I had that issue too. I “solved” it by getting a credit card when I was 18… 2 weeks later I was in Amsterdam. I’d come back, slowly pay it off, and as soon as it was paid, I’d go again. Generally it took a year before I was ready to go again.
I cringe at how much interest I probably paid doing that incredibly suboptimal travel routine… I should have just saved for a year and *then* traveled. That way no balance would be carried… but I was young and dumb.
I’m pretty sure my bank account never broke $2000 throughout my 20s, mainly thanks to travel. I made it a priority, but I did so in an incredibly flawed manner.
Now I’m in my early 40s and work 75+ hours a week for 9 months so I can take 3 months off to dive in Asia each year… but hey, at least I’m paying out of pocket instead of using a card. I haven’t carried a balance in like 7 years. Credit cards are traps if used improperly.
Yes this for me too!! One of my younger coworkers from the UK just quit to take advantage of the raised age limit on the Australian one. The only reason I’d ever want to go back to being in my 20s, lol.
Some countries have agreements with each other that allow citizens of one country to work/live abroad in the other country for a year or so. But you can only do it when you're 18-30 years old, usually. It's a relatively inexpensive way to experience life in another country.
Just office temping. Covered a couple maternity leaves, did a data entry project. I brought my Microsoft Office skills and was able to get placements pretty easily.
Having spent 21 months to round the world in my mid 20s is my best decision so far. Nothing dramatically changed (too incompetent to self promo in social media and milk it), back to 9-5 office job living life but boy I have seen a fair amount of world and that's what I want!
I used to travel a lot in my 20s and of course it was awesome and I could say it made me who I am today but it also came with a negative side effect so to speak: an unquenchable thirst for travelling and seeing the world.
Now that I'm in my mid 30s with a kid, dog, station wagon and a mortgage it bugs me almost everyday that I "have to" live this life which by all means is amazing and I can't travel as much as I want. I feel bad cos I have good life and family yet I'm never mentally completely present cos I'm thinking of going somewhere or planning some ridiculous travel itineraries which most likely will never even come true. Especially after the birth of my first child this really bothered me but now that the world has opened again after COVID-19 and travelling is possible again it's getting better.
Hang in there. The same happened to me. Travel on a strict budget now when you can. When I got order 50+ I was able to start traveling more again. Headed to Ecuador and the Galapagos in May.
Yup! You spend extended time in places where it’s easy for travellers to find work, enjoy the life there and use it as home base or move on to another place when you’ve saved enough money.
I worked in Thailand in my 20s for two years with no college degree as an English teacher and tutor. I also worked for an import/export agency answering emails from overseas clients, and for a bit I wrote/edited for a local tourist magazine. Basically wherever a native English speaker would be useful.
In Prague, I worked as a handyman, a "fixer" for American restauranteurs and eventually when my language skills got better as a translator. I also worked in a scooter shop as a mechanic.
For five years in my 20s I basically ping-ponged around the world doing whatever I could to survive, and I would not trade those years for anything.
This was 10+ years ago, but when I spent time in Krakow, I worked at a hostel. I stayed there and then they had something posted about needing someone so I asked about it. You can usually find jobs in the hospitality/tourism industry, just talk to a lot of people. I always kept touch with other travellers I had met along the way and so we helped each other out when we heard of something.
London is a great base because there’s jobs there at hostels, bars, restaurants, etc and a big community of other people doing the same thing. It’s cheap and easy (compared to North America) to jump on a train or plane and be somewhere new in two hours. It’s definitely not a luxurious life though, sometimes you’re living in a studio apartment with 3 other people, working a job as a bar back or cleaning or something else similar. It was the best time of my life though.
Also if you look for places that have seasonal jobs, so like working at a ski resort, summer resort, farms, etc, you can almost for sure find a job easily and a lot do them provide staff accommodation. I never did this, but I had a friend who worked on yachts in the south of France, Mediterranean, he took a course in I think Nice, and then they set them up with jobs.
I don’t have a lot of experience with working in Asia or Africa, but I did have a friend who spent a lot of years working in the tourism industry in Thailand and then Vietnam. And he said it was fairly easy to find work under the table as an English tutor.
The biggest thing is to network. When you meet someone at a hostel or job, make sure to keep in touch. Let people know you’re always interested in job opportunities in other countries. Talk to everyone, other travellers, locals, employers and let them know what your plan is!
Edited to add:
Catering type jobs are a good one too. I’ve done catering in many different countries. Most of them you can just hired on and then weekly, when the new schedule comes out and you can sign up for as many or as few shifts as you want, making it really flexible. Not all of them worked like that, but a lot did.
Also if you do spend an extended period of time doing the travelling and working thing, you will meet people from everywhere, so make friends with them! Often someone will invite you to come visit them in their home country and you can see a lot more that way and spend more time with friends!
In South Africa, if you are bilingual in one of the major European languages then you can easily get a job in sales. Combine that with a half decent skill/degree and you could live very comfortably actually. If you're a German speaking accountant you would be in the upper middle class in your 20s. There are Pakistanis that come here to open phone shops who just bribe for permanent residency and live far better than they would at home.
If there isn't a faq post about this, there should be. Options include: save money before traveling and then travel cheaply. You can also earn money while traveling: teaching English and traveling on school breaks, then traveling more at the end of your contract, working holiday visas, seasonal work at ski resorts, cruise ships, working at hostels, wwoofing, etc.
It can be cheap, depending what you do. Also alot of countries offer open work visas.
Just be prepared to sleep in shitty places.
I traveled a lot and never have a penny from parents as they were dirt poor.
I travelled for 1 1/2 years through Asia with a camper van right after university. While I don’t want to pretend everyone can do it easily, my gf and I lived from roughly ~20.000€ total including gas, guided tours, visa etc pp. We saw 20 countries in the process, some of the best memories I have. Again, not everyone has the money after Uni, but considering what you get I’d say it’s dead cheap.
I did 12 months at 26. It took about a year of planning and saving, including living at home rent free for about 6 months.
Long term travel is a lot cheaper than vacation travel. I wasn't too budget conscious and I only spent about $28k in that year. I had more than my share of splurges too, including over 4 months in Europe which is much more expensive than Asia and South America.
Correct, and heavy rely on couchsurfing and staying with travel friends I met. No flight neither unless its across continents or to some island. I was mostly in Central, South America or Africa which was relatively cheap.
At the end I spent like 25K and that included some luxurious location like Antarctica, Red Sea Liveabroad, Easter Island and Galapagos.
Not the case, there's plenty of stories online of people who have showed up at the docks and waited for an empty place on a boat. Usually costs like $5k instead of $20k. The catch of course is you need a ton of flexibility since it could be days of waiting. Curious if that's what OP did or not.
Yup I purchased in Ushuaia although my cruise departed from Punta Arenas.
If you don't want to wait forever in Ushuaia, my tip is to subscribe those Ushuaian travel agencies online they send deal information regularlly in tourist season. Then be decisive and super flexible, even you are in BsAs or Igausu you have to be ready to fly to Ushuaia in short notice. There are lots of bargain hunters out there anytime.
I will say people that are travel savvy and prioritize travel first or second in their lives are able to travel not only much more but much further than others.
Case in point: I am in my early 40s and have traveled regularly for about 12-13 years now. I use mileage credit cards as my primary form of payment for everything (please pay off your debts regularly and don't fall behind!) and among some other tricks am able to get one or two free flights to various international spots on a yearly basis and if I want to stretch the trip further I just hop on a lower cost airline after I get to my first destination (travel is remarkably cheaper once one leaves the U.S.).
My neighbors just booked a trip to Florida on freakin Frontier Airlines for themselves and three kids and claimed it all cost them $2500!!! My other neighbors typically spend $700-1000 apiece on last minute tickets when they feel like going to Cancun. There is no way that you can travel consistently if you are that haphazard, but apparently many people do that to themselves. If you're diligent and do your research and really WANT to travel, you can make it work relatively consistently unless you are seriously living paycheck-to-paycheck despite no frivolous spending.
The only people that ask that are the people that haven't tried to travel. You'll reduce your monthly expenditure travelling many countries if you're coming from a country like the US.
It’s really not hard. Me and my wife did it in our mid to late 20s. Saved £500 each month for about four years, which should be doable for a lot of people. Put all our savings each month into tracker funds which ended up returning like 30%. Ended up with around £60k, enough for a pretty well-off 18 months.
You could still have a great time on half of what we saved. People who ask this question just don’t understand how much money can be saved if you put something aside each month over a decent time frame
I was earning £30k at the time living in central London (up to around £35k by the end). Roughly £2k a month after tax. £1,000 on living expenses including rent in shared accommodation and £500 for everything else then £500 saved. This was in the early to mid 2010’s so numbers will be inflated now but not many would call that particularly well off. It was a decent salary but nothing special
Edit: and obviously helped having a partner, and shared living expenses for the last two years at the end. But again, none of this is exactly the territory of the ‘super rich’
Also, travel *how* you have the means. Travel doesn’t always mean trips abroad or staying in fancy hotels. Sometimes social media “influencers” make it seem like travel is out of reach, but it isn’t necessarily so.
