Quote: (01-12-2019 03:26 AM)JimBobsCooters Wrote:
I'm in a pretty good spot to advise on this as someone who has done the "gap year" in their late 20s and also in their 30s.
Basically the things to consider for mine are the following when making the decision...
1. Career - This is the single biggest factor, imo. If you're in a job where taking a year off will set you back a decade then you have to really question the idea, especially if it's a job where the late 20s will set you up and you will still have the opportunities to travel in a few years time. If the career isn't a factor then you're good. If you're going to lose that decade regardless then I you're probably doing it now and busting your gut to try and claw what you can of that back in the future.
2. Under/Over 30 Differences:
- Tours/Hostels/Events with age limits - There are many out there with an upper age limit, normally it's around 35. Obviously if you wait too long this comes into play.
- Girls - Haven't noticed a big difference here to be honest, those with the age stigma generally don't see a big difference between say 28 and 33 anyway, once you're older, you're older but for the most part once you get them away from their social circles and societal pressure to conform, the age gap actually goes out the window anyway. My average age of girl at 28 and 33 would both have been around the 23 mark and it didn't take anything extra special or effort wise.
- Guys - Simply don't care. It's the old dickhead test with the vast majority of them, if you're a decent guy, they'll be cool.
- Activities - Depending on your health, may be no difference but as someone who is a lot more banged up now than I was then there are certain things I don't do for the sake of the body that I wouldn't have hesitated about before.
- Locals - Depends on the country and where you plan to go but I do think that certain places you actually get more respect being older.
3. Finances - Will waiting make this side of things better? I wouldn't recommend going into debt to finance it so if that's a decision then getting more finances behind you is probably a reason to wait.
4. Girlfriend - Honestly, you're just as likely to find one traveling, given you want to do this rather than slave away at a job, you'll probably find one with better aligned life goals as well. I wouldn't factor this in at all personally as I feel like avoiding self improvement (which is the primary reason to travel) to try and settle down is the opposite to my personal approach.
Really those are the major factors for mine, as you can probably (hopefully) tell I don't think there is a huge difference between the two but I'd go earlier if it's viable because that always leaves time to do it again which gets me to the biggest factor...
Long term travel will change you. It's different for a lot of people, I personally came back to my career and within a week back in an office I realised that I was already planning the next trip as that corporate slavery just isn't for me so I set about getting things in place to do it again and longer (permanent still the aim...). Personally I got a greater appreciation for "life is short" and how great the world is and how amazing so many things are and that the idea of working a 9-5 so I could buy a bigger TV, more expensive clothes, a more expensive car, etc, etc just irked me when I could spend that money on a week in x or a month in y, I basically started measuring how much things cost back home in "how many weeks on the road that is". A big night out back home was easily avoided by the logic that it was an extra month of travel. You really do realise how bad the consumerism lifestyle is, or at least I did, and how much better experiences are, the stories and adventures make you a much more interesting person (imo at least), when you go home you'll notice that everyone just gravitates towards you more as you're just far more interesting and varied.
So yeah... as long as you're not throwing your career out the window and sacrificing the rest of your life, go for it, I'd be shocked if you don't grow and develop and have a great time, don't know many people who come back from long travel and hate it. Hell most of the people just hate that they're not going to do it again.
1 - This is clearly not a factor to me, as I've hated all jobs I've had and wanted to start my own business since I can remember, already tried 2 different ones that failed, but Im willing to try a new one. If not I just go back and try to get a simple job with good hours and without much stress and that's it.
2 - I feel like I need to do this before it 30, but I'm not rushing, after 30 I think I will continue to go to hostels but just do small vacations as the longer ones take much energy.
3 - I have some money saved for about 1 year of travelling on the cheap.
4 - This is definitely the biggest point for me. I still want to enjoy all that young sex and adventures, but I feel the window is closing and want to find a girl to settle down eventually and hopefully have kids, not now but eventually in the future.
I feel that I will be skipping some chances going abroad on a adventure but I really want to visit some countries and have some experiences at the age I am.
So, resuming all this.
In terms of career, I never liked any job I had, never wanted to work for anyone else, always want to start my own business but the first 2 side businesses failed, I actually also want to travel to be inspired to do any business or having business ideas but mostly for adventure and meeting people (specially women).
Also, in my country, you either born rich or you work like 12 hours a day in order to gain a good salary, I dont want to enslave myself so 12 hours jobs like the first one I had are out of question, that leaves me with some xity ones with normal hours but that will never get me nowhere, so either one or the other Im off, I prefer to bet it all in my business.
Finding a girl is probably the thing it scares me more, I could never know if some girl will appear out of the blue or not. That's whats holding me back to be honest.
