The best time to travel is now, here’s why

I know the (Nigerian) economy says otherwise but just hear me out. First, I believe it’s important to narrow down the audience for this post. If you’re the sort of person who finds themselves wandering around a travel blog, daydreaming about trips they’d love to take, then you may continue reading. And if you’re not, you may also continue reading too 🙂

The best part of this article is that you can just take out the ‘travel’ bit and replace it with whatever you’re passionate about.

When is the perfect time to travel?

I don’t know if this is a question you’ve ever asked yourself. What I do know is that from interactions I’ve had with several people, there seems to be a perception that there is a perfect time to travel. It’s the time when you have all the money in the world and all the time in the world. When you’re single or when you win the lottery or an all-expense-paid trip around the world.

Do you want to know what the truth is?

“Conditions are never perfect. ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it ‘eventually,’ just do it and correct course along the way.”
― Timothy Ferriss, The Four Hour Work Week

So how then do we move from here?

The best way to get something done is to begin

As with travel and everything else one is passionate about, the best way to get something done is to simply begin. You may not have all the time or all the resources you’d like to have but if you can just begin with the little you have, you’ll find that it makes a world of difference.

Don’t wait to explore the ‘big locations’ if you can’t afford to do so yet. Start by exploring your own city, then consider visiting neighbouring cities, states and countries. Be flexible with your destinations. So you can’t afford to go to Europe just yet? Why not explore places closest to you? Cote d’ Ivoire, for example, has that European feel to it, when you think about it. They speak French (cue France vibes), have the world’s largest basilica (did someone say Vatican City?) and some of West Africa’s nicest beaches.

If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest
― Ecclesiastes 11:4

Want a safari but can’t get to Tanzania, South Africa or Kenya? Did you know that Ghana has an amazing wildlife park? Did you also know that Benin Republic’s Pendjari National Park is one of the best National Parks in West Africa? And of course, there is Yankari and Sumu wildlife park here in Nigeria.

The point here is to be flexible with destinations and to make the best use of the resources that you have right now.

Don’t leave for tomorrow, what can be done today

If you can afford to travel now, just go ahead and do it. Again, you must bear in mind that conditions are never perfect. You might not have all the time or all the resources but if you can create a reasonable balance, go for it!

As someone who works a full-time job, I often get questions or remarks about how I can afford to travel ‘so much’. I wrote an article about this here but the summary is this: we make out time for what is most important to us. If that important thing is travel, you will make out time for it.

Do it now, sometimes ‘Later’ becomes ‘Never’

In 2015, when I decided to take my first solo tour in Europe, the exchange rate jumped from N160 to $1 to about N215 to $1 almost overnight. When I thought about all the clothes I could get with that money, I almost did a full U-turn back to my country! But then, I thought about the experience I would be forfeiting, and the fact that I might never get the opportunity to travel back to Europe again and I decided to go on with it.

Guess what, this is the year 2017 and the exchange rate never got better. In fact, it got worse. At some point, nearing N500 to $1, which is just outrageous! I haven’t been to Europe since and I’m not even sure when next I’ll get the chance to visit again but I’m glad I didn’t put off that opportunity. Like I have mentioned many times on this blog, that trip kick started this phase of my life and I’m not sure that this blog would even exist if it wasn’t for it.

At the end of the day, all I am trying to do here is to encourage you to live out your passions and dreams NOW. ‘Now’ begins with a shift in mindset. It’s like the Alchemist said,

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Changing your mindset to be more positive is one step closer to ‘NOW’. There are really no perfect conditions. If travelling is a passion of yours, the best time to make it happen is now!

I always love to hear from you and invite you to share your opinion. Is travelling something you’re passionate about? I’m assuming the answer is ‘yes’ since you’re here :). Are you living out this passion? If yes, what has the experience been like? If no, what’s stopping you?