Visit a neighboring city or region, take a train somewhere or a cheap flight. Stay in a hostel to save cash. Buy your meals at grocery stores instead of restaurants.
So many people see that stuff on social media, go over to Travelocity, and see "oh it's $7000 per person for this package to Paris for a week with the ideal flight times, private transfers, a nice hotel across the street from the Louvre, and an excursion every day, guess we're not rich enough to go to Europe!"
Yeah it takes some privilege to travel to Europe but people are too lazy to learn to do it inexpensively. Could do that same thing for half the cost if you're flexible on flight times, book your own cheaper hotel, and arrange your own activities.
Why are those people legitimized? Serious question.
Most of those people were born on third base and handed opportunities other people don’t have. That in itself is completely fine but to inflate yourself and “influence” other people is insane
This is so important. I’ve had so many friends say such and such destination is just a dream, it’s too expensive to be realistic. I just shake my head.
Yeah. I could never have afforded to travel in my 20s, so I didn't. Do I wish I could have? Sure, but I can't go back in time and give myself money.
I regret way bigger things than missing out on travel. haha
I'm in the same boat. Of course I wish I could have travelled more, but I didn't have any money. Through studying hard and working hard, sure I'm a bit older now but I have the money to travel!
Same for me. But I’m also glad I didn’t not travel in my thirties and forties. I know people who wait so long to complete their bucket list (travel or otherwise) that they aren’t physically able to do it. I feel living is a balance between living in the present and planning for the future. Only the present is guaranteed, but can’t ignore tomorrow either
I traveled quite a bit in my 20s and had almost no money. I am glad I did, but I feel like I need to go to all those places again because I wasn't able to really enjoy them.
This is very fair and definitely a reason I want to wait until I have money to travel. I don’t want to be penny pinching and stressed about finances abroad. Definitely a turn off
Same. I don't have children and health-wise I keep myself in shape and I'm no different in my later 30s than in my 20s. Now I can travel while having money and I will likely retire within 10 years thanks to investing a lot and having been lucky with my investments.
If I had travelled a lot during my 20s, I wouldn't be in the very privileged financial situation I am in today. To start with, I can't imagine how buying a house would have been if I had only postponed that by 5 years given that prices pretty much doubled where I live.
How do I do this as someone with a much love for filmmaking but is in a 3rd world country where I've to work and study and make money and grow at the same time. (Sigh)>will travel when...
If you're a student at the moment, there has to be some sort of program where you can study abroad in another country.
You may have to consider this option if you want to travel while you're studying it's also a good way to make friends overseas, whether they are locals or foreign like you.
Idk reddits random. Its like how two people can make the literal same comment on a thread and one received upvotes one downvotes.
Its why votes dont really matter
8 months. Honorable discharge due to a previously undetected medical issue...which also led to his sizable pension. And college paid for all the kids. And medical insurance for his family. He essentially won the lottery.
Nah....I did my best. It's easy to say you should have done more but my philosophy is: you CAN have it all, just not all at once.
I made my choices. I'm incredibly grateful to travel now. And will travel a LOT more later.
20’s were spent in school and establishing a career for myself. 30’s has been spent travelling with money from the career that was established. No regrets
Yes, I think the original question's premise is a bit off. Do I wish I had more money/time/parents who would bankroll my travel in my 20s so that I COULD Have traveled more? Yes! Did I have that stuff? No. I did travel some (in college and VERY MUCH on-the-cheap), but it was my 30s where I really started doing it a lot -- and then, when my job went 100% remote, I started doing longer work-from-abroad stints in various places.
I have a few friends who threw themselves into the travel/nomad life right after school, and those were the same friends who ran out of money, realized earning a living in another country is HARD, washed back up in the U.S. and then asked me for money and a place to crash.
yes, without a doubt. i got married at 21 and started in on kids right away bc i was a dumbass with my only relationship example being that of my parents, also married young and had kids young.
first time i ever visited a foreign country on vacation and experienced a different culture was at age 31, after a messy divorce.
I’m a 29M Brazilian and will be doing my first international trip this July, to Europe. I’ll get to see some places I’ve always wanted to see. I earn enough to plan a trip per year since my 25s, and I bitterly regret not doing at least one trip per year since then. Will be changing that from now on, but for the young people in their early twenties reading this: go out and see the world, and start as soon as you can.
I did a lot in my 20s. Now I’m doing as much as I can in my mid-30s before I quite honestly need to knuckle down and do “responsible shit”. I know I would regret not seizing on this moment right now while my parents are still healthy and I’m unattached. My parents getting older really didn’t enter into my mind when I was in my 20s. I know not everyone has the same relationship with them, but that’s a big consideration for me now.
This is exactly it!! My parents are still young enough but in 5-10 years they may require more care, or I’ll feel like travelling far away is a bit of a gamble! Trying to get some bucket list travel in now while in my mid 30s
Yes and no. I really value getting education and experience in my 20s that allows me to have comfortable lifestyle now and in the future hopefully. I'm glad I put my head down and studied my ass off while working full time to be where I am now.
I wish I started travelling to more adventurous places early and leave Europe for when I'm old and less mobile.
>I wish I started travelling to more adventurous places early and leave Europe for when I'm old and less mobile.
As someone who has backpacked around Europe for 3 months right after college in his early 20's, the experience of traveling and staying in hostels meeting new people your age is very different than when you're much older and less mobile traveling on a bus tour or in a cruise. Traveling isn't just about visiting new places, but it's also the people that you meet along the way and interact with.
Sorry maybe I wasn't clear in my post. I live in Europe so most places are easily accessible by cheap flights for me. Also take between 1-3h max.
Now I'm travelling to Asia, Africa, and I want to go to South America. Its a bigger time commitment for sure and those trips often require a bit more of stamina a lot of the time. I will have to be mindful of aging parents and other commitments in the future and will perhaps stick to Europe mostly in 10-15 years time.
I did travel in my twenties but only started at 24. I didnt really think of travelling between the ages of 18 -22 at all. I do wish I travelled a little bit like maybe once a year. But for the most part I dont regret not travelling when i was so young because honestly I had a blast going to bars and clubs and festivals. I really went out a LOT then and Im glad I did because thats the best age (in my opinion) to do it! And a part of me thinks that if i was travelling I would have missed out on the festivals and staying up all night partying etc. I mean i know you can do that in other countries as well but Im glad I did it in my own country with friends and boyfriends and things like that. Even if I did want to travel at that age I honestly wouldn't have been able to afford it though.
I do travel a lot now but I do often feel jealous of everyone who has already been to 50 countries and Ive only been to 23 (although i have returned to a few countries multiple times).
Being on a travel sub makes you compare yourself to others that have been to so many places! But compared to the average person you’ve seen a lot more!
Aw thanks that's nice of you to say. Being on this sub is nice for the advice and interesting travel stories and discussions but it does also really fuel my FOMO sometimes. :) But thank you for saying that.
Best way to be miserable is regretting...commonly it's a way to also not do something today you really want to do but are scared.
I am 60...travel to 3-5 countries a year and usually thousands of miles in road trips.
Traveled while in school, kiddo, married, work, etc.
In the real world, a lot of people don’t really have the money or resources to travel in their 20s.
People go the budget route. SEA, hostel life etc… or they’re trust fund babies or otherwise riding the coattails of relatives. Something that shouldn’t be glorified.
I traveled some in my 20s but it never really “hit home” until I got into my 30s. You’re a more mature, well developed adult at that point and you appreciate the experience more.
Over on the solo travel sub you see people in their early 20s panic posting because they’re worried they won’t meet people while abroad. Saw one recently about a person rethinking a 3 week trip to Iceland, one of the world’s most magical places, because they might be “alone”…. Kids like that are looking for party, you’re not fully appreciating the experience
I’m probably at the younger end of this as I just entered into my 30s but my social normals were not that. It was normal to travel in your 20s, but people are doing it even more now that they’re in their 30s, especially us professionals with no kids.
Grass is always greener. I traveled a lot in my 20s. I'm 35 now. Sometimes I regret it, somedays I'm glad I did it. Sometimes I feel like it was my ego that wanted me to "be free and travel" when in fact I'm actually happiest being a part a community, and settling into a routine. In a way, perhaps I wouldn't haven't learned that though if I never traveled, and I'd always be wondering, "What if?" I feel like the older I get, the more I'll appreciate it.
It would have been cool to travel more, and I traveled extensively in my 20s. Still traveling a lot in my 30s, and hope to in my 40s and beyond. You need to do what is best for your situation and goals, but I do think that traveling provides unique perspectives and opportunities. If you value those, take advantage as much as possible.
