The Importance Of Traveling In College | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Lifestyle

The Importance Of Traveling In College

​There's no better experience than feeling your airplane touch down in a new place and knowing that there are adventures to be had.

3
The Importance Of Traveling In College
Chelcie Parry

Traveling while in college is a unique experience that has a limited window of possibility. When you're a student, you're at a time in your life when you aren't bound by responsibility. Sure, you have classes, homework, and maybe a part-time job or an organization you need to take care of, but these aren't things that have you trapped. You can take a few days off from them to enjoy your life, and you should. You will spend the rest of your life with a 9-5 job, a kid or two, a spouse and bills that need to be paid. Escaping your daily routine will only become more and more implausible as time goes on. College is your last chance of final freedom before you blossom into a full-grown adult.

The beauty of college is that you're surrounded by people in the same situation as you. You all have similar responsibilities that you can set aside for a weekend trip, everyone is on a broke college kid budget so they won't shame you for always finding the cheapest thing on the menu and eating it as your meal, regardless of what it is, and you all understand the importance of honesty when it comes to telling your friends what their best (and worst) angles are when trying to take the perfect picture to commemorate the trip. Everyone is young and adventurous and ready to see the world. Yes, someday you could find the perfect spouse and have phenomenal kids who all possess these qualities, but trips to places like Disneyland just aren't the same when suddenly you have to let your kids be more excited than you.

After graduation, you and your friends will inevitably part ways. You'll all find jobs in different states or attend different grad schools, some of you will get married before the others, some of you might move to another country — you'll all be on different time tables. Everything will change. For now, you are together. Don't take that time for granted. Take advantage of who and what you have now, and go see the world together before it's too late.

The benefits of traveling, regardless of when you do it, have been proven repeatedly. You gain experience, you understand different cultures, you find inspiration, and you learn more about people, the places you've been, and the history of the world.

Logistics aside, the world is an amazing place. There are so many phenomenal places that are waiting to be discovered. A breakfast sandwich at a cute internet café in northeast Los Angeles (I highly recommend Silverlake Coffee Co.) is a completely different experience than eating a bagel in the bustling city of New York. You do yourself a great injustice if you remain in a safe zone forever because maybe traveling isn't financially feasible or you don't have interest in leaving your hometown. With as many budget travel options as there are available, visiting a new place doesn't have to break the bank (stay in an Air B&B, fly with a budget airline like Spirit and pack light, rent a car from Fox Rent A Car, etc.) No physical possession can come near in comparison to the experience of seeing something new, and no savings account is worth missing out on life.

The world is waiting. There are plane tickets to be bought and oceans to be seen. Find your most adventurous friends and pack a suitcase. Fill your itinerary with extraordinary locations and find out what it's like to make a discovery -- both about yourself and the world. Do something that Ellie from "

Up" would approve of, and remember:
Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
piano
Digital Trends

I am very serious about the Christmas season. It's one of my favorite things, and I love it all from gift-giving to baking to the decorations, but I especially love Christmas music. Here are 11 songs you should consider adding to your Christmas playlists.

Keep Reading...Show less
campus
CampusExplorer

New year, new semester, not the same old thing. This semester will be a semester to redeem all the mistakes made in the previous five months.

1. I will wake up (sorta) on time for class.

Let's face it, last semester you woke up with enough time to brush your teeth and get to class and even then you were about 10 minutes late and rollin' in with some pretty unfortunate bed head. This semester we will set our alarms, wake up with time to get ready, and get to class on time!

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

The 5 Painfully True Stages Of Camping Out At The Library

For those long nights that turn into mornings when the struggle is real.

2066
woman reading a book while sitting on black leather 3-seat couch
Photo by Seven Shooter on Unsplash

And so it begins.

1. Walk in motivated and ready to rock

Camping out at the library is not for the faint of heart. You need to go in as a warrior. You usually have brought supplies (laptop, chargers, and textbooks) and sustenance (water, snacks, and blanket/sweatpants) since the battle will be for an undetermined length of time. Perhaps it is one assignment or perhaps it's four. You are motivated and prepared; you don’t doubt the assignment(s) will take time, but you know it couldn’t be that long.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

The 14 Stages Of The Last Week Of Class

You need sleep, but also have 13 things due in the span of 4 days.

1286
black marker on notebook

December... it's full of finals, due dates, Mariah Carey, and the holidays. It's the worst time of the year, but the best because after finals, you get to not think about classes for a month and catch up on all the sleep you lost throughout the semester. But what's worse than finals week is the last week of classes, when all the due dates you've put off can no longer be put off anymore.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

Top 20 Thoughts College Students Have During Finals

The ultimate list and gif guide to a college student's brain during finals.

414
winter

Thanksgiving break is over and Christmas is just around the corner and that means, for most college students, one hellish thing — finals week. It's the one time of year in which the library becomes over populated and mental breakdowns are most frequent. There is no way to avoid it or a cure for the pain that it brings. All we can do is hunker down with our books, order some Dominos, and pray that it will all be over soon. Luckily, we are not alone in this suffering. To prove it, here are just a few of the many deranged thoughts that go through a college student's mind during finals week.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments