15 Reasons to go travelling

There are 1000 reasons why you might go travelling, whether it be interrailing around Europe, backpacking across South America or making your way around south-east Asia. Anyone who has been themselves will be able to give you a different set of reasons as to why you should do it and it’s very rare you’ll find someone who will try telling you that you shouldn’t. I will say that while writing this I am highly biased as I am 100% for the idea of travelling especially while young, which is why I’m going to give my top 15 reasons for going. In no particular order:

1. Food
One thing you’ll notice very quickly when travelling, especially if you go outside Europe, is the range of completely new foods on offer (unless you choose to eat every meal at the nearest McDonalds). For those more fussy eaters (myself included), it is a chance to try things you never usually would and eventually you will learn to love the different flavours and obscure dishes. Either that or you may find yourself going hungry more often than not!





2. Weather
If there’s ever a reason to get out of the country, especially Sheffield, it’s in search of a warmer climate. For me this is one of the big reasons I went for Australia as my perfect travelling destination. Anywhere that is hot and sunny all year can’t be bad. Spending long periods of time somewhere like this can also be genuinely beneficial for your health and state of mind as well, as you will most likely avoid the effects of SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Let’s face it who isn’t happier when they’re in the sun!

3. Culture
Travelling is an excellent way to experience different culture, see sights that you just don’t get at home. Climb the Eiffel Tower, take a trip down the Venice canals on a gondola or go visit the Taj Mahal. While there are plenty of sites to see in the UK, You’ll find a lot more if you spend a good amount of time travelling.
4. Break from work
We could all do with a break from work, even us here at the Great Escape enjoy time away every now and then. If you can manage to get a few weeks off, spending some time in a completely different setting can really help you relax and recharge.


5. Find yourself
It may sound like a cliche, but it’s true. Especially if you spend a prolonged period away, you’ll learn much more about yourself. You’ll learn how you react in new and unknown situations and you will generally find out more about yourself as a person.

6. Challenge
There will be times when travelling, again especially if you go outside Europe, where you find yourself in new and uncertain situations, for example maybe having to navigate your way across Vietnam using public transport without being able to speak the lingo. But let’s face it, if you can manage that then there’s very little you won’t be able to do back home.

7. Build on friendships
If you decide to go travelling with close friends, you’ll find that after going through those challenges together will bring you closer as a group. There will probably also be times when you snap and want to inflict bodily harm on one another, but by the end hopefully you’ll have stories and memories together that you will never lose.

8. Make new ones
If you choose to go travelling alone, especially for a long period of time, you’ll find yourself meeting loads of new people. Between the locals and other travellers you’re pretty much guaranteed to make some connections which will last long after you finish your trip.

9. Party
Slight detour from the cultural and personal development, one great reason to go travelling is simply to have a laugh. Spend some time in Split on the coast of Croatia and enjoy the all day beach parties, cheap alcohol and live music. Excellent way to blow off some steam and have a great couple of days drinking on the cheap!

10. Improve your communication skills
This could be as simple as learning a new language, but simply learning how to communicate without knowing the local language is a skill in itself. If you can travel across all of South America without knowing any of the language then once again you should have no trouble communicating with difficult people back home.

11. Appreciate family and home
One big thing you’ll realise after spending a long time away from home is how much you appreciate what you have when you get back. After experiencing what life can be like for people in less developed countries you will figure out what is important to yourself back home. You’ll also find out the things you really miss and will work harder to keep close that which is important to you.

12. Get away from social media
A break from social media might actually seem daunting to some, but again it will make you realise what is truly important. Some time away from smartphones and laptops will actually be quite freeing, you will get to experience life as opposed to watching it from a screen.


13. Become more interesting
Again another cliche, but people who’ve been travelling genuinely have more stories to tell! As long as you don’t over do it and bore all your non-traveller friends people will find you more interesting. It is also a big plus for employers as you can tell them all about how much you learned and grew while away.

14. New experiences
You’ll get a chance to do things that would be quite difficult in the UK, for example, where in Great Britain could you go cage diving with sharks? Paragliding? Zip-lining (proper zip lines not the diddy ones found in some british parks!). While travelling you’ll never be short of something new and exciting to do!

15. Why wait till you’re old to live?
And finally, I hear so many people talking about what they will do when they retire, but why wait that long to live? Enjoy life while you really can, don’t let money slow you down! I know plenty of people who’ve been travelling to Australia for two years and come back with more money than they went. And anyway, you can’t really put a price on lifelong memories!

Thanks for reading!