One of the life-changing things I picked up from some of my classmates was the wisdom of traveling while still young.
As we grew up together, some of them summered in Europe or the States when we were still in grade school or early highschool. I noticed even then that they were more knowledgeable than the rest of us — beyond what books and our school curriculum could offer. They had a global perspective. Ours was limited to Manila and the provinces.
So in my 20s, when I was already working, I started traveling. Sometimes for work, sometimes for pleasure. Early on, I discovered that there’s really a huge advantage to traveling young!
My best friend and I joined this 30-day tour of Europe that was exclusively for people who were 20 to 30 years old. No, we didn’t go backpacking or stay in tents — we stayed in nice hotels.
It covered 12 countries at a very fast pace. The tour was ongoing up to 9pm, most days. No wonder the maximum age allowed was 30! The itinerary was so rich, diverse, and adventurous that after hitting the major must-see places, we were taken to awesome castles or cruises in the countryside which weren’t part of the normal itineraries to Europe.
So we had the very unique experience of staying in these hidden gems — castles, manors and estates that were replete with character and history — instead of just the regular city hotels which were nice but boring.
When traveling young, you cover more ground, and you also absorb things faster. You walk faster. You can eat most anything you like. You can stay out till the wee hours of the morning exploring the country you’re in without feeling like a zombie the next day. You adapt to foreign systems, cultures, and routines faster.
You have faster reflexes. You have stable knees so you’re not prone to falling or stumbling. High octane travel goes best when you’re in your 20s to 30s.
One time, my husband and I (we were in our 30s then) decided to take an escorted tour of Europe. We had a blast NOT getting lost, not getting stressed, not having to book hotels, not lugging our suitcases around, and most importantly, not having to run frantically to catch the next train or bus or ferry. The worst was discovering you took the wrong train! After two trips to Europe which we did on our own, we said “Never again.”
So escorted tours became the norm for us. While it was a bit more expensive, we chose the ones that had nicer buses, nicer hotels (where your luggage was brought to and from your rooms, and you didn’t have to wait for your room keys in the lobby). We also chose better itineraries with more intelligent tour directors.
One time we were so fortunate that our tour director to the Lake District, Scotland and Wales was actually an English professor who, as a hobby, became a tour director during the summer! We hardly dozed off because his lectures were so witty, lively, and full of fun facts! Maybe it was like taking a short course in Cambridge while on a field trip.
We knew we maximized those trips. And contrary to what others think – it wasn’t regimented at all. There were free afternoons and evenings when you could explore on your own. Which we did — for example, when we went to see the catacombs in Rome by ourselves. We met Filipinos who actually gave us their bus tickets! One even went past his bus stop just to make sure we went down the right church. Amazing kindness.
Pinoys are the best. Even if we just met them on the street or at a restaurant, we had so many experiences where they went out of their way to help us, beyond the call of being kababayans.
In some of our trips, we would have maybe three elderly couples in our tour group. Sadly, some of them got sick while on tour. So when our bus went back to our hotel after a whole day of sightseeing, my husband and I would usually look for the nearest grocery and drugstore to buy them things they might need. Then we’d bring bread, fruits and medicines to their hotel rooms. They were so surprised!!! And said they’d love Filipinos forever!
We felt sad for our elderly tour mates because most of them were traveling for the first time, using their hard-earned savings. But because they traveled in their senior years, they didn’t get the most out of it. Some had to cut their trip short and go home. It was so sad to say goodbye to them.
You’ve heard it said often — traveling young is one of the best decisions one can make in life, if you have the resources. Instead of buying flashy cars or things we didn’t really need, or eating in fancy restaurants, or staying in expensive resorts here, we decided to invest in traveling outside the country so we could broaden our perspective in life.
It was an investment we never regretted.
