So, I've packed in my job and I'm going on an adventure. Want to know why? That's easy...
1. Travelling is an eduation.
Textbooks and lectures can only teach you so much. The world of work, with all its unpredicitabilites: the deadlines, the office politics, the demanding clients, the unrealistic turnaround times, the broken printers, the computer crashes that cost you 3 days work; they can only teach you so much, too.
You will learn more travelling - whether you go for a month or a year - than you ever thought was possible. About places and people. About culture, relegion and history. About food, about booze, about partying. But most of all about yourself.
2. It'll make you braver.
Because at the end of the day you need to eat, you need to sleep and you need to get around. All of these things can be a challenge when you're a million miles from home. You learn to throw yourself out there, to speak to everyone, to be unafraid of asking questions. You learn to be ballsy when bartering; you wise-up to the way of the world.
3. The stories.
Stories that no one could ever write. Things will happen that you'll look back on and just think 'Whoah.' and I'm not saying that's a good 'whoah' or even a bad 'whoah', but I can guarantee that things will happen that you'll want to tell the world about. That tattoo I've got on my foot that is slowly fading away? I got it on Koh Phi Phi, one of my favourite places in the world. It cost my £15 and the tattooist did it traditionally with bamboo. It's meant to say one thing but it probably says something else; and you know what? I love it.
4. It's a million miles from your comfort zone.
Getting off the plane, stepping out into the airport lounge, and being met - not by your family waving boards emblazoned with your name - but by 100's of taxi drivers trying to grab your backpack from you and load you into their car... That's intimidating. Trying to walk down the street only to be photographed every few minutes... That's not easy either. Your comfort zone will triple in size when you're travelling; suddenly the spiders don't seem to large, and the weird noises outside your room don't creep you out quite so much. Culture shocks are meant to be just that: shocking. Embrace it, because it's awesome.
5. Because you can. Yolo.
Travel is cheaper than ever. The possibilities are literally endless. So regardless of your time frame, your budget, your companion; you should travel because you can.
6. Because you'll regret it if you don't.
Every point on this list tells you why. You've got a golden oppurunity just waiting for you to grasp it; don't hold out on this one.
7. The food.
Whether you're a self-confessed foodie or brussel sprouts make you grimace; travelling will introduce you to the most amazing food. Street food in Vietnam served in carts by women in pyramid hats, slow cooked tangine in Morocco, the freshest fish imaginable in Kenya... There's certainly been some highlights. Low-lights too of course: deep-fried crickets from a vendor on Koh Sahn Road, the weirdest Malaysian dessert in Georgetown. But it's eye-opening, belly-rumble inducing, and an incredible way to explore a country.
8. It'll open your eyes.
Your destination will dictate how, but travelling; getting out of your comfort zone, embracing another culture and taking a deep dive into a different place, will open your eyes. To the different ways of life, to the day to day struggles, to poverty, to wealth, to family values, to relationships. Approach it with a level-head, and you'll be promptly blown away.
9. You learn to live with nothing.
I love my backpack. But, after 3 months with it, I learnt to ensure that nothing of value was kept inside. Money, passports, important documents; they were all kept on my person at all times. Beyond that, I didn't need anything else. My backpack could have fallen overboard; I could have left half it's contents in a hostel, and I would have been okay. You learn to live with the very barest of essnetials and it's bloody great.
10. The memories.
You will have the time of your life, and make memories that will go on to define you. You will meet incredible people, drink too much locally brewed beer, you'll nearly miss fllights and buses, you'll spend hour after hour after hour trying to find the perfect postiton to sleep on a train, you'll get really ridiculously good at the 3 card games you made the effort to learn, you'll begin to finish the sentence of your companion. The biggest decisions you will need to make will be which country to go next and how you are going to get there.
It's a big wide wonderful world out there, and until you've got out there and actually seen it, you've only scratched the surface.
