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As I get deeper and deeper into the time of year when I do the most traveling (which is pretty much fall through spring), I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to travel and why I think it’s so valuable.

A lot of close friends and family ask me about the money it costs to travel.

In their experience, going on “vacation” means going to some resort on a beach somewhere and spending thousands of dollars for a short week or 10 day vacation.

This is where I begin the conversation. I begin by telling them that this “traditional vacation” is not *only* way to travel and garner some amazing life experiences.

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<h3> Breaking Out of the “Traditional Vacation” Mindset:</h3>

If you want to travel more and experience the world, then you have to break out of this traditionalist mindset when it comes to vacation.

Traveling is not the same thing as going on vacation. When you go on vacation, you’re taking a short trip to some “paradise-like” adventure where everything is planned before you embark on your trip.

There’s nothing really wrong with that, some people prefer to vacation in that way. 

But if you’re looking to do *a lot* of traveling and you’re looking for adventure rather than some pre-planned paradise, then you need to understand this key difference:

Traveling differs from vacation in that it is an adventure that you embark upon. You pick a place to fly to, buy your ticket and pack minimally. 

You may pick a few activities that you can potentially do and you write them in a note on your phone, but you don’t make a full itinerary in advance.

The adventure and venturing into unknown territory is what makes traveling so interesting and fun.

It’s also what makes traveling so much cheaper than vacationing.

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<h3> Is It Worth the Money?</h3>

This is a question that I get really often. Many of my friends constantly question me on whether or not it’s worth spending my hard-earned money traveling to various countries around the world.

My answer:

Of course it’s worth it!!!

Traveling is one of the best ways to gain experiences and knowledge. It changes your perspective and it changes the very principles by which you live your life.

Something that I find very interesting is the idea of increasing your earning potential by traveling.

What I mean by this is that you will be far more motivated to earn more money if you have a good reason to spend it on great life experiences.

These life experiences then stack up and increase your ability to earn more money.

It creates a sort of virtuous cycle where you earn money to go on trips that make you open up your mind to a world of new opportunities and then you leverage those new experiences to earn more money which in turn allows you to get more experiences and those experiences then help you earn even more money.

This is the virtuous cycle of traveling: you become more motivated to earn than ever, then you execute on that motivation, then you travel, then you feel even more empowered then before and so on and so forth.

I talk a lot about the snowball effect and there’s a good reason why. I see the snowball effect everywhere I look. 

Traveling is no different. Traveling is a way to start a snowball effect your earning capabilities in life not just in terms of motivation but also in terms of knowledge and execution!!

You only get one life, don’t waste it by sitting in a cubicle or at a desk somewhere staring at a screen, get out there and enjoy your life and everything this beautiful world has to offer!!

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