10 Reasons You Should Travel Right Now

The world is huge and you've barely seen any of it! Disposable income is meant for feeding your wanderlust. Book a trip and go now.

Why? Because...

Reason 10Being able to afford travel is certainly easier with age but the cramped plane rides, walking for hours around crowded cities, and stepping out of your comfort zone are easier when you have your youth.

Reason 9

You don't want to lead a sheltered, mundane, uninspired life. Do you? Challenge yourself and become a better, more interesting person.

Reason 8

You will have so much fun. A change of pace is always a welcome sight, especially to office drones who work for the weekend (i.e. people like me). Abandon your job for a few days to frolic around someplace that's not your hometown. It will be fun and you will relax and recharge and rejoice.

Reason 7

You'll learn a lot. Head to a new city and you will learn a lot during your research beforehand, while you're there, and even after you get back (especially if you're like me and you Google the hell out of the cool things you saw while you were away). Head to an old favorite and you'll notice changes, you'll look for hidden gems, and recover memories you forgot about. And no matter where you go, you'll learn more about yourself too. It's an educational experience all around.

Reason 6

You will experience some amazing things that you will remember for the rest of your life. Also, you will hit the Duty-Free shops at the airport. Not to sound like an utter loser (let's face it, you already know I'm a loser so I should say, "more of an utter loser"), but some of my favorite souvenirs have been picked up at the Duty-Free shops. Yes, most of those souvenirs were Toblerones, but I 100% enjoyed them. In all seriousness though, the little bottle of Chanel nail polish I bought to use up the last of my Turkish lira, the neck pillow I bought for my trip to France, the bottle of wine I cradled home from Spain in 2010 (that I have yet to open, if you can believe it), spark some intense feel-good memories every time I see them. My point is, even the seemingly mundane aspects of a trip will create memories that you look back on fondly.

Reason 5

You will fall in love with cartography. You will attempt to use Google Maps (off of free wifi whilst abroad) until your phone dies. You will thank your lucky stars that you had enough sense to grab  a paper map from the airport / bus station / train station / hotel lobby and shove it in your pocket. You will feel pride when you successfully navigate your way through the city to all of the sites on your checklist. On the way, you will get lost and discover the most charming street and wonder, "Why isn't this divine place marked on the map?" You will grab a pen and mark it yourself and make a mental note to come back.

Reason 4
You don't know what will happen tomorrow. Do you know that the Great Barrier Reef is dying? Fecking global warming and pollution and humans are murdering one of the most beautiful natural wonders of the world. Did you know that a horrific hurricane practically wiped out Cinque Terre? It was rebuilt, but so much history was lost in the storm. Not to get all Debbie Downer / Morbid Molly, but go! while you still can (she whispered).

Reason 3

You need a new profile photo. Yeah, that blurry cropped photo from your birthday party four years ago isn't cutting it anymore. Make your social media followers jealous with a photo of you pretending to push up the Tower of Pisa. Really though, your photography skills will improve ten-fold as you try and capture your memories on film (or "film" for all of us up to date with the digital age). It's an amateur skill that maybe isn't incredibly exciting for many but it will come in handy, I promise.

Reason 2

Your frequent flier miles are about to expire! So many fricking greedy corporations have changed their rewards program policies so that your points expire if you haven't had any activity for a certain period of time. It's lame, but it's a great excuse to book something. And when you book something, you'll earn points that you can later spend to book another something. It's not a vicious cycle; it's a beautiful cycle that will eventually earn you a completely comped trip.

Reason 1

What's stopping you? If you want it, go get it.

By the way, I made all of these stupid graphics using some of my favorite photos (most from travels, a few from local outings) and just in case you were curious and wanted to know where each one was from, here they are:
title: Da Conch Shack, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos
10: Monastere de Cimiez, Nice, France
9: Cathedrale Saint-Jean Baptiste, Lyon, France
8: Hall of Mirrors, Chateau de Versailles, France
7: The Badlands National Park, South Dakota, US
6: Lamanai Maya Ruins, Belize
5: En Route to Ambergris Caye, Belize
4: My Own Backyard, New Jersey, US
3: Da Conch Shack, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos
2: Belize City, Belize
1: Alstede Farms, Chester, New Jersey, US

xoxo.