Many young people dream of traveling. Some even dare to try going abroad as soon as they can. Needless to say, no one of those young travelers regrets their decisions. Travel experiences can teach young people lessons they won’t find anywhere else at that point in life. In fact, travel can be the best education one can get for such a low price. The time away can bless students with valuable skills, discoveries, and self-knowledge. Overall, there are numerous reasons why young people should travel while still in college. Here are ten of them.
Table of Contents
Networking & friendships
Of course, travel experiences often come with numerous new acquaintances. Many of which will turn into life-long friendships or other important social connections. Besides, it’s only when traveling you come across so many different people of various backgrounds, unique life stories, and interesting professions. Overall, you never know what the next person you meet can bring into your life.
Low cost
Traveling is actually quite cheap if you know how to plan it right. You can find cheap plane tickets in advance. Travel light to pay even less. Book hostels or try Couchsurfing instead. Go out of season to enjoy smaller tourist crowds and lower prices on everything. Overall, there are numerous ways you can bring down the costs of your travels. Not to mention that students also have various opportunities to see the world at a special price. For example, you can travel as an exchange student, use your student card to get discounts for art galleries and bus tickets, etc. Honestly, the world accommodates young souls who just want to explore.
Independence
Maybe you are left face-to-face with the real world for the first time in your life. No family to help you choose the right moves. No college walls to protect and nurture you. It’s just you and the new world all around you. You have to make dozens of choices each day to survive in this new world and make the best of it. It’s not so easy to adapt to at first. Yet, young people build crucial personal skills while doing so. You learn to be independent and take responsibility for your actions. You learn to be the one in charge of your life. Such a lesson will stay with you for the rest of your life.
Confidence
Your confidence comes along with your independence. The more you learn to be in control of your life, the more you believe in yourself and your strength. Overall, you will have to face many challenges as a foreigner in an unfamiliar culture. You’ll have to adjust, find your ways to feel comfortable, meet new people, and deal with unfamiliar situations. All of that will help you grow more sure about yourself and display confidence you might not have grown in any other way. However, you will earn that sense of self-confidence the hard way. Hence, nothing will challenge it even when you return home.
Memories
Students will cherish their first travel memories for the rest of their lives. In fact, you will have a rare opportunity to return to those places of travel later in life and relive those experiences one more time. It’s something to think about. You get to build meaningful and exciting experiences at a young age. They will surely make an impact on your life, inspiring you to more travels and adventures.
Open-mindedness
Traveling makes you notice and learn about different cultures. You have to open your mind to new perspectives, norms, and lifestyles. It makes you challenge the ways you already know and accept the culture of a new place. Thus, travel is just like education in this way. You get to observe and learn, broadening your mind and taking on the world and its people.
However, it’s best to learn beforehand about the country you are about to visit. Perhaps consider reading some speedy paper reviews and order proper history and cultural research from the professionals. Such a paper will serve you as a guide once you are away. You can also save time on doing homework with professional assistance and focus on cultural research on your own.
Self-discovery
By learning more about the world, you also learn more about yourself. That’s simply inevitable. Young people find themselves in a new place and culture. Such changes also lead to new life situations, lessons, new approaches, and types of thinking. Such conditions will make you adapt and adjust. However, in the process, you will also learn more about yourself. You’ll learn how social you can be or how brave you can get. And maybe, for the first time, you are free to be who you are. After all, you start with the blank page here.
Opportunities
You never know what life will bring you at the next turn. However, when traveling, you expand and diversify such life opportunities to the maximum. Thus, you can be sure to try, test, see, and come close to as many unique life chances, work opportunities, career twists, and new acquaintances as you can at such a young age.
Travel is a definition of opportunities. You may find something you like in a new country and stay there to work and live. You can see professions or get inspired to take a new course in life – all due to the experience of living in a foreign country.
Perspectives
Sometimes, you need to leave your home to really appreciate it. Do you agree? Most college students start to miss their hometowns and families once they are away for the first time. The same happens when you leave your country for some time. You are likely to experience homesickness and feel nostalgic about your life there. Yet, it also gives you a perspective on what you value most about home.
Moreover, you involuntarily start to compare your home with this new country. Hence, you start getting a perspective on what is better and what can be improved in your home country. It’s also a good lesson to carry home with you.
Academic opportunities
Perhaps you have chosen to travel as an exchange student. That’s an excellent choice on your behalf! Now, you can brag about studying at two universities instead of one. Moreover, you can enjoy a more diverse, international study experience. It means that you have more opportunities to grow as a specialist. You get to attend lectures by a greater range of professors, try different academic approaches and pass international exams. All these things will look great on your resume. Besides, you will gain a new perspective on the academic level in your own country.
