Almost everyone I talk to wants to travel and see the world.
But for those who choose to travel like I want to, to make a life out of wandering the globe, the lifestyle means giving up certain things.
In the past year, I’ve had the chance to attend several of my friends’ weddings, and one of my best friends became a father in October. I had the honor to bear witness to most of these events and to celebrate all of them, but it did drive home a point.
Watching my friends settle down and move forward into a new segment of their lives made me think. I’m not looking for any long-term commitments at the moment. I don’t particularly want children. I’ll be 25 in September, and my only thoughts are to see as much of the world as I can.
Don’t get me wrong — I have nothing against marriage. It’s a wonderful thing, and I love weddings. They’re fun, and there’s always dancing.
(I like events with dancing, even if I don’t — can’t — dance.)
But a settled life is not part of my world view at the moment. Sure, I can always choose to stop traveling at some point in the future. I can decide that is enough is enough and it’s time for me to start painting a picket fence.
But by choosing to travel now, I’m trading that time for something else.
For those friends who are settled down, building homes together, and for me, the guy who can’t seem to be satisfied sitting still, life is a vastly different thing.
I don’t regret the path I’ve chosen, although a part of me yearns to know what life might be like on the road not traveled. Still, I’ve always been the kind of guy who looks at the well-beaten path and scoffs, opting instead to trudge through the overgrown weeds and brambles of another way.
Choosing a life of travel seems like a no-brainer, but I feel like it’s important to be honest: it does mean some sacrifice, even though I believe the trade off is completely worth it.
Someone once told me, after hearing of my travel plans, that I seemed like a lost romantic prince. I try not to give that impression — instead, I want people to realize that travel is accessible to everyone. You don’t have to be rich to do it. You don’t want to wait until you’re retired to go see the world. In fact, the best time to travel is when you’re young — there is no better education.
(But I did like the romantic prince comment. Score one for my ego!)
Side note: I’ve recently begun to use Instagram to post photographs of my travels and my experiences. Several of the photos from the last post (Exploring Locally) were edited with Instagram filters. If you’d like to follow along as I post both travel pictures and photos of day to day life, look up voyagersquill.
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