FIVE THINGS I WISH TEENAGED ME WOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT TRAVELING
Anyone who has read my book on solo traveling knows that I didn't grow up traveling or around people who encouraged traveling. Because of this, I realized at an early age that I was gonna have to take matters into my own hands to fulfill my dream of seeing the world.
I've had some great adventures and I have seen more of the world than I could ever have dreamed possible. However, because I had to figure things out about traveling on my own, there are things that I wish someone would have told me sooner as it would have saved me some headaches and would have helped me grow faster as a traveler.
As I can only think about traveling these days, I asked myself what five things I wish I knew in my teenage years that would have made my early travels so much better. This is what I came up with:
Traveling doesn't have to be expensive: I always accepted that traveling was expensive, but mainly because I thought there was only one way to do it. Once I realized that there were no rules around how I got there, where I stayed, when I went, and where I went, then I could get creative and stretch the budget of one of my old trips into multiple trips.
It's ok to go on a trip by yourself: I've always been fine with doing things on my own, but when I was younger I didn't quite have the confidence I guess, or the life experience to realize that I could take a trip by myself. And also that I wouldn't be lonely as long as I'm open to meeting new people.
Don't pack a regular towel: It's not as much of an issue if you're staying in a hotel, but as I tried to use more creative options I would often curse the giant pillow-like mass that would hog a giant spot in my carry-on luggage. Then one day I was shown a better way when someone introduced me to this wafer-thin thing called a microfiber travel towel. It does the job, takes up almost no space, and dries quickly. It changed everything I knew about maximizing the storage space in my luggage.
Hostels aren't scary: I grew up with a mixed opinion of hostels. I knew them as both the thing that people did while backpacking across Europe, but also as a great location for a horror film. Now I know that hostels aren't scary (ok, some can be, but you can easily avoid them by checking their rating on HostelWorld.com. I generally stay with those with ratings of 9.0 or above. They're probably ok above 8.0 too, but go below that and you're likely gonna have some hiccups.) but, while growing up I never knew anyone who had actually used hostels who could tell me that, so I was late to jump on this convenient and inexpensive way to catch some z's.
Carry-on luggage all the way: If you haven't experienced the joy of getting off your flight and heading straight for the exit instead of the luggage carousel, then you need to treat yourself on your next flight by using carry-on. You will also save yourself an hour before your flight because now you don't have to line up to drop off your suitcase. You'll be able to check yourself in online and just head straight to security and into the loving embrace of the TSA. One more great thing about carry-on luggage is that the airline won't lose your stuff.
What tips do you wish you could have told your younger self about traveling?