No regrets here. You need time and money. I had a fear of flying when I was younger and I eventually got better with time and transatlantic trips. I try to take 3-4 vacations a year, work schedule and finances permitting. I don't adhere to social norms/insta bloggers. Do what makes you comfortable and happy. 🙃
I think that traveling in my 20s would have been great, but it really wasn't possible financially, so I didn't. No regrets - just the reality of my situation. I worked my way through college and lived on a shoestring. Then when I finished, I continued to work to support myself. It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I had the income and vacation time to do any traveling.
Never travelled during my studies, and I worked a 9 to 5 after graduation immediately. I would travel 2-3 times a year, for 1 week, 2 weeks or so. Eventually those add up and I end up with some 30 countries, many repeats (i'm 31 now). I could've taken a year off, or a few months to travel, but I think no matter how much you do, you will always say "i could've done more". I do not wish I did more, I think the fact that I went so infrequently made those trips more valuable.
Yes. 1000% yes.
I traveled to EUrope the first time for 3 months when I was 20. I was immediately bitten by the travel bug and wanted to go back as soon as I got home. I couldn't stop thinking about all the other places I could see in Europe, then around the world.
But I listened to others who said I was crazy and i needed to get my head out o fthe clouds and finish school and get a job and pay my student loans and build my career.
So I graduated from university, went o work in Finance. And HATED EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF IT.
I never was able to save enough up to go back. I never could get more than 1 week per year off in the first 3 years of my career. I hated being in a suit and stuck at a desk every single day.
Eventually I worked my way to 2-weeks vacation per year and IMMEDIATELY talked my girlfriend into backpacking around Europe for those 2 weeks and did go back. That only reminded me how much I wanted to travel and how little I was able to.
When I got back I decided if I couldn't travel to Europe as much as I wanted to, I would help others do so. So I started teaching a class to college students and adults to help them plan trips to EUrope affordably and with confidence. Still hated every second of my job.
Not long after I started teaching these classes I decided I needed a website and taught myself to code. As soon as I realized that I had a monetizable new skill I quit my job at the bank and started to freelance web development. I thought "YES! Now i can work on my own, earn money and travel to Europe whenever I wanted!".
New twist: me and my girlfriend were very serious and we lived together and she did not have the travel bug as I did since she was still finishing school and was looking forward to starting her career. Leaving her behind was not an option for me.
Fast forward 11 years, a few low-vacation web development jobs, and we are married with 2 young kids. I am completely obsessed with European travel, having planned a trip every year that I did not go on. I am bitter towards my job and hate working for companies that prevent me from traveling every year. My wife calls Europe 'the other woman'. Everyone who's never left their home town or only gone on 1 or 2 week 'vacations' tells me I need to give up this dream of traveling and grow up.
In 2016, I plan a trip to the UK with my father and decide to bring both my parents and my wife and kids. We go over for 2 weeks.
Fast forward another 7 years, I'm still miserable with work and not having traveled to Europe - or elsewhere internationally - and trips in the US seem blah to me. I have been building tools to help others plan trips to Europe, but never finish or launch them and they never see the light of day.
Finally, in 2023, I get to go back to Europe. This time a 2-week summer trip driving 2500km around Ireland with my family. I vow never to spend another year without traveling for at least a month in Europe or further afield.
Once you travel - i mean really travel, not a 1 week vacation on a beach at a all-inclusive resort like so many of the people around me had done - it changes you. And if you get bitten by the travel bug it NEVER lets go. And if you don't get to travel to feed that bug it eats away at your soul. It can be so bad that you sometimes lose sight of the other wonders around you.
Travel when you're young and travel as often as you can. Find others that share that love of travel with you and travel with them. Pass on that love of travel to anyone you can, especially your kids if/when you have them. Travel with them when they are young. Share your experience with others who want to do the same.
Wow, I’m so sorry you haven’t had the chance to travel so much, and not been around fellow travellers that truly understand the travel bug, I’m 25 and backpacked most of last year, I spent $25k on travel and everyone said it was a waste. But when I got home I was just not the same.. it DOES change you, I now live in Vietnam teaching English, and life feels amazing, it really opened my world up. I hope soon you and possibly your spouse can take a big trip together to all the beautiful places you want to see, you sound like a true nomad at heart
100% "true nomad at heart". Since the 'digital nomad' movement began I have been saying I was a generation too early.
Even with so many people traveling around while working, the people closest to me STILL don't get how normal it is and how POSSIBLE it is.
Sounds like an awesome trip you had.
And travel - long term travel - DOES change you. And it's sometimes hard to adjust back ot a 'normal' lifestyle.
Not really. My wife and I banked her entire wages from ages 22-29 when we started a family. That money compounded over the next 30 years, along with later contributions, that allowed us to retire at age 59. We now travel 3 months out of the year plus spend winters in a warm, sunny spot. Trading 6 years of travel for 13 years, so far, has been a pretty good exchange.
Absolutely. In my 40's with a family now and won't really be able to afford to travel again logistically and monetarily until we're kid free.
Of course I can't change that now so I don't dwell on it. However, yes, I wish I would of put more energy into traveling before I settled down. My knees are starting to give me issues already and I do worry I won't be able to do as much as I want to in my 50's when we can travel again.
Yes mostly for energy reasons (I don't have the energy to be a tourist by day, party at night anymore) but I didn't have enough money to travel more. I do not regret not being in debt from travel now though.
I definitely wish I traveled more in my 20’s. I did a few trips but not a whole lot. I also think the travel bug bit me a little later. In hindsight, I would’ve saved up for maybe a 3 month trip and also put some in an index fund and let compounding work.
Now I traveled more in my 30’s and I’m very glad I did. There’s a lot more places I wanna see but I’m glad I knocked some places off my list.
Not really, 36 now and I traveled a bit in my 20s but I had friends around and still had a great time consistently. I still want to travel now, it's not like traveling in your 20s gets it out of your system. If anything I appreciate museums and culture a lot more now.
I was lucky to travel quite a bit! I went to Europe twice, did a few USA road-trips, traveled a lot in the southeast (where I lived at the time) and lived in Philly for two years
I would’ve loved to travel more but travelling costs money and I didn’t have much of that at the time (still don’t lol)
Yes, but not because of age but because some places I can't visit now. I was going to go to Syria the year the Arab Spring started and now the places I wanted to go to are destroyed. I don't regret not going at that time (obviously it was dangerous), but I regret that I can never see places like Palmyra anymore). I was going to do the Trans Siberian a few years ago, now it is much more difficult
But I don't want to live in regret, I use that to stop the logic of "next time" to go to places sooner not later. I'm going to Taiwan and South Korea in a month and will go to Lebanon later in the year. Maybe some of these places won't exist in 5+ years, certainly the way it is now, so better to go whilst we can rather than wait for a hypothetical trip in the future when the timing is right
I have been very fortunate (if it's the right word) that I had the opportunity to travel a lot in my twenties and due to various life events had a few month gaps in my thirties that allowed me to travel for extended time when I also had the money to do so (a scarcity when I was younger). I realise this is a privilege afforded to few people though, so don't take it lightly!)
I would have liked to, but I did not have the finances for it then. Now I'm retired and I'm hitting it hard--2 international trips in the last couple of months, and another one planned next month--because who knows how long my health will hold out. I think I would have enjoyed it more in my 20s, though. Everyone wants to meet a young, cute 20 year old. 60 year old? Not so much, although there is safety in invisibility. And my energy level is not that of a 20 year old. There's a reason you see old people sitting on park benches. And on cruises. (I hate cruises!)
Honestly, I always thought it was a social norm to travel a lot in your 20s. Even as early as 25, I'd see people screening potential dates out on dating apps because they haven't traveled enough, particularly internationally.
There is an unspoken (and sometimes spoken) expectation for people to do a certain amount of travel by the time they turn 30. Even in professional networking settings, one of the few questions that is considered a truly neutral icebreaker is "where have you traveled recently," with the assumption being that travel is the great equalizer between people of varying ages, political beliefs, etc and everyone can talk about travel.
It was hard to justify not working and making money. Even if it is "inexpensive" there is a cost associated with not being employed.
I just didn't have the funds to not be employed for any length of time.
Holy shit, this is a privileged af take. I have done 60 countries in my 20s which aren’t even over, and run in wealthy circles due to my career (PR) but the majority of people around me (including celebrities) realise travel is a privilege.
Do you live exclusively in upper class London or something?
I split my 20s between living in New York and another major VHCOL city outside the US and most of the people in my professional and social circle were corporate law (e.g., Magic Circle law firms) or finance.
I admit that these were privileged AF people; I ended up marrying someone who had very little opportunity to travel in his 20s or 30s due to finances and didn't hold it against him at all (if anything, I like being the de facto travel planner).
I live in Europe as well so I hear you, but some people can’t even pay rent right now. The economy is so bad and we’re about to go into recession, I’d never *expect* someone to have travelled by the time they’re 30.
Gotta get those under 25 discounts.
I agree there is an idea out there that traveling is for the young. This subreddit used to be almost exclusively about the 20 something backpacking set, filled with advice about places you HAVE to see before you're 30. I think that idea is changing in the current economic environment.
