Indeed. Often in the modern world you can see someone or hear about their life it can be hard to tell if they are pretty rich or pretty poor. I feel like there is more overlap now perhaps than ever in things that could be something done with intent for some social or environmental or philosophical purpose- or don’t out of necessity.
I don’t know that I agree or disagree. Travel can be great, and it is good to experience different places and cultures, but I also don’t know that this almost mystical aura traveling has taken on is well earned. I mean, in the modern age especially there are so many ways to soak up and experience different places and cultures without needing to travel, while one could always “travel Through books” and such, with the internet and modern apps you can literally “walk” a path through most places on earth from your screen and talk to people around the world, listen to popular music etc. no, or isn’t quite the same, but before anyone looks down their nose and points out how that isn’t the “real” way to experience a culture or place.. not everyone who physically goes to these places “really” experiences them by going places natives go and eating and living like a native while there and such, so we are splitting hairs, and a tourist is always a tourist even if you spend a few years abroad.
So I don’t know that travel is so “necessary” as many think. That said, traveling can be good for you. Most people can still travel when they are young, you don’t have to go on some grand international affair. Do day trips, drive or take a train or bus etc. to somewhere that you can get to in a day, do some exploring, and make it back the same day. Walk around the city or hike or explore beaches and caves, trials and mountains or whatever else. If you have a little money take some overnight or weekend trips. Unless you live somewhere very rural and remote there are almost certainly places you haven’t been or seen and things you haven’t done around your area that you can do.
But we can go further. If you frequent websites and such, downfield plane tickets come up for very cheap. Some times flights to Los Angeles of Los Vegas can be had for $100 or less, Florida for $100 or less, Japan for $500 or so, etc. it depends on where you live, but I’ve been able to book flights for as low as $50 to places 12+ hours away from me, for those prices I’ve flown somewhere just to have dinner and fly home.
Sometimes airlines offer travel travel pass deals- something like $500 a month for X flights or $1000 for unlimited flights etc.
with a little planning you can possibly take advantage and just spend a month traveling.
Some international destinations can be soooo cheap. You can rent a place in Thailand for $100-500 a month for a private place for example. Meals can be as little as $5 a day or less. If you stay in hostels, sometimes it is much cheaper. There are various clubs and apps and websites and programs through colleges and high schools to meet international or far away friends or do exchanges, hosting, etc.
making friends across the country or world can sometimes be a great way to have places you can travel to where at least a place to sleep is free or very cheap if not possibly some or all food, transport etc.
There are all sorts of tricks to the game- going to certain European countries from abroad can be quite expensive, you can even save hundreds or thousands of dollars on domestic flights by playing with your departure and arrival airports. Using the Europe example, you can do Europe very affordably with a few possible tricks. One is to stick to parts of Eastern Europe. There are many beautiful and historic sights to see, local culture and cuisine, and your money often goes farther than Western Europe. You can fly into certain countries and then take trains or boats to Western Europe or Scandinavia etc. and the same can often be done in many parts of Asia where you might find cheap travel to one country and then a cheap path to your final destination.
Often times you can save a lot of money by “living like a local,” this is where research or a local friend can be very helpful. Using Japan as an example- if you go to Japan from America or parts of Europe etc. and expect to eat and drink like you do here, stay in similar accommodations and drive everywhere etc- it will likely be a very expensive trip. If you eat like a local and stay like a local and get around like a local- you’ll save a lot. Use local cell providers, use local brands. Air dry clothes, etc etc.
staying further from the tourist hot spots and trying to shop and eat and stay where locals tend to can often save lots of money for the same goods and services which are often pre expensive in tourist areas. Not doing every expensive touristy thing but seeing historic land marks that are free (sans perhaps travel etc), going to festivals and such instead of theme parks and attractions, finding “underground” scenes, dive bars, parties etc.
With proper planning and an eye for deals and ways to save, you can go almost anywhere and get a true taste of the culture and cuisine etc. while sticking to a budget. Some places are inherently more expensive. Prices for most things tend to be higher in Island nations for example, especially ones with strong economies and/or tourism. It may be unrealistic to think you can do Paris for $10 a day unless you’re willing to sleep outside or something or have people there who will help care for you, but there are countries and places where $10 a day can get you a good time.
Of course, you probably need to plan, the less you have the more planning is required generally. So finding the deals and less I f what you can to plan a fun and safe trip on a budget yes- but life planning.
