11 Excuses to Go Now

There are so many excuses people have to put off travel. They think its too expensive. The time isn’t right. The money isn’t there. The kids are too young/too busy/too dependent.

Eventually, you won’t be able to go then, and you’ll have lost the opportunity to expand your horizons and see just a little more of the world.

So instead of creating excuses to go later, here are some of my personal favourites to go now.

1. Whether you are 70 or 17, you are running out of time.

Assuming you have a wonderful, long life of nearly perfect health. The clock is running down. No matter how much time you have on the earth, it is now less than when you started reading this sentence. (Whew…feeling a little pressure to make this worthwhile!) All of us are on borrowed time. Whether you have 20 days, or 20 years, why not travel when you are most healthy, most able to travel well, most able to go on the adventures, while you still can.

2. Travel can actually be pretty cheap. But, for the most part, it’s not getting cheaper. 

Depending of course, where you go, and what you do when you’re there. Travel is not getting cheaper. A few years ago, a nice hostel in the centre of Paris was 12 euros a night. Today, that same hostel is 30 euros/night. Beds in certain areas in Cambodia used to be 2$/night. While it’s possible to still find this, the surge of tourism means that prices will climb. Why not go now, when you can still come home and tell stories about this amazing hostel on the beach you spent 2$ a night on…that included breakfast and fast wifi!

3. The world is becoming more open.

A decade ago, it was unheard of to want to travel to North Korea, Afghanistan, Iran. Now, these locations are gracing front pages of travel magazines (or at least being talked about ;)). Countries that previously were closed to tourism are now cautiously opening their doors, providing warm welcomes and insights into another culture. A friend of mine traveled to Syria back in 2007. Looking back onto his trip today, how many monuments, how many museums, places of history and culture and religion, have been destroyed. How many family-owned businesses have been shuttered by war? Traveling to these places allows you to seek opinions other than those covered by the local news scene. Spoiler alert: most of the time, it’s much less dramatic.

Sure, you can say ‘lets wait a few years for things to calm down in such-and-such an area. But in the meantime, politics are difficult to predict. Go now, or go when its safe, possible, welcoming. But don’t believe everything you hear in the news prior to making a ‘go or not’ decision.

4. Go because  you don’t have the money

Unless you are pursuing travel and are valuing it over pretty much anything else, you probably won’t ever have some mystical amount of money that would allow you to say ‘ok. Yes. I have enough money. I guess I can travel now’. A small amount of money is easy to spend. If you have an extra 50$ in your account, you might decide that it’s not enough to pay for a flight to Paris, but it is enough to get a nice dinner out, or go to a first-run movie with a friend (you could probably even afford to splurge on popcorn!) But avoid doing the dinner out once a month, and you could save yourself 600$ within less than a year, which could be a flight to Paris :).

Travel now because you don’t have money to keep buying meaningless, unfulfilling stuff. Travel now if you don’t have money to keep throwing away.

5. No matter how ‘tied down’ you think you are, you probably won’t miraculously be free ‘tomorrow’

Probably the last time any of us were actually completely free to do what we wanted was when we turned 18. Done with ‘formal’ schooling, some pursued higher level education, some started work, some got married and started families. While these things are all wonderful, they contribute to the idea that we are ‘settling down’. Our days of gallivanting  around are behind us. At eighteen years old. WHAT?!

Even if you now have a spouse, children, a mortgage, a pet. While challenging, it is still possible to travel with, or despite these events. But it doesn’t get easier to do so. Travel now while maybe you are unattached. Unencumbered by a house and possessions. Or if you have these, travel now while maybe it’s just you and your spouse. Travel now while you only have one child.

If our lives follow a predictable path, it will never be less complex the longer you wait.

6. Travel now; while you are young/young at heart

Inexpensive travel, especially on super tight travel budgets (which you may be operating on if you followed number 4 :)), means that you might not always travel in comfort. Overnight buses are most often incredible cheap ways of traveling across or between countries. But you only have so many years in you when you can hop on board a cramped bus and have a decent sleep in a seat that may or may not recline. (Or you might take the local option of forgoing sleep in exchange for an all-night party…) Staying in a beautiful local hosts home overlooking stunning cliffs is amazing. But carrying your luggage up some 300+ stone steps is only fun for so many years. Travel can be safe, comfortable or cheap, and most of the time, you can choose only two of those options. (Unless you are independently wealthy, in excellent health, and with all the time in the world. In which case, why are you here reading my blog??)

Living in Paris for a month on a strict budget meant sometimes, I traveled cheaply. Like making a new friend on a train and then accepting a ride from her and her mom. (Read about this, my first hitch hiking attempt here). 

 7. Travel now; because you don’t have anyone to travel with. 

Yes. You read that right.  Because you don’t have a travel partner. Want to splurge on a nice hotel? Go for it. You, and you alone, are in charge of your budget. Want to eat only street food? Beautiful. Check out EuroDisney instead of seeing the Mona Lisa? You don’t have to deal with anyone else’s idea of what traveling is. You have only to do exactly what you want to. 

Sound selfish? Absolutely. But it’s also the fastest way to determine what you can actually put up with, and get to enjoy your own company. 
8. Travel while you can still be the only one there. 

If you’ve ever stood in front of a beautiful ancient ruin without anyone else around. If you’ve ever stumbled on a beach and had it to yourself the entire day. If you’ve ever wandered into a local neighbourhood and been welcomed thouroughly, so much so you know they don’t get many tourists. These are, arguably, the reasons that captivate travelers. And as more people travel, eventually it might get more difficult to stumble upon these. 

Go now while there are still these places to discover. 
 

Qaqortoq, Greenland. I was the only one taking this photo for at least a mile. 

9. Two Words: Travel Friendships

The more you travel, the more people you meet, and the more offers of beds around the world you’ll find yourself being offered. And whether or not you actually take them up on the offer, having a local contact in any city can be incredibly helpful. Even a quick coffee or lunch meetup can lead to local discoveries and interesting activities that you just don’t find out from other places. 

Thanks to a few months cruising the hostel circuit in Europe, I have beds and locals to visit in more than a dozen countries around the world. 

Why put off making these contacts and friends? The sooner you go, the richer your future travels!

New travel friends at a Swedish meatball cooking class. 4 countries that I have a local friend in. 

10. It’s true. Travel really does bring history to life. 

Years ago in a high school history class, we were studying German history, particularly around the fall of the Berlin Wall. We had to create an alternative way to reunite Germany. 

To be honest, all I could remember was that Germany was divided for some reason and had to reunite. Until I actually visited the Berlin Wall; I’d had no idea why Germany actually needed to be reunited (I’m sure I memorized the facts for a test and then promptly forgot it…) 

It was so inspiring to actually see and then, understand that small part of history. 

East Side Gallery, Berlin

 11. Go, because really…why are you putting it off?

The work will be there tomorrow. Family and friends will still be there. Your at-home world won’t stop because you take a break from it. It’ll be there for you in a week, a month, a year. It’ll be there for you, regardless of if you spend the hours at a desk, or on a beach. When presented with choices like that…why not choose the adventure?