Traveling. A word that ignites curiosity, fear and excitement all at once.

I once read a quote on Facebook before that said, “Grind in your 20s. Build in your 30s. Chill in your 40s.” Of course there is nothing wrong with the latter statements, however, I find it amusing that we have age brackets to tell us what to do in those stages of our lives.

“Life begins at 30.” No, not really, unless that’s how you want it to be. Your life already began when you were born. Remember that. And since then, ask yourself if you’ve achieved something that always leaves you smiling and makes you proud every time you think about it. If traveling is one of those things that you want to achieve, then do it!

In my opinion, 20s is the time to start exploring. It is the stage in our lives where most of us are unsure of what we want to be. We are still uncertain of who we want to be, what career to pursue and basically what is the meaning of life to each of us. We are vulnerable to suggestions and advice from peers of how we should live our lives. Most of the time, they tell us to start investing, and sometimes they tell us what job they see us in. Even though we think we’re not easily influenced by comments and friendly suggestions, subconsciously we are easily swayed by opinions, new ideas, recent experiences and current emotions. And traveling will greatly help in expanding one’s horizon and clearing one’s mind.

Character building. Earlier I mentioned how we can be easily influenced by our surroundings. When traveling, we become more vigilant, less dependent on others and at the same time we also become more appreciative of company. By traveling, we develop skills and we grow as a person with stories to tell and we grow to a certain character that others could be inspired by and relate to.

In our early 20s, most of us do not have any obligations and serious commitments yet. Nothing and no one ties us down. Or if there is, we still have room to wiggle and make the journey happen. Enjoy the time of our lives where we are neither too young nor too old to do things. We are not too young to enjoy a refreshing pint of beer in a hip pub. Not too young to go enjoy the nightlife of other cities. You are not too old to… wait…I guess, you are actually never too old to do anything. However I do not wanna be doing extreme hikes with a lot of stairs when I’m old. I’ll leave it at that.

Have you ever been told by someone older than you, to just ‘live life right now’ and ‘enjoy the moment?’ Those people have lived their lives thinking how it would have been better if they enjoyed their younger years and did what made them happy. I think that’s another sign to actually start doing what you want.

One last point to remember, life is short and unpredictable. Not everyone reaches the age of 30, 40 and the golden age of 50.  If you are fortunate to reach your 20s, do something great, something that will make you smile when you wake up in the morning. If you really want to travel, do not wait too long. Today is called the ‘present’ because it is a gift.

Bon Voyage!