You Cannot Afford Not to Go
When I meet new people and tell them a bit about what I do and what kind of travel I’m pursuing, the overwhelming majority of the responses I get is, “Oh, I would love to do something like that. But I couldn’t possibly afford to go on a trip like yours.”. What these people cannot afford is not to go. The opportunities which real, authentic solo travel provides can vastly overwhelm 95% of the reasons people find for never doing it (especially monetary reasons!). From altering your perception of yourself and the world around you to establishing important traits which will serve you throughout your life, travel remains one of the greatest investments you can make in yourself.
So let’s list and break down just some of the benefits from traveling:
You are forced to become familiar and more comfortable with yourself:
– Hopping from one place to another, you are forced to compare yourself to the environment around you, and yourself as well. It’s something you have been unconsciously doing since you came into this world, only now your world and level of comfort and position in this different reality have been flipped upside down and inside out. You are FORCED to take a deeper, wider look at yourself in order to function and survive as efficiently as possible in this new, constantly changing environment. This will make you uncover (and utilize!) parts of yourself which were left in darkness before you began traveling. With this comes an infinite increase of self-awareness.
I could write about this for several pages, but will include one last statement:
Being alone while traveling forces you to look within yourself. You spend the most amount of time with yourself, and must ultimately come to terms with what you see. It will happen at some point throughout your life (god willing), and travel greatly helps to expedite this process. When you begin to spend more time with your Self, doors of self-development and breakthroughs of self-discovery happen. Combine time of intense introspection with traversing the most incredible environments of a third world country, and you are really set up to have an incredible Trip.
You will gain an unshakable confidence:
– This comes from so many parts of traveling. From your first successful airport-navigation in another country to your first surreal hitchhiking experience and solo through-hike, you realize that yes, you CAN plan, organize, and DO things (anything) on your own without the assistance or input of anyone else. When I ask other travelers what some of the most important things travel has given them the opportunity to develop are, female travelers in particular will tell me that self-confidence and the reinforcement that they are fully capable of being independent are two of the most important lessons that life on the road has taught them.
Successfully finishing whatever mission it is you’ve given yourself will satisfy you so much, and encourage you to seek the next, biggest and baddest adventure. Although at the end of the day you will generate your own drive and motivation, it also doesn’t hurt that the 99% of people you come across in your bold solo endeavors will be stunned, impressed, and giving you respect and acknowledgement for what you’re doing.
You will develop your views/perspectives on life by being challenged by all the new ones you encounter:
With being exposed to new places comes the exposure of the different views, ways of life, philosophies, and value systems of the people who make up the culture you visit. Being forced to re-examine your priorities and what you place emphasis on is an incredibly powerful tool you can use to develop yourself. Many things you once lost time and energy over may be put into perspective and questioned as you witness what other people in other countries struggle with and place value on to manifest happy, stress-free lifestyles. Conversely, viewing other people and places gives you opportunities to witness some of the most disparaging ways of life, and gain an awareness and appreciation of your own.
You will find/come closer to finding what you want:
– During your time traveling, you will be forced to take a step back and ask yourself what it is you even want to do. This is because YOU are the ultimate decider of your fate and itinerary while traveling (NOBODY is going to make a travel plan for you. If you let them, you aren’t truly traveling). I felt this heavily the first week I arrived to Lima, and the Amazon of Peru. “Why am i even here? Is this actually what i want to be doing? What else is there for me to do?”, were just some of the doubts and questions looping around my head. It is so, so true that If you do not have a plan, you become part of someone else’s plan. Traveling alone makes you take charge of whatever situation you are in, and demands you to take the steps needed to create your own destiny. Unless you wish to be a complete leaf in the wind (and I’ve met several travelers who are), sooner or later, you’re gonna have to decide which bits of life you are about, and find a way to chase them.
You will become a master budgeter:
– I can easily spend $2,000 in a week nearly anywhere i’ve been traveling, or I can less easily spend $2,000 in 4 months of budget backpacking also nearly anywhere. It usually takes a week or two of ignorant travel, a review of your bank account, and some quick math to understand what non-sustainable travel expenditures look like. Once you become bitten by the travel bug, get hooked, and understand that this adventure will last as long as you allow it to, budgeting and expense allocation has to be structured and practiced. This skill of self control, figuring out which priorities mean the most to you, and perspective of just how much you can stretch your cash will stick with you throughout the rest of your life.
For true Kaminantes:
When you upgrade from backpacker to completely homeless, utterly broke, camping and river-washing hitchhiking gringo, the door of opportunity reopens to allow you to ascend to the next level of self-sustainability. You are forced to find food for free. Forced to create your own income by exercising your creative talent (jewelry making, instrument playing, painting, etc). Forced at times to be adopted by a Chilean-transient-gypsy-hippy-clan in the desert of Chile. No matter how you do it, you are providing for yourself NOW; not living off what your past self worked to create.
I returned from my time traveling with such a warped perspective on money that I will found myself saving money involuntarily, incorporating the skills I gained on the road.
Side note: This addresses the opening paragraph of this page. “I can’t afford to go”. What do you spend at home, paying rent, transportation costs, car insurances, eating out (or even on groceries), and going on fun trips? That shit adds up super quick, and what you can spend in one month of just your “living” expenses could provide for weeks and weeks of pure, intense travel. I spent on average $350 USD per month during my first, eight month backpacking trip in South America. That is including the first month(s) when i was figuring out how to budget in the cheapest countries, and my last three months when I spent around $150/month in the 2nd most expensive country in S. America. The cheaper you do this, the more authentic and rewarding it can be. Don’t let yourself be fooled by “travel” blogs which advertise articles spouting “Learn how to travel the world on $50-$100 a day!”. What in the fuck? This is for the folks who save up throughout the year to go wild for two weeks in Cusco, Peru. Unless that’s a valid article explaining how I could earn enough to do that with long term travel, I don’t want to hear it. You should be able to travel anywhere (South America, United States of America, Carribean, S.E Asia) on $10 a day. $5 or less if you really want to. You will get as much as you’d like out of your travels. You will also spend as much as you let yourself.