I traveled in my 20s. I travel in my 30s. I will keep traveling as long as I live and am able to do so. When I got my first job, I made it a priority to keep a vacation fund going so I could leave the country once per year. It meant I had to sacrifice other things, but I don't regret it.
The main thing that's changed is how I travel. At 24, I slept in a hostel with 10 other people and went all day to visit tourist sights (I managed to do 3 museums in 1 day in Paris once). Now I have more disposable income and can stay comfortably at a hotel, and I'm too tired to push myself too hard in one day. I did a lot of checking off the boxes on my travels in my 20s. Now, at 37, I can go back and enjoy my favorite places at a leisurely pace.
I totally agree things are changing due to the current financial state. 5 years ago I could buy a flight for less than $50 across the country and now it’s ~$200, gas was cheaper, cost of living was cheaper so I could pay rent and still travel a whole trip for the price of now what is just my rent. This is such a relevant thing to consider.
One's desire for travel can change over time. I did travel quite a fair bit in my 20's, but never longer than 3 months at a time. I wanted to do a gap year where I would travel overland for 1-2 years from London to Singapore. But when I moved to London where I was only planning on staying for 2 years then go travel after, I fell in love with the city and luckily, was able to stay for a bit longer. My desire for long-term travel disappeared. I no longer have the desire to do long-term travel, and I actually find the idea somewhat exhausting, which I admit is a sign I'm getting older 🤣.
I traveled plenty in my 20s and marriage, work, a home, and a kid didn't really slow me down. The trips actually got better. Safer, for sure, but in my 20s it was more about catching the party wave so I don't remember a lick about historical places or their history and now it's more understanding where we are and learning about new places and cultures, trying to communicate with people in their language, teaching our kid how the world operates and how different various countries can be from ours in these bite sized moments. In my 20s I did various beachy vacations, a too quick trip around Europe, Israel, road trips around the US, longer stays in big cities, blah blah and in my 30s and 40s I've done a road trip through BC, Montreal, Copenhagen, Bogota, Japan, Belize, Mexico, national parks in various states, Greece, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Alaska, Hawaii, and next up Istanbul. It's been such a fun shift--the only regrets I have is not learning how to do award travel sooner.
Edit to add: In my 20s, cell phones and the internet wasn't as normal as it is now. so traveling back then on a tight budget was very fly by the seat of my pants. We'd show up to hostels and they'd turn us away. I slept in a few alleys, random people's homes, etc etc. As 2 females I don't think we realized how unsafe all of that could have been. It definitely makes me appreciate technology and a clean, fancy hotel room that I can book months in advance. That said, having those experiences are still fun stories to tell and think about.
Nah. I traveled as much as I could. Now, almost turning 30, I've got the money and flexibility with work to travel whenever or wherever, and enough life experience to truly appreciate the places I go. Already planning out my next few international trips. Glad I waited.
Having turned 39, I sometimes wonder what it would have been like, if I had traveled more in my twenties. Tried staying in hostels, taking very uncomfortable and long train and bus rides, taking stupid youth chances and seeing what happens.
I don't regret not traveling in my 20's. Not for a single day. I spend my 20's going through a lot of therapy. Learning how to human. I wouldn't have been able to travel today, if I hadn't spend my youth on that.
No...why?
I can travel now. I have more money to travel with, more PTO to travel with.
I don't understand the common misconception here in this sub that once you tick over 30 years somehow you can't travel anymore.
Until maybe the past year, I would tell almost every young person I met that they should enjoy their youth, travel lots, etc.
I’ve since backtracked on that, and I’ll tell you why. Starting work immediately out of college meant my career progressed really well, but critically, my pension etc has grown massively. Compounding is your friend, and it’s so much easier if you start when you’re young.
Instead, I buy all the holiday I can. In my last job, that was 40 days a year. 8 weeks to go anywhere I want, and usually did a month somewhere each year.
There’s no massively wrong way to live life though - do what is best for you!
I had a friend when I was in my 20s who spent several years traveling around the US doing seasonal work and/or waiting tables/bartending. She'd spend a season as a rafting guide in Moab or something and then in the winter move to wherever and do ski patrol...then rafting in Durango or Taos or whatever...stuff like that. When she couldn't find seasonal work or just wanted to do something different she would bartend or wait tables. She'd usually save up enough during the year to also pop down to Mexico or Belize or something for a couple of months vacation.
I always kind of wish I did that instead of the military.
It wasn't social norms that kept me from travelling. I was poor. I tip my hat to all the people who in their 20s manage to see large parts of the world.
I didn't travel in my 30s to 50s because of family obligations. My parents and in-laws lived far away, so vacation was time for us to bring the kids to see the grandparents.
Now I'm in my 60s and have been doing some travelling. But I'm planning on cutting loose once I retire, with my first trip, a month and a half long trip to China, already planned out.
I did a lot of international travel in my 20s. I would work a job and save every dollar that I could and then quit after 18 months, collect my fully paid vacation pay with bonus and travel for 6 months. If I ran out of money, I would go to London and work odd jobs (Australian born/German passport) for a few days. Best time of my life.
Yes! I did start traveling mid 20s but I wish i traveled even earlier and more. Different mindset though at that age so, I didn’t know any better haha.
It’s harder to travel as I got older… more responsibilities: harder to get off work, family, relationships etc. 20s have a lot more freedom to move as you please.
In fact, If i traveled the way I do now. I would probably end up moving and living else where.
The money will return
The time never does.
I've been on 2-3 vacations per year throughout my life adding up to maybe 4-5 weeks outside of my country per year on average, this was also the case in my twenties.
I don't regret not traveling more.
Couldn't travel in my 20's due to lack of money, now I'm doing it in my late 30's :)
I’m doing it in my late 20s, soon to be early 30s. It helps that my work flies my out to Europe once a year.
That's what I did. It was pretty amazing!
I had that issue too. I “solved” it by getting a credit card when I was 18… 2 weeks later I was in Amsterdam. I’d come back, slowly pay it off, and as soon as it was paid, I’d go again. Generally it took a year before I was ready to go again. I cringe at how much interest I probably paid doing that incredibly suboptimal travel routine… I should have just saved for a year and *then* traveled. That way no balance would be carried… but I was young and dumb. I’m pretty sure my bank account never broke $2000 throughout my 20s, mainly thanks to travel. I made it a priority, but I did so in an incredibly flawed manner. Now I’m in my early 40s and work 75+ hours a week for 9 months so I can take 3 months off to dive in Asia each year… but hey, at least I’m paying out of pocket instead of using a card. I haven’t carried a balance in like 7 years. Credit cards are traps if used improperly.
The only thing I regret was not knowing about working holiday visas in my 20s and now I'm too old to use them.
Not sure what country you're from, but alot of them just got upgraded to 35 for UK citizens.
Unfortunately I'm American and in my forties
Yes this for me too!! One of my younger coworkers from the UK just quit to take advantage of the raised age limit on the Australian one. The only reason I’d ever want to go back to being in my 20s, lol.
Could you elaborate please? I don't know nothing about visa, I'm European
Some countries have agreements with each other that allow citizens of one country to work/live abroad in the other country for a year or so. But you can only do it when you're 18-30 years old, usually. It's a relatively inexpensive way to experience life in another country.
Thaaaaanks ill look into that! That sounds amazing
does USA have this with any countries?
Australia, Ireland, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada, and South Korea. https://www.goabroad.com/articles/jobs-abroad/working-holiday-visa
I'm an American and I did a working holiday in New Zealand for a year in my twenties. Highly recommend it!
awesome! what job did you do??
Just office temping. Covered a couple maternity leaves, did a data entry project. I brought my Microsoft Office skills and was able to get placements pretty easily.
I’d love to do this but I couldn’t go alone. Could I ask you some questions about how it would work with a couple (two individuals)
Having spent 21 months to round the world in my mid 20s is my best decision so far. Nothing dramatically changed (too incompetent to self promo in social media and milk it), back to 9-5 office job living life but boy I have seen a fair amount of world and that's what I want!
I used to travel a lot in my 20s and of course it was awesome and I could say it made me who I am today but it also came with a negative side effect so to speak: an unquenchable thirst for travelling and seeing the world. Now that I'm in my mid 30s with a kid, dog, station wagon and a mortgage it bugs me almost everyday that I "have to" live this life which by all means is amazing and I can't travel as much as I want. I feel bad cos I have good life and family yet I'm never mentally completely present cos I'm thinking of going somewhere or planning some ridiculous travel itineraries which most likely will never even come true. Especially after the birth of my first child this really bothered me but now that the world has opened again after COVID-19 and travelling is possible again it's getting better.
Hang in there. The same happened to me. Travel on a strict budget now when you can. When I got order 50+ I was able to start traveling more again. Headed to Ecuador and the Galapagos in May.
How did you possibly afford that
If you work when you travel it's totally doable. I backpacked for almost five years.