It may take you a year or some years to save up for a trip that is $1,000, maybe even $300 or less, but if you save up, you’ll have the money eventually to go somewhere. I’ve been POOR, all caps. So I know this “anyone can save $100…” attitude is insulting when keeping $100 seems as likely as keeping $100,000. True poor is not a place where “you just cut back a little…” there isn’t much you can do if you are true poor except to either become a wandering vagabond (which can beat being a stationary vagabond) or work on getting less poor. Easier said than done, I know. I’m not an “if I can do it anyone can!” A&$ hole. I got lucky. Not everyone does no matter what they do. So if you’re POOR, like- basically homeless- yeah. A $50 flight is still to expensive.
You can still travel though- around your city or area, on foot or bike etc. or just to parks and libraries and such- until you hopefully get squared away to a better place. For everyone else who is just “broke poor,” almost everyone is “broke poor,” I’ve known people with million dollar homes making 6 figures who were chronically broke poor and didn’t have a lot to show that would make you say: “ah, that’s where all their money goes..” somehow, money stays pretty tight until you’re wealthy, so how much money you have doesn’t impact things as much as wealth in general. If you’re making $100k a year but putting half into investments and retirement, you have the same or less money to spend on things you want but don’t need as someone making $50k or less. So this next stuff isn’t for the POOR folks out there, just the broke poor.
Watch your money. I’ve known a lot of broke young people, “I can’t afford a car/to fix my car!” “I can’t afford rent!” “I can’t afford to travel!” Etc. And yet… they’d come in Monday after a night at the bar having spent $100 or more. If they missed just a couple of those, a day trip or overnight or weekend trip would be paid for. I know- it sounds like a bitter old man thing to say. “Young people waste money!” I was young. I wasted money. I didn’t realize how much until I got old and more financially intelligent. I still waste money on my stupid hobbies. Oh well. If the “cut back on waste” doesn’t apply to you it doesn’t, not all young people spend money like that, but a good number do. So for those who do, cutting back can help. For those who have problems with delayed gratification, working on that can help.
Here is a fun tip for those who are young and broke and perhaps still don’t have great credit: many credit unions and small banks etc. offer “credit builder loans.” These are generally small loans that usually have various protections that make it either hard or virtually impossible to mess up even if you end up not paying the loan- they’ll just close it out but not report it, so you get credit for the loan up to that point but it closes as though you paid in full even if you don’t pay it off. This works because most of this are odd loans. You pick an amount and how long you want to pay it back, and then you pay the monthly loan payment… and they don’t give you any money.
At least not at first. What happens is- say your bank has a $2000 loan for 3 years. You pay the loan plus interest (usually small percentage since the risk is minimal) and then after 3 years if you’ve paid the money, they give you your $2000. So this not only gives you a loan to help build up your credit portfolio, but it creates a sort of “automatic savings” that in usually 6-36 months will pay you the loan amount. So you just pay every month for the time and amount you want to “save,” build credit while you do it at little or no credit risk, and then at the end you have a little lump sum you can use to take a trip! Fun fun. There are other financial products and instruments that work too.
If you’re serious about wanting to travel but it seems prohibitive, there are things that can help. For one thing, most people I know who love to travel live minimally. They don’t generally have lots of personal possessions and unless they own a home or have space at a parents home etc, they usually don’t buy large and/or expensive things that aren’t portable and useful. Not only can the money saved form not “collecting” junk fund travel or feed investments and income streams to help afford travel or life expenses, but that means they can simply pack up and go where they want. These people also usually don’t have pets unless they have a reliable and willing free or cheap pet sitter, and they usually don’t have kids. If you have kids, travel, especially international or long distance can become quite expensive as you often can’t take cost cutting measures you can alone and you’re paying for at least 2 people for everything. There isn’t a lot to be done about that, you can still travel
but you may have to save more or get someone like family to watch the kids if that’s possibility and travel less frequently than you might otherwise.
So anyway, if you structure your life to make travel easier, that can help. You don’t have to live that way forever, but you can bounce around especially when young, explore places, maybe find a place you want to plant roots and do so when the time comes. Certain jobs obviously help traveling- remote work jobs can often be done from anywhere, if you’re a remote worker even a call center worker etc. you may have to ensure reliable telecom access where you are going and be mindful of any time differences and/or work that out with your management, but you can travel and work at the same time possibly. Many jobs demand travel, business travel often doesn’t leave time or energy for “hanging out” or exploring- but it can. Especially if you work somewhere with decent PTO and can take perhaps a few days off when the company pays travel at
one end or the other or “bookending” your trip. Many employers will readily accommodate time off abroad with tickets for those dates since often it doesn’t cost them more to do a few days later or earlier departure or arrival or if you plan well it can even save money. I’ve known people who have successfully gotten their companies to give them “time off” without them taking leave because they presented a case where that actually ended up being better for the company financially than having them come back early. So there are lots of options and ways to get creative. I knew a traveling nurse who loved to travel. He had a home somewhere with low home prices but would work all over. When he was gone long periods he would rent his house out, and his work paid him a stipend to live where the latest job was for him.
