Your 20’s and 30’s are some of the best years of your life, explor­ing your own self and the world around you.

Bud­get Backpacking
In Europe the “Gap Year” is king. Tak­ing one year off from school after grad­u­at­ing high school to trav­el and fig­ure out what you’re all about before you com­mit to a four-year col­lege and career path. Twen­ty-some­things are seen back­pack­ing all around the world. They’re easy to spot, a huge back­pack paired with a small day pack worn on the chest. They’re usu­al­ly wear­ing ath­let­ic clothes and/or a ban­dana, com­plet­ing the look with trail run­ners or hik­ing boots.

They’re look­ing for the ulti­mate expe­ri­ence for the min­i­mum price! Twen­ty-some­things will sleep in ham­mocks, on floors, couch surf, and par­ty until the sun comes up or the new moon is brought in. They look at extreme bud­get trav­el as a chal­lenge, an adven­ture, one wor­thy of a mer­it badge. Thai­land is a huge des­ti­na­tion for this age group because food and accom­mo­da­tion costs next to noth­ing and hos­tel par­ties, beach raves, and dance clubs are plentiful.

Then the gap year/extended trip ends. Their Face­book feed is no longer the envy of their friends. Instead, they study their butt off for four years and strap on the hefty ball and chain of tens of thou­sands of dol­lars in stu­dent loans.

The rest of their 20s are spent work­ing hard to pay down debt and advance in their new career. They even opened a sav­ings account! That’s cause for cel­e­bra­tion. They’ve usu­al­ly embarked on a few short bud­get trips after grad­u­a­tion but haven’t had much vaca­tion time. As their 30th birth­day approach­es, stu­dent loans final­ly paid off, and with mon­ey in the bank, it’s time to celebrate!

 

Thir­ty-some­things seek the per­fect diver­gence of com­fort, unique expe­ri­ences, and con­nec­tion with loved ones. Many folks in this stage in the game have part­ners and are think­ing about, or have already start­ed, hav­ing kids. You’ll rec­og­nize a thir­ty-some­thing by the unique expe­ri­ences and accom­mo­da­tions they choose. Take, for exam­ple, a jun­gle tree house, exot­ic can­vas tree huts, a paraglid­ing or white water raft­ing expe­ri­ence, rap­pelling down a water­fall, soak in a hot spring, or cliff div­ing. Thir­ty-some­things wor­ry more about trip insur­ance for their adren­a­line rid­dled activ­i­ties than they do about the drug car­tel at a sketchy bus ter­mi­nal on a dan­ger­ous bor­der cross­ing. Yes, crea­ture com­forts have been dis­cov­ered and gen­tly loved by this age group. While there are back­pack­ers in their 30s who opt to stay in hos­tels, most pre­fer at least a pri­vate room and a hot shower.

Camp­ing
In your twen­ties sleep­ing on the ground is no big thing. Sure, it’s not as cozy as your bed at home, but camp­ing is the best! As your body ages, and as you become accus­tomed to more, in your 30s sleep­ing on the ground becomes less and less appeal­ing. The love for the out­doors, how­ev­er, is unwa­ver­ing with age.

In order to resolve this, many avid campers pur­chase trav­el­ing trail­ers or pop up tent trail­ers. This way they can bring some of the mod­ern com­forts they don’t want to give up into a nat­ur­al set­ting like a glac­i­er lake. They wake up from a great night of sleep in a cli­mate-con­trolled trail­er and mem­o­ry foam bed to a spec­tac­u­lar dis­play of lights over the water each morn­ing. Then make their cup of joe and sit out by the lake, go fish­ing, hik­ing, or take a show­er! They also have fun toys like kayaks and stand up pad­dle boards they can throw in the truck. Twen­ty-some­things often miss out on out­door toys due to apart­ment stor­age chal­lenges and bud­get pri­or­i­ti­za­tion. Instead, they usu­al­ly opt for an inflat­able inter-tube and a six-er to enjoy on the lake.

Regard­less of your age or pre­ferred method, trav­el is always a worth­while way to treat your­self, and learn more about the ever-evolv­ing world we share.