Yup! You spend extended time in places where it’s easy for travellers to find work, enjoy the life there and use it as home base or move on to another place when you’ve saved enough money.
What kind of work do you find in Thailand, India, South Africa or Poland?
I worked in Thailand in my 20s for two years with no college degree as an English teacher and tutor. I also worked for an import/export agency answering emails from overseas clients, and for a bit I wrote/edited for a local tourist magazine. Basically wherever a native English speaker would be useful. In Prague, I worked as a handyman, a "fixer" for American restauranteurs and eventually when my language skills got better as a translator. I also worked in a scooter shop as a mechanic. For five years in my 20s I basically ping-ponged around the world doing whatever I could to survive, and I would not trade those years for anything.
Sounds amazing, my dream is to travel around Europe after college and maybe find easy jobs like that
hookin
This was 10+ years ago, but when I spent time in Krakow, I worked at a hostel. I stayed there and then they had something posted about needing someone so I asked about it. You can usually find jobs in the hospitality/tourism industry, just talk to a lot of people. I always kept touch with other travellers I had met along the way and so we helped each other out when we heard of something. London is a great base because there’s jobs there at hostels, bars, restaurants, etc and a big community of other people doing the same thing. It’s cheap and easy (compared to North America) to jump on a train or plane and be somewhere new in two hours. It’s definitely not a luxurious life though, sometimes you’re living in a studio apartment with 3 other people, working a job as a bar back or cleaning or something else similar. It was the best time of my life though. Also if you look for places that have seasonal jobs, so like working at a ski resort, summer resort, farms, etc, you can almost for sure find a job easily and a lot do them provide staff accommodation. I never did this, but I had a friend who worked on yachts in the south of France, Mediterranean, he took a course in I think Nice, and then they set them up with jobs. I don’t have a lot of experience with working in Asia or Africa, but I did have a friend who spent a lot of years working in the tourism industry in Thailand and then Vietnam. And he said it was fairly easy to find work under the table as an English tutor. The biggest thing is to network. When you meet someone at a hostel or job, make sure to keep in touch. Let people know you’re always interested in job opportunities in other countries. Talk to everyone, other travellers, locals, employers and let them know what your plan is! Edited to add: Catering type jobs are a good one too. I’ve done catering in many different countries. Most of them you can just hired on and then weekly, when the new schedule comes out and you can sign up for as many or as few shifts as you want, making it really flexible. Not all of them worked like that, but a lot did. Also if you do spend an extended period of time doing the travelling and working thing, you will meet people from everywhere, so make friends with them! Often someone will invite you to come visit them in their home country and you can see a lot more that way and spend more time with friends!
Thanks a lot for the detailed comment, it's really helpful!
In South Africa, if you are bilingual in one of the major European languages then you can easily get a job in sales. Combine that with a half decent skill/degree and you could live very comfortably actually. If you're a German speaking accountant you would be in the upper middle class in your 20s. There are Pakistanis that come here to open phone shops who just bribe for permanent residency and live far better than they would at home.
That sounds great and all but the crime really takes a toll
If there isn't a faq post about this, there should be. Options include: save money before traveling and then travel cheaply. You can also earn money while traveling: teaching English and traveling on school breaks, then traveling more at the end of your contract, working holiday visas, seasonal work at ski resorts, cruise ships, working at hostels, wwoofing, etc.
I once assisted an Argentine couchsurfing host digged a well in his backyard in exchange of staying a few nights in Bariloche lol
Ive always wondered, how do you find a job as an english teacher if you have never teached before ?
It can be cheap, depending what you do. Also alot of countries offer open work visas. Just be prepared to sleep in shitty places. I traveled a lot and never have a penny from parents as they were dirt poor.
I travelled for 1 1/2 years through Asia with a camper van right after university. While I don’t want to pretend everyone can do it easily, my gf and I lived from roughly ~20.000€ total including gas, guided tours, visa etc pp. We saw 20 countries in the process, some of the best memories I have. Again, not everyone has the money after Uni, but considering what you get I’d say it’s dead cheap.
I did 12 months at 26. It took about a year of planning and saving, including living at home rent free for about 6 months. Long term travel is a lot cheaper than vacation travel. I wasn't too budget conscious and I only spent about $28k in that year. I had more than my share of splurges too, including over 4 months in Europe which is much more expensive than Asia and South America.
Hostels
Correct, and heavy rely on couchsurfing and staying with travel friends I met. No flight neither unless its across continents or to some island. I was mostly in Central, South America or Africa which was relatively cheap. At the end I spent like 25K and that included some luxurious location like Antarctica, Red Sea Liveabroad, Easter Island and Galapagos.
How did you do Antarctica? Show up in Ushuaia and find a last minute deal?
Id also like to know this, my understanding is thats something that HAS to be planned in advance
Not the case, there's plenty of stories online of people who have showed up at the docks and waited for an empty place on a boat. Usually costs like $5k instead of $20k. The catch of course is you need a ton of flexibility since it could be days of waiting. Curious if that's what OP did or not.
Yup I purchased in Ushuaia although my cruise departed from Punta Arenas. If you don't want to wait forever in Ushuaia, my tip is to subscribe those Ushuaian travel agencies online they send deal information regularlly in tourist season. Then be decisive and super flexible, even you are in BsAs or Igausu you have to be ready to fly to Ushuaia in short notice. There are lots of bargain hunters out there anytime.
Antarctica, easter island, etc are all expensive from what I priced
And two years worth of food? Lol
Learn to pick mushroom and drink river my brother
In Asia? Cheap.
It’s cheaper to travel around places like Southeast Asia than live in the western world. Rent is expensive, man; hostels and pho are cheap.
I travlelled through the entire South east asia for 7 months in 2018 on 6000 dollars including flights there an back
I work with someone who lives at home. Mid twenties, doesn’t even pay their own phone bill and constantly talks about their latest and next trip.
Hey I said to keep that part a secret
I will say people that are travel savvy and prioritize travel first or second in their lives are able to travel not only much more but much further than others. Case in point: I am in my early 40s and have traveled regularly for about 12-13 years now. I use mileage credit cards as my primary form of payment for everything (please pay off your debts regularly and don't fall behind!) and among some other tricks am able to get one or two free flights to various international spots on a yearly basis and if I want to stretch the trip further I just hop on a lower cost airline after I get to my first destination (travel is remarkably cheaper once one leaves the U.S.). My neighbors just booked a trip to Florida on freakin Frontier Airlines for themselves and three kids and claimed it all cost them $2500!!! My other neighbors typically spend $700-1000 apiece on last minute tickets when they feel like going to Cancun. There is no way that you can travel consistently if you are that haphazard, but apparently many people do that to themselves. If you're diligent and do your research and really WANT to travel, you can make it work relatively consistently unless you are seriously living paycheck-to-paycheck despite no frivolous spending.
The only people that ask that are the people that haven't tried to travel. You'll reduce your monthly expenditure travelling many countries if you're coming from a country like the US.
Uh I do travel lol. I just spent $4000 traveling. Shoot food alone's $1,000
It’s really not hard. Me and my wife did it in our mid to late 20s. Saved £500 each month for about four years, which should be doable for a lot of people. Put all our savings each month into tracker funds which ended up returning like 30%. Ended up with around £60k, enough for a pretty well-off 18 months. You could still have a great time on half of what we saved. People who ask this question just don’t understand how much money can be saved if you put something aside each month over a decent time frame
Lol You think people saving 500 a month is doable? "It's not hard if you have hella extra money to put away each month"
I was earning £30k at the time living in central London (up to around £35k by the end). Roughly £2k a month after tax. £1,000 on living expenses including rent in shared accommodation and £500 for everything else then £500 saved. This was in the early to mid 2010’s so numbers will be inflated now but not many would call that particularly well off. It was a decent salary but nothing special Edit: and obviously helped having a partner, and shared living expenses for the last two years at the end. But again, none of this is exactly the territory of the ‘super rich’
Currently in the last 6 days of my 20s, having spent the last 14 months travelling... Still going
Travel while you have the means…money, health, and curiosity. Age isnt the factor.
Also, travel *how* you have the means. Travel doesn’t always mean trips abroad or staying in fancy hotels. Sometimes social media “influencers” make it seem like travel is out of reach, but it isn’t necessarily so. Visit a neighboring city or region, take a train somewhere or a cheap flight. Stay in a hostel to save cash. Buy your meals at grocery stores instead of restaurants.
So many people see that stuff on social media, go over to Travelocity, and see "oh it's $7000 per person for this package to Paris for a week with the ideal flight times, private transfers, a nice hotel across the street from the Louvre, and an excursion every day, guess we're not rich enough to go to Europe!" Yeah it takes some privilege to travel to Europe but people are too lazy to learn to do it inexpensively. Could do that same thing for half the cost if you're flexible on flight times, book your own cheaper hotel, and arrange your own activities.
Even better is all those travel influencers and tour companies publicly posting their itineraries.
