Why You Should Travel While You're Young

This past Saturday night, I had a deep philosophical conversation about life with friends in South Lake Tahoe, CA before watching the Manufactured Superstars perform at Another Way of Life (A.W.O.L.) Snow 2012.

The discussion turned to travel as I had recently spent the majority of 2011 Vagabonding in the Philippines.

As you get older, life just starts to happen to you. Your youth is a time of total empowerment.

You get to do what you want. As you mature and gain new responsibilities, you have to be very intentional about making sure you don't lose sight of what's important.

So if you still have a reasonable amount of control over your circumstances, you should do what really matters. Because life won't always be about you.

During your 20's, your worldview is being shaped and formed. It's important to be a good steward of this time and to give yourself opportunities to grow. A good way to do that is to travel.

So, young person, travel.

Travel wide and far.
Travel boldly.
Travel with full abandon.

You will regret the few risks you take when it comes to this.

There are numerous reasons why you should travel while you are young, but here are a few of the most important:

1) Traveling Teaches You to Live an Adventure

When you look back on your life, you will have moments of which you are proud and maybe a few you regret. It's likely that the following won't be on the latter list:

Appearing on Showtime, a Nationally Aired TV show in the Philippines

Training with Professional Ironman Triathletes in Penticton, Canada

Learning Tagalog in 3 Months

Enjoying Grilled Fish and Rice for Lunch on a Bamboo Raft in the South China Sea

Morning Yoga on the Beach of the Manila Bay

So what will be on your list of regrets?

-Holding back
-Being afraid
-Making excuses
-Not taking more risks
-Waiting

Travel while you are young. Take the time to see the world and taste the fullness of life. It's worth whatever investment or money or sacrifice of time required on your part.

It's not about being a tourist. It's about experiencing true risk and adventure so you don't have to live in fear for the rest of your life.

2) Traveling Helps You Encounter Compassion

In your youth, you will make choices that will define who you are as a human being. The habits you begin now will be with you for the rest of your life.

Traveling will change you like little else can. It will put you in places that will force you to care for issues that are bigger than you.

If you go to Resistencia, Chaco Argentina, you might encounter the young boys orphanage I volunteered at during the summer after my Junior year at Reed High School.

If you travel to Manila, Philippines, you may witness the struggle of life in a third world country as I did.

Your heart will break. I know mine did.

You will begin to understand that the world is both a big and small place. You will have a new-found respect for the pain and suffering that over half the world takes for granted on a daily basis. And you will feel more connected to your fellow human beings in a deep and lasting way.

You will learn to care.

3) Traveling Allows You to Experience New Cultures, Customs, and Ideas

Get cultured while you're still young. Get to know the world through a new pair of lenses and experience what it's like to live with the different people that fill it.

There's nothing quite like seeing a coral reef while Scuba Diving in Acapulco, Mexico.

I can attempt to describe the snow-capped mountains and amazing skiing in Lake Tahoe, but you really have to see it for yourself to experience it.

You can read all the books in the world about the Iguazu Falls in Argentina, but I'll be the first to tell you that being there is a completely different story.

The world is a stunning place. See it.

Do this while you're still young. Do not squander this time. You will never have it again.

You have a crucial opportunity to invest in the next season of your life now. Whatever you sow, you will eventually reap.

You won't always be young. And life won't always be just about you. So travel. Experience the world for all it's worth. Become a person of adventure, compassion, and culture.

Bon voyage!

Adapted from "3 Reasons to Travel While You’re Young" by Jeff Goins

Learning Unlimited - Sharpening the Saw

To live is to learn. I see no other option.

This is why I've felt compelled to quit jobs within the first 6 months or so.

The learning curve flattens out, and I get bored.

Though you can upgrade your brain domestically, traveling and relocating provides unique conditions that make progress faster.

The different surroundings act as a counterpoint and mirror for your own prejudices making weaknesses easier to fix.

I rarely travel somewhere without 1st deciding how I'll obsess on a specific skill.

Here are a few examples:

Resistencia, Argentina in 2003: Spanish, Tango, and Soccer



Acapulco, Mexico in 2004: Spanish and Scuba Diving



Penticton, Canada in 2008: Triathlon



Manila, Philippines in 2011: Tagalog and Muay Thai Kickboxing



I tend to focus on language acquisition and one kinesthetic skill sometimes finding the latter after landing overseas.

The most successful serial vagabonds tend to blend the mental and physical.

Language acquisition is the best thing you can do to hone clear thinking.

Quite aside from the fact that it is impossible to understand a culture without understanding its language, acquiring a new language makes you aware of your own language: your own thoughts.

The benefits of becoming fluent in a foreign language are as underestimated as the difficulty is overestimated.

It is possible to become conversationally fluent in any language in 6 months or less. At 4 hours per day, six months can be whittled down to less than 3 months.

It is beyond the scope of this blog post to explain applied linguistics and the 80/20 of language learning, but resources and complete how-to guides can be found under "language" at www.fourhourblog.com.

Gain a language and your paradigm shifts. You gain a second lens through which to question and understand the world.

Learning different sports is a skill that you can practice domestically and still be able to transport that skill to another country. Instant social life and camaraderie.

It need not be a competitive sport - it could be hiking, chess, or almost anything that keeps your nose out of a textbook and out of your apartment.

Sports just happen to be excellent for avoiding foreign-language stage fright and developing lasting friendships.

Don't miss the chance to double your life experience :)

Adapted from "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Timothy Ferriss