“Do it while you’re young,” everyone used to tell me. “I’m too old to travel now. I’ve got a house, a job, kids, responsibilities. I wish I had traveled more when I was young enough to do it.”
I’m not that old, but I’m old enough to remember what it was like to travel “while young.” It’s sleepless nights crashing on a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend’s couch in Boston. It’s getting sick to my stomach from eating greasy street food in Istanbul, so I could save on cash. It’s smelling like body odor, and not shaving my legs for weeks, because I had the genius idea to just take overnight trains through Europe, instead of paying a little bit more for a room at a hotel.
Those experiences of course taught me lessons, but now I enjoy knowing that each trip I take will be better than the last, because of the stupid mistakes I made in my youth.
At the Globe Theater in London, during my first international trip.
The way I travel now is very different from the way I used to travel. When I was a teenager, my travels were restricted to wherever my parents would drop me off. We took family vacations where the locations and activities were dictated by those in charge – the parents, the “older folks” who constantly complained about not being able to travel enough (well, they did just fine it seemed, bringing us around the USA and teaching us new things along the way).
In my early 20s I finally had the time and the freedom, but money was my biggest constraint. I’d work up to three jobs sometimes to help pay for a study abroad program in London, or raise money to volunteer in Ghana.
I traveled whenever I could afford to do so, and became an expert budget traveler in the process; wherever I went, I carefully calculated the cost of the trip and every expense. If I had enough money leftover, I’d eat at a fancy restaurant in Budapest, or treat myself to a custom-made dress from a tailor in Cape Coast.
Traveling like that was a lot of fun. I’d meet the most interesting people in hostels, and we’d party until the sun came up. I’d have brief romantic encounters with beautiful foreign men, and come home with no regrets.
I’d think about all of the ways I could incorporate the feelings I experienced on the road into my daily life, and became scared at the possibility that I could grow older and lose it all.
Now I’m in my late 20s, and things have changed a lot. I not only travel for work, but part of my job is to write about my experiences abroad. I make more money than I did previously, and can afford to stay in homey AirBnBs in Buenos Aires, taste secret menus designed by world-famous chefs in Tokyo, and fly Business Class (well, talk my way into an upgrade at least – wearing sharp-looking clothing certainly helps!).
It makes me wonder what the future holds. Soon I will be married, and I will probably buy a house, and eventually have a family. While some might see those as restrictions on an otherwise idealistic life, I think of them as parts of my life that will transform the way I travel.
Maybe with a mortgage, I’ll have to go back to budgeting my travels. But maybe with a few children, I’ll get to watch how they react when I show them this incredible world. Seeing places you know and love, and getting to discover new cities alongside your family, is a very different, very rewarding way to travel. That’s the kind of attitude I must always have in order to not become exhausted by the thought.
What may be even more interesting, is getting to revisit places from my youth, as a growing adult. How will Prague feel to me ten years since I moved back to New York? What new developments will the village I volunteered at in Ghana have, and how are the lives of the women I used to work alongside?
Whenever someone says they are “too old to travel,” I try to help them understand that it is possible, no matter what age they are. There are so many great things to experience, you don’t always have to be young.
Maybe you won’t understand what it’s like to sleep with 16 other people in a hostel dorm room, but getting treated to some fancy cocktails at a rooftop bar in Bangkok will make up for it. Maybe you won’t ever hike Mount Kilimanjaro – or maybe you will, after learning that the oldest person to reach the summit was 85-years old.
It’s important to cherish the memories and experiences we had as young travelers. We need to always acknowledge and appreciate the way those times helped us become who we are today.
But I will never let time, or age, or memories of youth get in the way of seeing the world. As long as I am alive, the world will be too, and that means even if there are times when I can’t take a Round-The-World trip one year, perhaps maybe I will the next.
Travel in your older years is not harder, or worse than when you were younger – it’s just different. And no matter what, it will challenge you to see your life from a new perspective, whether it’s a weekend away at a nearby seaside village, or retiring to another country somewhere warm and sunny, with good food and friendly people.
As long as you remember that, you’ll never let age affect the way you travel ever again.
Great pics! And really 'funny' to see how you changed!