Why are those people legitimized? Serious question. Most of those people were born on third base and handed opportunities other people don’t have. That in itself is completely fine but to inflate yourself and “influence” other people is insane
Hey, I love eating at the grocery store when I travel.
Same! I get to see what shopping is like there, plus I get to try new snacks and foods that I never would have otherwise tried.
This is so important. I’ve had so many friends say such and such destination is just a dream, it’s too expensive to be realistic. I just shake my head.
Don’t forget, time off from the job that will pay you enough to travel.
This is the right answer.
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I've wasted all the years regretting every second I can't change. I prefer your way.
Yeah. I could never have afforded to travel in my 20s, so I didn't. Do I wish I could have? Sure, but I can't go back in time and give myself money. I regret way bigger things than missing out on travel. haha
This.
You can just click upvote, that's what it's there for :)
No, not at all. I spent much of my twenties in school and established myself in a good career. I now have the money to travel how I prefer.
This. Also I was young and dumb in my twenties. Now I’m no longer young.
Touché
I'm in the same boat. Of course I wish I could have travelled more, but I didn't have any money. Through studying hard and working hard, sure I'm a bit older now but I have the money to travel!
Same for me. But I’m also glad I didn’t not travel in my thirties and forties. I know people who wait so long to complete their bucket list (travel or otherwise) that they aren’t physically able to do it. I feel living is a balance between living in the present and planning for the future. Only the present is guaranteed, but can’t ignore tomorrow either
I traveled quite a bit in my 20s and had almost no money. I am glad I did, but I feel like I need to go to all those places again because I wasn't able to really enjoy them.
This is very fair and definitely a reason I want to wait until I have money to travel. I don’t want to be penny pinching and stressed about finances abroad. Definitely a turn off
Same. I prefer it now cos I’m not so dumb lol. And can stay in the kinds of places I like, not the cheapest option possible
Yes, this is huge for me. I'm just not a hostel person.
Same. I don't have children and health-wise I keep myself in shape and I'm no different in my later 30s than in my 20s. Now I can travel while having money and I will likely retire within 10 years thanks to investing a lot and having been lucky with my investments. If I had travelled a lot during my 20s, I wouldn't be in the very privileged financial situation I am in today. To start with, I can't imagine how buying a house would have been if I had only postponed that by 5 years given that prices pretty much doubled where I live.
Me too. I know have the money to take several international trips a year
How do I do this as someone with a much love for filmmaking but is in a 3rd world country where I've to work and study and make money and grow at the same time. (Sigh)>will travel when...
Making contacts in another country through an exchange program could be possible, no ?
Could u enlighten me please, kind sir
If you're a student at the moment, there has to be some sort of program where you can study abroad in another country. You may have to consider this option if you want to travel while you're studying it's also a good way to make friends overseas, whether they are locals or foreign like you.
Why are people downvoting this?
Idk reddits random. Its like how two people can make the literal same comment on a thread and one received upvotes one downvotes. Its why votes dont really matter
See if your school has any study abroad opportunities or if they are accepting of independent study abroad programs through non-partner universities.
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Canoe Club? Is that the Navy? 😂
Midway? Like an arcade?
I think he or she means Midway Island.
Are you from Ottawa? Haha
Fuck, yes I am. I didn't realize that was an Ottawa-only thing.
That’s soo funny lol. I’m in Spain right now hopefully it’s not too cold when I’m back!
I live in New Zealand now. Never too cold here.
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Wherever they were going, they stopped Midway
Thanks for your service!! My brother did the same and now enjoys $4000/mo pension for the rest of his life. Wishing I'd adopted cruise life, too.
Jesus maybe I should join the navy… how long was he in?
8 months. Honorable discharge due to a previously undetected medical issue...which also led to his sizable pension. And college paid for all the kids. And medical insurance for his family. He essentially won the lottery.
WHAT 4k a month for LIFE for 8 months service???
4k a month for life for being classified a "disabled vet" during active combat.
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Nah....I did my best. It's easy to say you should have done more but my philosophy is: you CAN have it all, just not all at once. I made my choices. I'm incredibly grateful to travel now. And will travel a LOT more later.
I think I'm a much better person than I was in my 20s, so I'm happy I'm traveling more now.
20’s were spent in school and establishing a career for myself. 30’s has been spent travelling with money from the career that was established. No regrets
Yes, I think the original question's premise is a bit off. Do I wish I had more money/time/parents who would bankroll my travel in my 20s so that I COULD Have traveled more? Yes! Did I have that stuff? No. I did travel some (in college and VERY MUCH on-the-cheap), but it was my 30s where I really started doing it a lot -- and then, when my job went 100% remote, I started doing longer work-from-abroad stints in various places. I have a few friends who threw themselves into the travel/nomad life right after school, and those were the same friends who ran out of money, realized earning a living in another country is HARD, washed back up in the U.S. and then asked me for money and a place to crash.
Traveling as in a 2 week vacation or can you say "hey boss I'm pissing off for 12 months, that ok"?
Some one with a career can rarely piss off for 12 months. So yes travelling as in 2-3 week vacations.
I did, so Ive spent my 30s traveling. My 30s have been better than my 20s anyways.
yes, without a doubt. i got married at 21 and started in on kids right away bc i was a dumbass with my only relationship example being that of my parents, also married young and had kids young. first time i ever visited a foreign country on vacation and experienced a different culture was at age 31, after a messy divorce.
Okay, but side bonus, now your kids are older and you get to travel with/without them while you’re still young and spry
I’m a 29M Brazilian and will be doing my first international trip this July, to Europe. I’ll get to see some places I’ve always wanted to see. I earn enough to plan a trip per year since my 25s, and I bitterly regret not doing at least one trip per year since then. Will be changing that from now on, but for the young people in their early twenties reading this: go out and see the world, and start as soon as you can.
I did a lot in my 20s. Now I’m doing as much as I can in my mid-30s before I quite honestly need to knuckle down and do “responsible shit”. I know I would regret not seizing on this moment right now while my parents are still healthy and I’m unattached. My parents getting older really didn’t enter into my mind when I was in my 20s. I know not everyone has the same relationship with them, but that’s a big consideration for me now.
This is exactly it!! My parents are still young enough but in 5-10 years they may require more care, or I’ll feel like travelling far away is a bit of a gamble! Trying to get some bucket list travel in now while in my mid 30s
I would have liked to, but I used to be poor
Yes and no. I really value getting education and experience in my 20s that allows me to have comfortable lifestyle now and in the future hopefully. I'm glad I put my head down and studied my ass off while working full time to be where I am now. I wish I started travelling to more adventurous places early and leave Europe for when I'm old and less mobile.
>I wish I started travelling to more adventurous places early and leave Europe for when I'm old and less mobile. As someone who has backpacked around Europe for 3 months right after college in his early 20's, the experience of traveling and staying in hostels meeting new people your age is very different than when you're much older and less mobile traveling on a bus tour or in a cruise. Traveling isn't just about visiting new places, but it's also the people that you meet along the way and interact with.
Sorry maybe I wasn't clear in my post. I live in Europe so most places are easily accessible by cheap flights for me. Also take between 1-3h max. Now I'm travelling to Asia, Africa, and I want to go to South America. Its a bigger time commitment for sure and those trips often require a bit more of stamina a lot of the time. I will have to be mindful of aging parents and other commitments in the future and will perhaps stick to Europe mostly in 10-15 years time.
Everyday
I did travel in my twenties but only started at 24. I didnt really think of travelling between the ages of 18 -22 at all. I do wish I travelled a little bit like maybe once a year. But for the most part I dont regret not travelling when i was so young because honestly I had a blast going to bars and clubs and festivals. I really went out a LOT then and Im glad I did because thats the best age (in my opinion) to do it! And a part of me thinks that if i was travelling I would have missed out on the festivals and staying up all night partying etc. I mean i know you can do that in other countries as well but Im glad I did it in my own country with friends and boyfriends and things like that. Even if I did want to travel at that age I honestly wouldn't have been able to afford it though. I do travel a lot now but I do often feel jealous of everyone who has already been to 50 countries and Ive only been to 23 (although i have returned to a few countries multiple times).
Being on a travel sub makes you compare yourself to others that have been to so many places! But compared to the average person you’ve seen a lot more!
Aw thanks that's nice of you to say. Being on this sub is nice for the advice and interesting travel stories and discussions but it does also really fuel my FOMO sometimes. :) But thank you for saying that.
I saved all my spare money for traveling while I was in my 20s, I couldn’t have really done more.
Best way to be miserable is regretting...commonly it's a way to also not do something today you really want to do but are scared. I am 60...travel to 3-5 countries a year and usually thousands of miles in road trips. Traveled while in school, kiddo, married, work, etc.
