I’m sure you’ve heard it before, “settle down! get an Education, and later, when you’re 30 you can travel!”, probably talk coming from your parents or grandparents.
And then you got the folks on the other side of the spectrum, “Broooo, you need to travel, NOW! Before the World is taken over by aliens!”, probably your weird friend, or that hippy you met at that art festival.
But are any of these extremes “the way” to go? Naw, I don’t think so.
Firstly, you don’t want to be stuck in a classroom for four more years, right after getting out of Highschool, with your face in books, and your mind on grades.
Whether you’re getting into your 20s, or maybe you're a bit older, you “most likely” still don’t have much responsibility. You don’t have a wife, you don’t got any kids, you don’t got a morgage... yet. So it’s the perfect time to get out there and explore!
And I honestly think as a 20-year-old, you don’t want those responsibilities, and the responsibility of needing to know which career path to take. I mean you might have some broad idea, of “I want to pursue this or that”, but your early 20’s isn’t the right time to make some drastic decisions.
But still, you don’t want to go off traveling, and then come back and feel like you’re more lost than when you left. And to see that your friends have degrees and are “accomplishing things”, and you’ve been left behind.
So... the better option; a perspective which I acquired through my years as a lost soul :( is that balance is the way.
It’s about combining travel, with some sort of learning experience. Or to phrase it correctly, to do what is called Work and Travel. Now that’s a fancy term right there, “Work and Travel”. Like a magical spell of some sort.
Work and Travel is when you travel, and work, all at the same time.
Is this like some sort of work online thing while you’re traveling? Naw, naw. It’s better.
There are programs out there, that offer you an experience somewhere far, far from home, away from the chaos of your family life, away from the stresses of school, work, and all that bullsh*t.
If you want to dive right into it, here are where you can find these programs, workaway.info, coolworks.com, and worldpackers.com
Basically, you work for someone else, in another country (of your choosing) and simultaneously discover another culture, another language, a new way of living. You can travel off to Spain, Germany, Australia, America, wherever your heart desires. And the best part is that this is all free. Well, you do have to work a bit, but you get accommodation, food, and in some scenarios pay. And the jobs aren’t difficult.
There are two ways you can do this, either work with a private host, someone who needs specific help with something. Or work for a Resort, this is where you work in a remote location, usually in national parks, and you have a real job, with pay, and all the above included.
I won’t go too much into details here, because I have a full Course on the Work and Travel Lifestyle, but the beauty of this type of travel is that you get to explore the world, learn something useful, and you don’t have to spend your pocket money.
The thing that I see young people do wrong, is that they travel around, go from place to place, without purpose, without a mission, and they eventually come back with empty hands and a confused head. And this is the fault of travel influencers, making people think that “if you just get away and travel, all of your problems will go away”, don’t fall into this trap.
Constant travel will wear you out, like a pair of nice shoes. If you don’t take ‘em off sometimes they won’t last ya too long. You lose touch with reality when you’re constantly on the road. And, yes, there will be the occasional adventures, but when you return home, people will listen to your stories once or twice, but, with time, things go back "to the way they used to be”, so don’t be surprised when people get tired of listening.
This is why it’s important to travel with some mission, some purpose. Because then not only does your perspective grow, but also so do you. And then when you return home, you’ve returned with some new tools!
So now, pick something that you’d like to learn... Can be anything you’re curious about. You got it? Ok, ok. I don’t know what it is, but I’ll guess it’s Yoga. This is quite popular nowadays, so let’s go with this.
There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of Work and Travel programs where you could either help someone teach Yoga, help someone organize Yoga events, or help a Yoga teacher with housekeeping, babysitting, whatever - you name it. There are even Resorts that offer Yoga workshops.
The point is, Work and Travel doesn’t only allow you to travel to other countries, but also puts you in environments and around people that can help you nourish a skill, or an interest that you might have.
This is just one of the several categories which Work and Travel can offer.
You can work in a Hostel and learn how to run the day-to-day operations, you can help someone build a house and learn all about carpeting, plumbing, etc, you can even work with animals, learn how to ride a horse, or milk a cow! Exciting stuff!
Don’t waste your 20s backpacking around, doing drugs, and hanging around people that won’t help you build a better future. Surround yourself with people and experiences that can actually teach you something, or help you grow in different ways.
Work and Travel changed the game for me.
When I travel now, I travel with a purpose, I have a mission, I have something to accomplish. I’m not just wandering around, wasting time.
I hope that you got something out of this and that you’re inspired to start a new adventure!
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.