I’ve been thinking about long term travel lately and how so many people assume that you have to be in your 20s in order to do it. Well, they use the term ‘young’ but what they usually mean is in your 20s, before you have entered the job force, before you have a family, before you have responsibilities, before you have to be a ‘real adult’. I know that this is what they mean, because they’re almost always shocked when I give my age. Yes, I look younger than I am and that is part of why I get surprised looks, but a large part of it is also that many people don’t see someone in their 30s traveling long term without it being for work.
I of course get a lot of questions about how I afford it, but I get just as many questions about what I do for a living. The assumption is that in my 30s that I must be doing this for work.
I have been traveling for almost a year now, and this isn’t a new line of questions from people I meet. But the 20 somethings? They don’t get asked about it. Or the couple of times they do, it isn’t met with the same level of intensity. Especially in countries with regular working holiday visas. These questions don’t even typically come up until my age does. Before that point, people assume that I’m traveling short term or when they find out this is long term only ask about the money aspect then proceed to make a comment about how nice it is that I decided to do this before I enter the work force. The questions seem to double when they find out that I quit my great job that I loved.
The truth is though, I’ve met people of all ages that have decided to do this. Some who are digital nomads sure, but there are also those that do contract work and then travel between, some that do freelance gigs, some that are retirees, some that work at home for a while to save and then jump on a plane to travel until they need to save up again. There are even those that do it with their entire family.
Long term travel isn’t something that you can put an age stop on. It’s not something that ‘makes more sense when you’re young’. It’s not something someone does on a whim.
It’s something that someone felt strongly enough about that they decided to give it a try. It’s something that calls to you on a certain level and fills you with a peaceful settled feeling. Sure, sometimes it’s for a predetermined amount of time, sometimes it’s not what you expected and so you head back early, but sometimes it’s something that people structure their lives around. I’ve met people who traveled for weeks or months and said “I’m done, I’m heading home. I miss it.” And I’ve met people who have fallen in love with it so much that they do everything they can to figure out how to make it last longer than they planned.
And none of that has anything to do with age. It is our societal expectations that put those limits on us. Even how you travel has nothing to do with age. I know people older than me that stay in hostels and I know people younger that can’t stand the idea of sharing a space. Those are personal preferences, not age preferences. There are different types of accommodations (hostels included), for a reason – because everyone will have their own limits. I know plenty of people who budget travel in private accommodation, I also know of plenty that spend a whole lot of money during their travels but stay in hostels. It’s all about your priorities. Just like I know people who have a great car but a modest house (and vice versa), people who wear expensive clothes but eat cheap, people who live in sweats but have the newest gaming equipment.
It’s your life – live it how you want, you’re the one that has to look back and decide if it was worth it. Travel, don’t travel. But don’t let age make that decision.