I’ve known people who had to move out of shared housing like “roommate” rentals and instead of signing a new lease, they simply went abroad to somewhere where rent was basically the same or less than their area but other living costs were lower, and they stayed in a foreign country for 6 months or so and either came back or just hopped countries to other affordable countries. One friend did that for almost 3 whole years.
Of course there are other options, being in the military CAN be a way to see places and travel. It depends a bit on wether you come from a pace where military induction or bases are common, and the branch of service as well as the speciality you get assigned and such- but the military has been a way to see the world that pays you for centuries or longer. It isn’t all roses all the time for everyone, but that’s a possible option.
So- when you get older, if you’ve been responsible with money and lucky enough in life and built your skills and career etc. travel gets easier in many ways. You can generally more easily afford to travel and take bigger trips and such. You can generally have developed a stable career where you’re a respected professional and you can get some time off here and there.
You generally are more established and it’s easier to put up $5k on a vacation when you own a house with a reasonable mortgage than paying some high rent and so forth. But it can be harder too. You often have more responsibility and more people relying on you at work. You may have kids and other commitments, more possessions and relationships that require careful balance and planning. I will say that the experience of the world, how you see it is up to you but tends fo change with age. The way the world sees and treats you certainly changes with age.
So it tends to be the case that for most people, dating and romance at 19-23 or so isn’t the same as at 30, 40, 50… and neither is life. A trip across Europe will probably be very different if you go at 20 than 40- even if you haven’t changed at all and the same trip would be fun to you at 40 as you’d enjoy at 20, some things maybe won’t be the same to you. That can be good and bad, and isn’t universally true, but the entire vibe of being 20 tends to be a lot different. That said- anytime is often better than never, and you still might be able to do all the things you want regardless- I’m just saying to the young folks, you’re only going once and most people as you get older stop thinking many things are cute or acceptable or understandable. If you try to date a college kid using the same style as a middle schooler and emotional range it probably ends badly. If you do something wild and stupid and get caught at 20 alot of people might let it go as kids being kids, at 40 they’ll more..
.. likely think you should know better. So there are reasons to try and travel some when you’re young. Experiences tend to shape us more and you can carry those with you through more of your life. You often have more leeway in terms of family and career when young, and life tends to have a different feeling, you’re mind and body tend to be in the most pliable states and your body is usually closest to its prime with lots of energy and usually fewer issues to cause problems than the older you get. You have more time to bounce back from missteps and more time to enjoy it when you make good choices and find memories.
So look, not everyone can travel in any meaningful way. Not everyone can even take a weekend trip or a day trip. My honest opinion is that you can be a perfectly awesome human being without traveling. You can have broad knowledge and experience, you can get most or all of the benefits of travel without the travel, and not everyone enjoys travel. That’s all ok. If you want to travel or have never traveled, checking it out isn’t a bad idea and finding out for sure early on wether you might enjoy it or not or might find a better place for yourself or gain some benefit or not. But if you don’t travel you can still learn and grow, and there is something to be said for putting in roots and putting your time and effort to building a home and a good stable life on one spot.
You can do both in theory, but if you want or have to choose one- do what you think is best. I am not someone who looks down on anyone because they can’t or choose not to travel. We can be exposed to other cultures and ideas and become very worldly right from the couch. Do you. But there are lots of ways you can travel, big and small, on most budgets in most situations. Go to a national park, a beach, a local park you’ve never seen- volunteer for something that will include some local reveal or such, or may get you lodging etc. to help cut costs. Save money by staying one day and no nights or by staying months so your travel costs go further. Get creative and do your research, or don’t.
It’s ok to put tangible things over memories. You can’t use a memory of a trip to rip wood for your fence or drive you to work.
You can’t generally trade a memory of a trip for a new trip if you’re sick of it or need something else but you can probably trade that Harley motorcycle for something. The memory of that sweet summer romance might help keep to warm when your land lord throws you out, but that tool box can be sold or traded for rent. So for sure, be practical. Bohemians and privileged and wealthy people or people with nothing to lose can travel as much as they are able regardless of what that means to being able to develop and build a stable and functioning life of a certain standard. A lot of folks can’t or that doesn’t make sense. It’s ok to prize experiences over things and vice versa. This has just been some ways to travel if one wanted to but felt too broke
You are well within your rights, certainly my loquaciousness isn’t for everyone, and I hold you in esteem or at least regard for my part in things.
