THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS FROM WHICH WE MIGHT MAKE A COMMISSION.
Some tourists will tell you that there is no “right way to travel.” They say things like, “you can travel on a two-week-per-year vacation.” Or, “you don’t need to leave the country to be a traveler.” Or, “guided tours are OK.”
Those people are wrong.
They just say that to make you feel better that you chose a career or family or mortgage over being a traveler. Here is the truth:
If you only travel on two-week vacations: you’re traveling wrong.
If you don’t own a passport: you’re traveling wrong.
If you only go on guided tours: you’re traveling wrong.
If you only stay at hotels: you’re traveling wrong.
If you stay somewhere all-inclusive: you’re traveling wrong.
If you only go where your guidebook tells you: you’re traveling wrong.
If you’re not traveling the right way, don’t worry, you can fix it. I’ve gotten sucked into that too. After my gap year between high school and college I didn’t want to go back to school. But my parents made me. They didn’t realize that traveling the world is the best education anyone could have. It sucks only being able to travel on spring break and summer vacation. I can’t imagine how awful it would be to only have vacation time from a job. So, after college, when Amy and I take our ’round the world trip, I am never coming back.
Here is why long-term travel is the right way to travel:
If you travel for a year, you can see more places than an average person sees in twenty years of vacations.
If you travel for five years, you can see more places than the average person sees in a lifetime.
If you just travel on two-week vacations, you don’t have time to really experience a place.
If you just travel on a guided tour, you never even get to see the real place.
If you never leave the country, you’ll never experience more than one culture.
If you just travel according to your guidebook, you’ll overpay and visit only where tourists go.
If you stay somewhere all-inclusive, it’s too easy to be considered real travel.
Long-term travel gives you freedom to go wherever you want and spend as little or as much time there as you want.
Why are you limiting yourself to a short vacation, a guidebook, an all-inclusive resort, or a package deal? Quit school. Quit your job. Get a divorce. Sell everything you own and travel.
Long-term travel is the only way to travel. Long term travel is the right way to travel.
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