I appreciate travelling more now. I'm glad my iPhone didn't get stolen in the hostel when travelling through Southeast Asia because that's what everyone was telling me. I preferred to stay in (cheap) hotels instead. And I still have a lot of travelling in front of me which I'm really looking forward to x
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I am married and have a toddler and just returned from a seven weeks roadtrip through New Zealand. Traveling changes as you grow up, but there is no reason to stop....
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I loved this, Katka! Especially as I just turned another year older in the thirtysomething group and I sometimes wonder about age and travel. But then again, I just could just afford to extend my vacation, add another dive course and stuff my face with Japanese food for dinner - and that is pretty awesome and I couldn't have afforded it ten years ago. Oh, and also there is a kitten sitting on my lap :)
Lovely. I wrote a blog about this the other day. My troubles are a little different, but the wanderlust is basically the same.
Of course, you're never, ever, ever too old to travel! Just turned 60😃,been travelling for the last 2 yrs solo!and on a budget! Loving every minute, been to 26 countries so far,lol,I quote' the world is an open book,those that do not travel, only read one page' Happy travelling!
I'm in my mid-40s, have a house, husband and two kids, and still travel. Sometimes its by backpack, sometimes by rollerbag, sometimes in hostels, and sometimes in air-conditioned hotels with swimming pools (the trips with the kids in tow.) My 9 yr old has 16 stamps on her passport and my 7 yr old has 11 stamps. They know that "life is a highway" in the most authentic way possible. Is travel a bit more logistically complex with kids? Sure. Do we now spend a bit more time advance planning? Yes. Do we spend more on accommodation so that they are comfortable? Yes to that too. But we keep on truckin'. And tuk-tuking. And rick-shawing. Adventures can continue at whatever age! (I write about my crazy travel adventures with my kids at www.ShockinglyShelley.wordpress.com)
I love this! Thank you! I haven't been out of my home country in 10 years, but I'm planning several trips now. I feel like I'm mentally better equipped than I was in my early 20s.
Great post! I love your perspective. It's never too late for an adventure as long as your heart is still beating. :)
After leaving my 20s, I thought it would be too late to travel or live and work overseas. I told myself that constantly and now I can no longer ignore the fact that I want to experience more of the world. It was good to read this post to encourage me to not listen to my fears and travel, even if it's different. I might have missed the window of opportunity in my 20s, but that doesn't mean it's shut because I'm older.
I only started travelling when I was end twenties and I haven't stopped since. I am now in my early fifties (God, that sounds so old!) and I travel probably more than ever before. Did it change? Yes dramatically so, but like you said, there is no reason not to travel when you're older. I've met people along the way who still travelled to far away places at 75, so I figure I still have a couple of years to go....:) Great post! O and it keeps you young too!
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My retired parents are traveling all the time - not as far as they used to because they don't like flying long distances anymore. Instead the do a lot of short trips.
My aunt and uncle are addicted to long cruises.
Age is never a criteria for travel. It doesn't even have to define the way you travel. Frankly, I never liked youth hostels, not even when I was 18. I want my own bathroom!
I am in my mid-forties now and I travel wherever I want. Having a job with 5 weeks of paid vacation helps :-)
I started travelling very late in life and enjoy every bit of it. I always wonder why I didn't start earlier, but even though I still fall in the 'young' category, I don't think age will slow me down :)
Good advice--wish I had it when I was your age. I went around the world alone when I hit 60--starting in Fiji!!! After that I went to so many places I had to have extra pages added to my passport! Just think if I had started 20 years earlier!
well written, I really enjoyed this :)
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When i started travelling in my teens, it was meeting older travellers, people still hitting the road, in their 50's and 60's that inspired me greatly. I knew that was the life for me. I travelled in my 20's and dreamt about if after children and house and land and animals etc in my 30's and then started again in my 40's. I have just returned from four years travelling, basing myself at a beach in Sri Lanka for half the year and exploring the world for the rest of the year. I am again home and working and making plans to combine work in my home country, and travel over seas. My work will take me all over my own country, which I have seen relatively little of. I do struggle with missing home and family and having the lovely moments with people you love, but nothing quite gives you the thrills like landing in a new country, and finding your way from there. I have met people in their 80's, zimmer frame and all who are addicted to travel, you are never too old.