Of course, to really understand why there is a character limit, we must take a bit of a journey, and this journey is not a straight line. While a combination of technological realities and psychology meet in a place where experience on how humans perceive and interact with user interfaces and information, you’d be surprised that we can trace roots far back to the Babylonians. So, please do pull up a seat as I will now start in Babylon and work our way through….
Nah. Just kidding. This will be a one comment reply/joke, but given the exchange immediately above this, it would be bad form not to had stretched things a bit. You’re good in my book garlog. Just having some fun.
Sometimes airlines offer travel travel pass deals- something like $500 a month for X flights or $1000 for unlimited flights etc.
with a little planning you can possibly take advantage and just spend a month traveling.
making friends across the country or world can sometimes be a great way to have places you can travel to where at least a place to sleep is free or very cheap if not possibly some or all food, transport etc.
staying further from the tourist hot spots and trying to shop and eat and stay where locals tend to can often save lots of money for the same goods and services which are often pre expensive in tourist areas. Not doing every expensive touristy thing but seeing historic land marks that are free (sans perhaps travel etc), going to festivals and such instead of theme parks and attractions, finding “underground” scenes, dive bars, parties etc.
It may take you a year or some years to save up for a trip that is $1,000, maybe even $300 or less, but if you save up, you’ll have the money eventually to go somewhere. I’ve been POOR, all caps. So I know this “anyone can save $100…” attitude is insulting when keeping $100 seems as likely as keeping $100,000. True poor is not a place where “you just cut back a little…” there isn’t much you can do if you are true poor except to either become a wandering vagabond (which can beat being a stationary vagabond) or work on getting less poor. Easier said than done, I know. I’m not an “if I can do it anyone can!” A&$ hole. I got lucky. Not everyone does no matter what they do. So if you’re POOR, like- basically homeless- yeah. A $50 flight is still to expensive.
So anyway, if you structure your life to make travel easier, that can help. You don’t have to live that way forever, but you can bounce around especially when young, explore places, maybe find a place you want to plant roots and do so when the time comes. Certain jobs obviously help traveling- remote work jobs can often be done from anywhere, if you’re a remote worker even a call center worker etc. you may have to ensure reliable telecom access where you are going and be mindful of any time differences and/or work that out with your management, but you can travel and work at the same time possibly. Many jobs demand travel, business travel often doesn’t leave time or energy for “hanging out” or exploring- but it can. Especially if you work somewhere with decent PTO and can take perhaps a few days off when the company pays travel at
Of course there are other options, being in the military CAN be a way to see places and travel. It depends a bit on wether you come from a pace where military induction or bases are common, and the branch of service as well as the speciality you get assigned and such- but the military has been a way to see the world that pays you for centuries or longer. It isn’t all roses all the time for everyone, but that’s a possible option.
You generally are more established and it’s easier to put up $5k on a vacation when you own a house with a reasonable mortgage than paying some high rent and so forth. But it can be harder too. You often have more responsibility and more people relying on you at work. You may have kids and other commitments, more possessions and relationships that require careful balance and planning. I will say that the experience of the world, how you see it is up to you but tends fo change with age. The way the world sees and treats you certainly changes with age.
You can’t generally trade a memory of a trip for a new trip if you’re sick of it or need something else but you can probably trade that Harley motorcycle for something. The memory of that sweet summer romance might help keep to warm when your land lord throws you out, but that tool box can be sold or traded for rent. So for sure, be practical. Bohemians and privileged and wealthy people or people with nothing to lose can travel as much as they are able regardless of what that means to being able to develop and build a stable and functioning life of a certain standard. A lot of folks can’t or that doesn’t make sense. It’s ok to prize experiences over things and vice versa. This has just been some ways to travel if one wanted to but felt too broke
Of course, to really understand why there is a character limit, we must take a bit of a journey, and this journey is not a straight line. While a combination of technological realities and psychology meet in a place where experience on how humans perceive and interact with user interfaces and information, you’d be surprised that we can trace roots far back to the Babylonians. So, please do pull up a seat as I will now start in Babylon and work our way through….
Nah. Just kidding. This will be a one comment reply/joke, but given the exchange immediately above this, it would be bad form not to had stretched things a bit. You’re good in my book garlog. Just having some fun.