. Better late than never, right?

    • Bethany -

      November 25, 2010 at 6:32 pm

      hahaha… I totally agree, better late than never!@Gillian,

  • Brooke vs. the World -

    November 29, 2010 at 12:09 am

    I’m late to the party as usual, but that is a great post. I really am happy that I started traveling when I did, but I am starting to feel my 30s approaching and I’m getting the “omg I need to go now” itch. Damn you, frontal lobe.

    • Bethany -

      November 29, 2010 at 11:47 pm

      haha… yeah that frontal lobe is so horrible! I was told that’s why when you rent a car it costs more if you are under 25! funny huh? @Brooke vs. the World,

  • Why I’ll never have a job! -

    November 29, 2010 at 3:41 am

    […] by the American Dream. Sleepwalkers. They’re the ones that are going to wake up in 50-years living with regret and wonder why they made the choices they […]

  • Lindsey -

    December 1, 2010 at 10:49 am

    So I’m a 22-year-old college grad from an expensive university where loans will own my soul for the next 20 years. This post was an in-your-face moment. I have traveled very little, but what I have done I have become desperately addicted to. Every waking moment of my life has since been sucked through this vortex of ‘Where am I going next?’ ‘How can I save up enough?’ and ‘Why is there so much stopping me?’ So you can imagine how taken aback I was at how absolutely SPOT ON this was. Of course youth and money do not go hand in hand. Of course the adults and friends in life will disapprove (be it from simple logistics or just plain jealousy).

    I am a careful person. I don’t know how developed my frontal lobe may be, but I know what a reasonable choice is and what a death wish feels like. I do not jump in head first, eyes closed. And yet, THAT IS THE POINT. To jump! To scare yourself. You’re right-people my age will never have as much freedom as they do now. Having recently come out of a long-term relationship, it is easier for me to see now that life exists for us to do what makes us happy. That and nothing else.

    Anyways, I am bookmarking this to reread anytime I start feeling too safe and obedient to pursue my wanderlust. This was a wake-up call. Every 20-something should read this. Thank you 🙂

    • Bethany -

      December 1, 2010 at 5:45 pm

      Thank you so much Lindsey for your thoughtful comment. I am so glad that you liked it but more over I am so glad that it inspires you. Go out and go for it. Everything works out in the end and ultimatelyyou never know where it will lead you. Let me know if you go! Thanks again for commenting. It was a comment that really warmed my heart! 🙂 “#comment-3571″>@Lindsey,

  • Kaylin -

    December 21, 2010 at 10:25 am

    I’m a bit late but I just found this via twitter yesterday.
    I’m 22 and dying to do some serious travel. However, I am from a small town in the US South, and most of the people I know think I’m really weird for wanting to leave this area and not stay here forever, get married and have babies. Or, they are scared for me (that last one would mostly be my mother). I took a short (2 week) solo trip to Europe a few months ago and LOVED it. I’ve traveled to other places as well (some more in Europe, and to Fiji) but they were study abroad type trips with other people. Right now, I really have my heart set on moving to Korea next year to teach English. I have only told a couple of my good friends and, while supportive, they still try to keep it real and tell me that it’s not the sanest thing to do to move to a country where you don’t speak the language and don’t know anyone, for an entire year. Which, well, fair enough. But I feel like I would regret it more if I didn’t do it and never knew, than if I did do it and didn’t like it.

    • Bethany -

      December 23, 2010 at 12:20 am

      Thanks for commenting Kaylin. I think you answered your doubts yourself – “I feel like I would regret it more if I didn’t do it and never knew, than if I did do it and didn’t like it.” Go! Have fun, live a crazy adventure. The worst thing is that you don’t like, you come back and things will be pretty much the same way they are now. But at least you will have tried. However, you might LOVE it and change your entire life. I am from a small town too and I understand it is tough to believe in your own ideas when other people doubt them – but you need to just go and do it and experience it for yourself! I’m looking to teach english next year too – maybe i’ll see you there! @Kaylin,

  • Ann -

    May 15, 2011 at 6:41 pm

    I don’t think I can agree much with the list, personally. I’m only in my mid 20s and I can’t eat anything and get away with it. I hate drinking. Sleeping with random hot people you meet seems like a great way to get some kind of STD. Maybe I’m just boring I dunno, but I want to travel to see the sights and the far corners of the remote earth, not abuse myself.

    • Bethany -

      May 19, 2011 at 8:38 am

      Thanks for commenting Ann. The article was supposed to be light hearted and humorous but thank you so much for leaving your comment. I appreciate your opinion – In my 20’s I was similar to you. 🙂 @Ann,

  • Kae Lani -

    February 22, 2012 at 8:57 pm

    Agreed! I feel like I had the same fears at the beginning too – but I started drifting at 20. Now 2 years later, I’m drifting strong, have friends in strange places, and developing skills that kids my age haven’t even had to think about.

    Beers and Beans is a great title, too. Makes me hungry for BBQs 😉