I totally agree with travelling as much as possible when you’re young and mobile. Though, sometimes backpacking can also turn into a ‘surface level’ cruise ship experience. Going from city to city but exclusively hanging out with other travellers.
You could take it a step further and work or study abroad. This way you might have a chance to learn the language and meet some locals.
A reason too many people travel for. I love this article, but I think it misses the 'how' in travel.
People should aim to spend months in one country. Find an island in Greece, away from the tourism (not Mykonos), get a crappy job, learn the language, eat the food, and make genuine relationships (not with American's on the same travel kick).
I've seen too much of the two week, five country, trips. Too many focused on list-maxxing, prepared to answer "do you travel?" with a rehearsed list you can find in their Notes app, meanwhile they spent 24-48 hours in each place.
Let's normalize making a place your own. In a week, you can visit most of the local restaurants. In a month, you begin to prepare the dishes yourself. In three months, you're regularly setting up dinners with local friends, speaking their language, wearing their clothes, listening to their music.
You might have just convinced me to travel instead of stressing about finding some prestigious job after I graduate. This post was inspiring and thought provoking, loved it!
I totally agree with travelling as much as possible when you’re young and mobile. Though, sometimes backpacking can also turn into a ‘surface level’ cruise ship experience. Going from city to city but exclusively hanging out with other travellers.
You could take it a step further and work or study abroad. This way you might have a chance to learn the language and meet some locals.
"to impress people that we don't care about"
A reason too many people travel for. I love this article, but I think it misses the 'how' in travel.
People should aim to spend months in one country. Find an island in Greece, away from the tourism (not Mykonos), get a crappy job, learn the language, eat the food, and make genuine relationships (not with American's on the same travel kick).
I've seen too much of the two week, five country, trips. Too many focused on list-maxxing, prepared to answer "do you travel?" with a rehearsed list you can find in their Notes app, meanwhile they spent 24-48 hours in each place.
Let's normalize making a place your own. In a week, you can visit most of the local restaurants. In a month, you begin to prepare the dishes yourself. In three months, you're regularly setting up dinners with local friends, speaking their language, wearing their clothes, listening to their music.
You might have just convinced me to travel instead of stressing about finding some prestigious job after I graduate. This post was inspiring and thought provoking, loved it!