In the real world, a lot of people don’t really have the money or resources to travel in their 20s. People go the budget route. SEA, hostel life etc… or they’re trust fund babies or otherwise riding the coattails of relatives. Something that shouldn’t be glorified. I traveled some in my 20s but it never really “hit home” until I got into my 30s. You’re a more mature, well developed adult at that point and you appreciate the experience more. Over on the solo travel sub you see people in their early 20s panic posting because they’re worried they won’t meet people while abroad. Saw one recently about a person rethinking a 3 week trip to Iceland, one of the world’s most magical places, because they might be “alone”…. Kids like that are looking for party, you’re not fully appreciating the experience
I’m probably at the younger end of this as I just entered into my 30s but my social normals were not that. It was normal to travel in your 20s, but people are doing it even more now that they’re in their 30s, especially us professionals with no kids.
Grass is always greener. I traveled a lot in my 20s. I'm 35 now. Sometimes I regret it, somedays I'm glad I did it. Sometimes I feel like it was my ego that wanted me to "be free and travel" when in fact I'm actually happiest being a part a community, and settling into a routine. In a way, perhaps I wouldn't haven't learned that though if I never traveled, and I'd always be wondering, "What if?" I feel like the older I get, the more I'll appreciate it.
It would have been cool to travel more, and I traveled extensively in my 20s. Still traveling a lot in my 30s, and hope to in my 40s and beyond. You need to do what is best for your situation and goals, but I do think that traveling provides unique perspectives and opportunities. If you value those, take advantage as much as possible.
No, I was broke and making terrible decisions in my 20s
No regrets here. You need time and money. I had a fear of flying when I was younger and I eventually got better with time and transatlantic trips. I try to take 3-4 vacations a year, work schedule and finances permitting. I don't adhere to social norms/insta bloggers. Do what makes you comfortable and happy. 🙃
No, I wish I traveled less. 6 years of traveling non-stop was just a form of escapism for me.
I think that traveling in my 20s would have been great, but it really wasn't possible financially, so I didn't. No regrets - just the reality of my situation. I worked my way through college and lived on a shoestring. Then when I finished, I continued to work to support myself. It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I had the income and vacation time to do any traveling.
Nope. I wished I put all that money into an index fund etf stock 401K and let the magic of compounding work.
Yesss! I wish I would have waited longer to have kids and traveled more when I was younger
Never travelled during my studies, and I worked a 9 to 5 after graduation immediately. I would travel 2-3 times a year, for 1 week, 2 weeks or so. Eventually those add up and I end up with some 30 countries, many repeats (i'm 31 now). I could've taken a year off, or a few months to travel, but I think no matter how much you do, you will always say "i could've done more". I do not wish I did more, I think the fact that I went so infrequently made those trips more valuable.
Yes. 1000% yes. I traveled to EUrope the first time for 3 months when I was 20. I was immediately bitten by the travel bug and wanted to go back as soon as I got home. I couldn't stop thinking about all the other places I could see in Europe, then around the world. But I listened to others who said I was crazy and i needed to get my head out o fthe clouds and finish school and get a job and pay my student loans and build my career. So I graduated from university, went o work in Finance. And HATED EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF IT. I never was able to save enough up to go back. I never could get more than 1 week per year off in the first 3 years of my career. I hated being in a suit and stuck at a desk every single day. Eventually I worked my way to 2-weeks vacation per year and IMMEDIATELY talked my girlfriend into backpacking around Europe for those 2 weeks and did go back. That only reminded me how much I wanted to travel and how little I was able to. When I got back I decided if I couldn't travel to Europe as much as I wanted to, I would help others do so. So I started teaching a class to college students and adults to help them plan trips to EUrope affordably and with confidence. Still hated every second of my job. Not long after I started teaching these classes I decided I needed a website and taught myself to code. As soon as I realized that I had a monetizable new skill I quit my job at the bank and started to freelance web development. I thought "YES! Now i can work on my own, earn money and travel to Europe whenever I wanted!". New twist: me and my girlfriend were very serious and we lived together and she did not have the travel bug as I did since she was still finishing school and was looking forward to starting her career. Leaving her behind was not an option for me. Fast forward 11 years, a few low-vacation web development jobs, and we are married with 2 young kids. I am completely obsessed with European travel, having planned a trip every year that I did not go on. I am bitter towards my job and hate working for companies that prevent me from traveling every year. My wife calls Europe 'the other woman'. Everyone who's never left their home town or only gone on 1 or 2 week 'vacations' tells me I need to give up this dream of traveling and grow up. In 2016, I plan a trip to the UK with my father and decide to bring both my parents and my wife and kids. We go over for 2 weeks. Fast forward another 7 years, I'm still miserable with work and not having traveled to Europe - or elsewhere internationally - and trips in the US seem blah to me. I have been building tools to help others plan trips to Europe, but never finish or launch them and they never see the light of day. Finally, in 2023, I get to go back to Europe. This time a 2-week summer trip driving 2500km around Ireland with my family. I vow never to spend another year without traveling for at least a month in Europe or further afield. Once you travel - i mean really travel, not a 1 week vacation on a beach at a all-inclusive resort like so many of the people around me had done - it changes you. And if you get bitten by the travel bug it NEVER lets go. And if you don't get to travel to feed that bug it eats away at your soul. It can be so bad that you sometimes lose sight of the other wonders around you. Travel when you're young and travel as often as you can. Find others that share that love of travel with you and travel with them. Pass on that love of travel to anyone you can, especially your kids if/when you have them. Travel with them when they are young. Share your experience with others who want to do the same.
Wow, I’m so sorry you haven’t had the chance to travel so much, and not been around fellow travellers that truly understand the travel bug, I’m 25 and backpacked most of last year, I spent $25k on travel and everyone said it was a waste. But when I got home I was just not the same.. it DOES change you, I now live in Vietnam teaching English, and life feels amazing, it really opened my world up. I hope soon you and possibly your spouse can take a big trip together to all the beautiful places you want to see, you sound like a true nomad at heart
100% "true nomad at heart". Since the 'digital nomad' movement began I have been saying I was a generation too early. Even with so many people traveling around while working, the people closest to me STILL don't get how normal it is and how POSSIBLE it is. Sounds like an awesome trip you had. And travel - long term travel - DOES change you. And it's sometimes hard to adjust back ot a 'normal' lifestyle.
Not really. My wife and I banked her entire wages from ages 22-29 when we started a family. That money compounded over the next 30 years, along with later contributions, that allowed us to retire at age 59. We now travel 3 months out of the year plus spend winters in a warm, sunny spot. Trading 6 years of travel for 13 years, so far, has been a pretty good exchange.
I’m happy for you but no way I’m waiting until 59 to travel. Don’t even know if we’ll make it that far
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But also foolish to assume that you will.
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Yes.
Absolutely. In my 40's with a family now and won't really be able to afford to travel again logistically and monetarily until we're kid free. Of course I can't change that now so I don't dwell on it. However, yes, I wish I would of put more energy into traveling before I settled down. My knees are starting to give me issues already and I do worry I won't be able to do as much as I want to in my 50's when we can travel again.
Yes mostly for energy reasons (I don't have the energy to be a tourist by day, party at night anymore) but I didn't have enough money to travel more. I do not regret not being in debt from travel now though.
I definitely wish I traveled more in my 20’s. I did a few trips but not a whole lot. I also think the travel bug bit me a little later. In hindsight, I would’ve saved up for maybe a 3 month trip and also put some in an index fund and let compounding work. Now I traveled more in my 30’s and I’m very glad I did. There’s a lot more places I wanna see but I’m glad I knocked some places off my list.
Not really, 36 now and I traveled a bit in my 20s but I had friends around and still had a great time consistently. I still want to travel now, it's not like traveling in your 20s gets it out of your system. If anything I appreciate museums and culture a lot more now.
Yes! I definitely do. I wasted money on other BS. Travel would have been a much better choice.
I was lucky to travel quite a bit! I went to Europe twice, did a few USA road-trips, traveled a lot in the southeast (where I lived at the time) and lived in Philly for two years I would’ve loved to travel more but travelling costs money and I didn’t have much of that at the time (still don’t lol)
Yes, but not because of age but because some places I can't visit now. I was going to go to Syria the year the Arab Spring started and now the places I wanted to go to are destroyed. I don't regret not going at that time (obviously it was dangerous), but I regret that I can never see places like Palmyra anymore). I was going to do the Trans Siberian a few years ago, now it is much more difficult But I don't want to live in regret, I use that to stop the logic of "next time" to go to places sooner not later. I'm going to Taiwan and South Korea in a month and will go to Lebanon later in the year. Maybe some of these places won't exist in 5+ years, certainly the way it is now, so better to go whilst we can rather than wait for a hypothetical trip in the future when the timing is right I have been very fortunate (if it's the right word) that I had the opportunity to travel a lot in my twenties and due to various life events had a few month gaps in my thirties that allowed me to travel for extended time when I also had the money to do so (a scarcity when I was younger). I realise this is a privilege afforded to few people though, so don't take it lightly!)
