It’s almost a year today since my boyfriend and I arrived back in Australia after an epic two year travel adventure across Canada, the United States and South East Asia. Ironically, it’s also taken almost a year for us to pay-off the epic credit-card debt that we amassed on our travels.
Both these milestones have got me thinking lately about whether travel is worth both the effort and the expense. There are plenty of reasons to avoid or put off traveling, and they’re usually based on either your community or your career.
Why would you leave all your friends and family to go somewhere where you know no one? And what if something happens to your mum or dad while you’re away? All your friends are having babies – shouldn’t you be settling down too?
Then there’s your career – what if Craig from Level 7 gets the promotion you want while you’re away? And how do you hide two years of ‘no-fixed-employment’ on your resume?
There’s no question that travel is difficult, expensive and importantly, it’s also completely intangible. But the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
During our travels we were lucky enough to live in one of the world’s most livable cities during one of the world’s biggest sporting events. We met amazing people that totally changed our perspective on life, and we experienced being part of numerous communities that we would never have seen at home.
But that doesn’t mean it was all sunshine and rainbows. We also arrived in Vancouver in the midst of a global economic meltdown, when hiring non-Canadians on short-term working holiday visas wasn’t a particularly attractive option for most employers. We had no jobs, no contacts, nowhere to live, and we had days when we came very close to forgetting about the whole travel idea and going home.
But once we managed to clear all the hurdles, we had an experience that will probably be the highpoint of our lives for quite some time to come.
Sure, we probably could have put down a deposit on a house with the amount of money we spent, but then we 
wouldn’t have a ton of amazing memories, some wonderful international friends, a much stronger relationship and the kind of self-awareness that only comes from being turned down for 30 jobs in the space of two months.
I think the best option when it comes to travel is to apply the grandkids rule. When you’re old and grey and having your food spoon-fed, what are you going to be telling your grandkids about the way your lived your life? Are you going to tell them about the great new outdoor setting you bought in 1992? Or the project you worked on in 2001? Or are you going to tell them about the time you had your Pringles stolen by a monkey in the Borneo jungle?
No amount of tangible ‘things’ will ever surpass the food you’ll taste, the people you’ll meet, the things you’ll see and the knowledge you’ll gain.