Trouble is an opportunity to explore, expand your horizons, and most of all, enjoy yourself. And while many people may believe that traveling is best done in your older years after you’ve reached retirement age, many believe that your older years are much better off for putting down roots and enjoying your personal hobbies.

After all, we can’t even be sure how long we will live, so putting something off that you want to do until the end of your life may be a mistake you’ll regret. Not to mention when you’re young you’re full of energy and you’re willing to put up with things that you may not be willing to in your older years.

Many of us get used to our comforts as we age, and traveling with only a backpack may seem downright excruciating. This isn’t the only reason that traveling when you’re young may be better than traveling when you’re older. Here are some of the reasons you should consider dedicating your younger years to exploring the world.

Exposure to Different Cultures

Traveling allows us the opportunity to explore other cultures and traditions. Beyond interacting with people who have different traditions, we can also gain valuable insight that can make us better people.

If we wait to expose ourselves to different ways of life until we’re older, we may close ourselves off to different ways of seeing the world. Travel allows you to see different ways of life that you may not have considered in the comfort of your own home.

When you step outside of your comfort zone and gain a deeper understanding of the way things are done in other parts of the world, you increase your compassion as a human and gain a unique perspective on the way the world works.

Increased Confidence

Many people can agree that traveling to a different country where they don’t speak the same language can be one of the most terrifying things imaginable. The fear of not being understood, or possibly being mocked is enough to leave some people totally unwilling to leave their own country ever at all.

Yet when you step outside of your comfort zone and do something that scares you, like speaking a different language, you have an increased sense of confidence at a young age. Knowing that you were brave enough to go somewhere totally different can give you an increased sense of self-worth that you can carry on to many different aspects of your life.  From your professional life to your personal life, increased confidence is never a bad thing.

Increased Knowledge

The most interesting people in the room are often the ones that have experienced the most in their lives. Although going to university offers a certain amount of knowledge, there’s a unique sort of knowledge that comes along with travel.

Travel brings rich life experiences that a classroom can’t. If you can travel in your younger years you’ll find that you have unique wisdom that other people your age who haven’t traveled don’t possess.