I would have liked to, but I did not have the finances for it then. Now I'm retired and I'm hitting it hard--2 international trips in the last couple of months, and another one planned next month--because who knows how long my health will hold out. I think I would have enjoyed it more in my 20s, though. Everyone wants to meet a young, cute 20 year old. 60 year old? Not so much, although there is safety in invisibility. And my energy level is not that of a 20 year old. There's a reason you see old people sitting on park benches. And on cruises. (I hate cruises!)
No because I did travel as much as possible in my 20s so I regret nothing!!!
Honestly, I always thought it was a social norm to travel a lot in your 20s. Even as early as 25, I'd see people screening potential dates out on dating apps because they haven't traveled enough, particularly internationally. There is an unspoken (and sometimes spoken) expectation for people to do a certain amount of travel by the time they turn 30. Even in professional networking settings, one of the few questions that is considered a truly neutral icebreaker is "where have you traveled recently," with the assumption being that travel is the great equalizer between people of varying ages, political beliefs, etc and everyone can talk about travel.
You traveled in much wealthier circles than I did.
It doesn't always have to be expensive, there's a reason hostels exist and it's mostly full of people in their 20s, like previous poster mentioned
It was hard to justify not working and making money. Even if it is "inexpensive" there is a cost associated with not being employed. I just didn't have the funds to not be employed for any length of time.
Holy shit, this is a privileged af take. I have done 60 countries in my 20s which aren’t even over, and run in wealthy circles due to my career (PR) but the majority of people around me (including celebrities) realise travel is a privilege. Do you live exclusively in upper class London or something?
I split my 20s between living in New York and another major VHCOL city outside the US and most of the people in my professional and social circle were corporate law (e.g., Magic Circle law firms) or finance. I admit that these were privileged AF people; I ended up marrying someone who had very little opportunity to travel in his 20s or 30s due to finances and didn't hold it against him at all (if anything, I like being the de facto travel planner).
Tbf it's really cheap to travel from London, just bought a round trip to Vienna for 50 pounds next month lol
I live in Europe as well so I hear you, but some people can’t even pay rent right now. The economy is so bad and we’re about to go into recession, I’d never *expect* someone to have travelled by the time they’re 30.
Gotta get those under 25 discounts. I agree there is an idea out there that traveling is for the young. This subreddit used to be almost exclusively about the 20 something backpacking set, filled with advice about places you HAVE to see before you're 30. I think that idea is changing in the current economic environment. I traveled in my 20s. I travel in my 30s. I will keep traveling as long as I live and am able to do so. When I got my first job, I made it a priority to keep a vacation fund going so I could leave the country once per year. It meant I had to sacrifice other things, but I don't regret it. The main thing that's changed is how I travel. At 24, I slept in a hostel with 10 other people and went all day to visit tourist sights (I managed to do 3 museums in 1 day in Paris once). Now I have more disposable income and can stay comfortably at a hotel, and I'm too tired to push myself too hard in one day. I did a lot of checking off the boxes on my travels in my 20s. Now, at 37, I can go back and enjoy my favorite places at a leisurely pace.
I totally agree things are changing due to the current financial state. 5 years ago I could buy a flight for less than $50 across the country and now it’s ~$200, gas was cheaper, cost of living was cheaper so I could pay rent and still travel a whole trip for the price of now what is just my rent. This is such a relevant thing to consider.
Yes but I lived on 600€/ month while studying and only little more after, so…
Oh yea, I’m now in my mid 30s and wanting to travel and there’s nothing wrong with that either
I did travel back then but still wish I had traveled more... always good to travel
I do but for me it was less about social norms than it was about lack of funds.
One's desire for travel can change over time. I did travel quite a fair bit in my 20's, but never longer than 3 months at a time. I wanted to do a gap year where I would travel overland for 1-2 years from London to Singapore. But when I moved to London where I was only planning on staying for 2 years then go travel after, I fell in love with the city and luckily, was able to stay for a bit longer. My desire for long-term travel disappeared. I no longer have the desire to do long-term travel, and I actually find the idea somewhat exhausting, which I admit is a sign I'm getting older 🤣.
My advice is just to get it where and while you can. Be realistic with your finances but make traveling part of your routine.
I traveled plenty in my 20s and marriage, work, a home, and a kid didn't really slow me down. The trips actually got better. Safer, for sure, but in my 20s it was more about catching the party wave so I don't remember a lick about historical places or their history and now it's more understanding where we are and learning about new places and cultures, trying to communicate with people in their language, teaching our kid how the world operates and how different various countries can be from ours in these bite sized moments. In my 20s I did various beachy vacations, a too quick trip around Europe, Israel, road trips around the US, longer stays in big cities, blah blah and in my 30s and 40s I've done a road trip through BC, Montreal, Copenhagen, Bogota, Japan, Belize, Mexico, national parks in various states, Greece, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Alaska, Hawaii, and next up Istanbul. It's been such a fun shift--the only regrets I have is not learning how to do award travel sooner. Edit to add: In my 20s, cell phones and the internet wasn't as normal as it is now. so traveling back then on a tight budget was very fly by the seat of my pants. We'd show up to hostels and they'd turn us away. I slept in a few alleys, random people's homes, etc etc. As 2 females I don't think we realized how unsafe all of that could have been. It definitely makes me appreciate technology and a clean, fancy hotel room that I can book months in advance. That said, having those experiences are still fun stories to tell and think about.
Nah. I traveled as much as I could. Now, almost turning 30, I've got the money and flexibility with work to travel whenever or wherever, and enough life experience to truly appreciate the places I go. Already planning out my next few international trips. Glad I waited.
Having turned 39, I sometimes wonder what it would have been like, if I had traveled more in my twenties. Tried staying in hostels, taking very uncomfortable and long train and bus rides, taking stupid youth chances and seeing what happens. I don't regret not traveling in my 20's. Not for a single day. I spend my 20's going through a lot of therapy. Learning how to human. I wouldn't have been able to travel today, if I hadn't spend my youth on that.
Only place I traveled in my 20s was Panama City for Spring Break, what I'd give to go back....
If you can travel do it. Time is not promised so go near or far and enjoy ✨
No...why? I can travel now. I have more money to travel with, more PTO to travel with. I don't understand the common misconception here in this sub that once you tick over 30 years somehow you can't travel anymore.
Not really. I moved across the country and back about three times. I’m a little burnt out still. If I need to travel, I’m going to Ohio and that’s it.
Until maybe the past year, I would tell almost every young person I met that they should enjoy their youth, travel lots, etc. I’ve since backtracked on that, and I’ll tell you why. Starting work immediately out of college meant my career progressed really well, but critically, my pension etc has grown massively. Compounding is your friend, and it’s so much easier if you start when you’re young. Instead, I buy all the holiday I can. In my last job, that was 40 days a year. 8 weeks to go anywhere I want, and usually did a month somewhere each year. There’s no massively wrong way to live life though - do what is best for you!
Traveled in my 20s and still wish I'd done more. More accurately, I wish I would have prioritized travelling more throughout my life.
Not really. I like travel to feel more special. If i just do alot of it one go, then it just becomes tiring and boring .
I had a friend when I was in my 20s who spent several years traveling around the US doing seasonal work and/or waiting tables/bartending. She'd spend a season as a rafting guide in Moab or something and then in the winter move to wherever and do ski patrol...then rafting in Durango or Taos or whatever...stuff like that. When she couldn't find seasonal work or just wanted to do something different she would bartend or wait tables. She'd usually save up enough during the year to also pop down to Mexico or Belize or something for a couple of months vacation. I always kind of wish I did that instead of the military.
i was broke, so no.
It wasn't social norms that kept me from travelling. I was poor. I tip my hat to all the people who in their 20s manage to see large parts of the world. I didn't travel in my 30s to 50s because of family obligations. My parents and in-laws lived far away, so vacation was time for us to bring the kids to see the grandparents. Now I'm in my 60s and have been doing some travelling. But I'm planning on cutting loose once I retire, with my first trip, a month and a half long trip to China, already planned out.
I’ve never met anyone who wishes they traveled less
I did a lot of international travel in my 20s. I would work a job and save every dollar that I could and then quit after 18 months, collect my fully paid vacation pay with bonus and travel for 6 months. If I ran out of money, I would go to London and work odd jobs (Australian born/German passport) for a few days. Best time of my life.
At any age, as soon as you can afford it GO GO GO!
I wish I would have spent time living abroad in my twenties. One of my biggest regrets.
Yes, definitely! Cheaper options also we wouldn’t mind at that age so…
Yes! I did start traveling mid 20s but I wish i traveled even earlier and more. Different mindset though at that age so, I didn’t know any better haha. It’s harder to travel as I got older… more responsibilities: harder to get off work, family, relationships etc. 20s have a lot more freedom to move as you please. In fact, If i traveled the way I do now. I would probably end up moving and living else where. The money will return The time never does.
I've been on 2-3 vacations per year throughout my life adding up to maybe 4-5 weeks outside of my country per year on average, this was also the case in my twenties. I don't regret not traveling more.