Let’s Crush The Most Common Excuses For Not Travelling

“You’re so young and are always travelling! How do you find the time and the money?”

I usually politely respond with something like, “Travelling is something that I’m passionate about and I just make it work because I love exploring new places.”

In reality, I’m trying not to gauge my eyes out with boredom while listening to the various pathetic lies that people tell themselves and others for not travelling.

I’ve compiled a list of common excuses people use for not travelling and have explained why they’re totally incorrect.

Excuse #1: I can’t take time off from work.

“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine – it’s lethal.” — Paulo Coelho

Here’s the scenario…

You’re constantly telling everyone how much you just hate your job and can’t wait to get out of there, but you NEVER EVER leave or take time off from this dreaded place. Not only do you go to work for 8 hours a day, quite often you do loads of overtime, just to get it all done.

I’m sorry to tell you but if you leave, you’ll be replaced within approximately one to two minutes.

When telling my family and friends that I planned to move overseas, I was quite often asked, “What about your job? You could really go places there if you stay.”

I’m sure I could go places, but I could also go places all over the world, rather than a different department at work.

Now I’m not telling you not to work hard by any means, but please think about this:

If you can’t take time off to travel for at least a few weeks a year, then is it really worth it?

Happy people equal better workplaces; and hey if it takes a few mimosas on a tropical island to increase productivity at work; I’m totally down!

Excuse #2: I can’t afford it because of all of my repayments on my car/boat/useless object I bought when I was eighteen.

“The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” — Sir Richard Burton

While living in Canada, there is quite often times when I feel embarrassed, or hope that people don’t notice that I literally use the same bag (purchased on sale) everyday, wear the same jeans Monday through Sunday or even that I drive a car that is far from new.

But then I remember the reasons for sacrificing more expensive purchases, such as our spontaneous weekend trip to New York City, or being able to go and stay with friends in Cleveland for a weekend.

I couldn’t do any of these things if I wasted my money on material objects that equal a little bit of happiness, with a lot of sitting home and doing nothing while paying off debt.

I could literally not count on all of my fingers and toes the amount of my friends in Australia that fell for this trap throughout their teenage years and are still paying the consequences now – I’ll send you photos guys!

It’s too late to go back on what you purchased, but there’s nothing stopping you from getting aggressive about paying down your debt so that you can travel.

Excuse #3: I’m way too busy.

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” — Henry Miller

So many people are busy without purpose and listening to them whine and complain bores me to no end.

I totally get that life is hectic at times and can be stressful, but the majority of the people that complain they can’t go on a holiday because of this, are the ones that sleep until their eighth alarm goes off, sit at a job they hate all day and then sit for a further five hours every night watching television and scrolling through social media.

There is always time to do things/make plans for things that are important to you.

Some ways that I managed to fit in time to plan my trips have been:

• Planning on my lunch break at work. As tempting as it is to sit on Tinder and see if there is any new bait in your area, this time can be used a lot more wisely.
• Allocating planning tasks. When moving to Canada, my partner and I split all tasks in half in order to get it all done. *One small recommendation: Perhaps find a few minutes to go over each other’s bookings and so on so you don’t end up the victim of a major hotel scam and end up almost homeless for a night.
• Book organized tours so you don’t have to worry about it all. I’m a major lover of tours. They do all of the leg work for you and you reap all of the benefits.

You’re also only going to get busier as you get older. Life doesn’t get easier when you have a family and kids.

Excuse #4: I want to focus on life first. I’ll travel when I have settled down.

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” — Gustave Flaubert

THIS NEVER HAPPENS. Ever.

While travelling, I have jumped out of a plane twice and bungy jumped once. I certainly do not see myself doing this when I am seventy and life has settled down (whatever that means).

This is just an excuse for people who are too afraid to step out of their comfort zone and see what the world has to offer.

Another sad reality is that some of us won’t even see 70, or 60, or for some of us even 30.

I would much prefer people to speak of me when I’m gone through telling tales of all the adventures I went on and how I really embraced life, rather then that I had a lovely home but never left the country.

Excuse #5: My friends and family won’t understand.

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” — Andre Gide

This one is true. Sometimes they just won’t and you have to accept it, move on and book your ticket, honey.

I had a friend tell me before I left Australia, “You won’t last. It won’t be as fun as you think it will be.”

This both really annoyed me, but more importantly made me want to prove a point that yes, I will last (Here I am almost a year later).

Despite being in 2018, people are narrow minded and even though they’re your friends, they want to see you fail, all while they sit in there well manicured homes and never experience anything else.

Not to sound like your fifth grade teacher, but you have to rise above the negativity.

Do you really want to stay home and never experience anything different because of what narrow minded people said to you? I doubt it.

Have I convinced you to travel yet?

I hope that as you read this article, you cringed a little bit because it was like I was taking the excuses that you always use right out of your mouth.

The reality is, the human race are lazy and won’t do anything until we are told! Sometimes we just need to find motivation. This could be the inspiration that you need to book that first flight (or you could go back to scrolling through Facebook).

Your excuses suck. Get moving. Explore the world. Get drunk in a new country. Find a job somewhere across the planet. At least you’ll have cooler Instagram pictures than your friends.