How old were you when you first started to travel?

>>1274789
Bump, same age.

I graduated college at 21 and went oversees. Prior to that I made trips out of my home state but that isn't exactly another cultural experience.

You're ready when you want to go. Just pull the trigger.

just go somewhere safe if you're not sure you can handle the fucking madness of the third world.

>>1274931
I was looking at spain or france, nothing too extreme.

19.

Went to Turkey, Greece, Iraq, Georgia, Armenia, the UAE, Bahrain, India, and Kazakhstan on my first trip. Did it all over the course of my four-month long summer break.

Turning 24 in less than a month and posting from Guadalajara.

I'll have my birthday in a village in Zanzibar midway through August.

>>1275037
Do you earn money online?

19; blew $25k inheritance from my grandma in India, Thailand, Morocco, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Israel/Jordan over two years.

>How did you know you were ready?
I didn't, it was just something I always wanted to do and one day I just pulled the trigger on my first trip. If you want to wait until you're "ready" then you'll never leave, because the circumstances will never be perfect.

Don't be retarded and buy a one-way ticket and just YOLO everything though. If it's your first time abroad you should have some rudimentary planning and some semblance of a schedule. Also many countries will refuse you entry without a return flight anyways

>>1275037
Where do you get money for this? Parents? Loans? Sounds awfully pricy.

>>1274789
I was lucky to get international experience from a relatively early age by American standards. Although I have never been anything like rich, I grew up solidly middle class, with educated parents who liked to travel. My dad was a professor at a broke public university, who worked his ass off for not much money throughout my childhood to earn promotions and eventually tenure, so he barely cracked six figures by the time he retired, but retired with a good pension; my mom was a public middle school teaching assistant, working one-on-one with kids with behavior problems and other special needs--needless to say, she never made any money, but she got summers off.

So they took us on a multi-country Western Europe tour the summer I turned thirteen, and my dad did a couple of Fulbright teaching/research fellowships when I was in high school and just after college, so we lived in backwoods Thailand for a year when I was sixteen, and he and my mom lived in Pakistan for a year and I got to visit them.

They also encouraged me to be interested in other places. So I went on a school exchange trip to the Soviet Union in 1990, studied abroad in Thailand and traveled widely in Southeast Asia at 19-20, and finally moved to our former home base in Thailand on my own just after university, getting a job through friends we had met when we were all there. I was an expat for six years, and have sought out jobs involving international affairs all my life.

18, started nearly 3 weeks ago. Sitting in helsinki airport now waiting on a flight to tallinn

>>1274789
17. Travelled from the Netherlands to Basel in Switzerland, but I got out the wrong train station, so I had to walk around for hours until I finally found a hostel.

Still had a good vacation though.

24. Have been in Prague and Amsterdam, like Prague more, but Amsterdam is cool too.

>>1275052

I do now, but I didn't then.

>>1275067

I worked a lot.

I was 15 the first time I went to Europe. I traveled from London to Venice and all everything in between. I had a sponsorship for this trip so it cost about $2,000 total for 2 weeks. Got to stay in great hotels and and eat well the whole time.

I'm a burger so I started doing cross country road trips on the weekends when I could start driving at 16.

Reading this thread, I didn't know I was so lucky.

>>1274920
When I was 22 and graduated college, I was suicidal and genuinely was ready to "pull the trigger", but I had a decent amount of cash saved up that I didn't really know what to do with. I kept seeing travel threads, and how people found a new sense or purpose or how they felt so much better being away from home, so I considered the possibility of using that money and traveling before I kill myself. Shit changed my life and saved my life

>>1275261
Did you end up killing yourself?

Where did you go to?

>>1275269
Still haven't killed myself yet

I went to Ukraine and lived there for a couple of months. Despite such hard circumstances, the Ukrainian people still carry on and enjoy happy lives, so I realized that I have no excuse to be depressed

first time outside us or canada 15, on a school trip, a month each in israel and ireland. first time "on my own" 17 with another 17 year old friend for 2 months in europe.
>How did you know you were ready?
dunno. looking at 17 year olds now i more wonder why my parents thought i was ready. but whatever, i did fine.

36 yo burger, fwiw

>>1274789
I always traveled with my parents and from the week on where I turned 14 on and got my Mofa I started my first solo trips around Switzerland and and the surrounding countries.

>pic related looks like my ride
30 km/h, after some tuning 45 but hey it got me to places, made me so much smarter and I still wonder how I survived some shit.
Still traveling whenever I can and after writing this I want to buy a Mofa again kek.

File: serveimage-6.jpg (354KB, 1536x1024px)

354KB, 1536x1024px

>>1275279
and that's the pic...

>>1274789
>How old were you when you first began to travel?
26

>How did you know you were ready?
When I figured out how to tell my parents to go fuck themselves, in the most polite and respectful way possible.

I started when I was 27. Don't make the same mistake as I did, go ASAP.

I've definitely considered traveling when I was 19, but I was such a worrywart teenager back then.
>how am I gonna save up money
>how am I gonna get a job if I take X amount of time off
>what if none of my friends don't want to go
>how do I travel alone in a foreign country if I don't know the language
>what if I miss my flight
>what if I get mugged
>what if I get sick
>what if I die
>how do I book flights/hotels/etc.
>what if I get lost
I would learn much too late that all of these "concerns" were fucking nothing at all.

>>1275261
That's what I did as well. I promised myself if I fucked up overseas I'd blow my brains out. But I didn't and my brain is still bulletless.

>>1274789
18.
I left on a one-way to Egypt. I was able to keep going for 6 months until the money I had saved up ran out. I'm 21 now and itching to drop Uni and fuck off someplace.

If travel with parents counts, I was 3. My dad's work took him to Paris for almost a year, and the family came along. We ended up going back to Europe several times after that, once because my mom's work took her to the UK for a few weeks and we followed it up with France, and again to visit distant cousins in Italy. We also did a few vacations to Mexico, Hawaii, and Canada.

My first independent trip was to Japan when I was 22. My parents' frequent flyer miles covered the ticket and I paid for the rest with money I'd saved up from working.

File: IMG_1584.jpg (2MB, 3264x2448px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3264x2448px

First trip was to Thailand when I was 19. Had so much fun. I'm almost 21 and I just got back from 2 weeks in Hong Kong. I'm already ready to leave austrialia again. Planning to quit my job and spend a few months in sea at the end of the year with my mate and brother. Just go man. Whatever happens you'll look back on your time overseas and even on the worst day it'll be better than being at home.

>>1274939
If you can't handle these places at your age something is wrong, I recommend Spain over France tho, you'll have a blast.

>>1275488
We should go on a trip sometime.
I'm 22, living in NSW. Just got back from 2 weeks in Japan and South Korea. I visited Hong Kong and mainland China, and parts of Europe solo earlier this year too.

>>1275526
Sorry man. This trip I have at the end of the year will my last for a while due to career. Thanks for the offer.

>>1275274
Good to hear that anon, good that travel made your life a little better.

>>1274789
First time without parents I was 17, I went to Germany. I had a friend there I wanted to visit so a place to stay was covered along with food for the most part.

>How did you know you were ready?
It wasn't really a question of if I was ready or not, I just really wanted to go and my parents were ok with it. There isn't a lot to be ready for, unless you are going somewhere dangerous or remote you are pretty much fine.

>>1275057
>If you want to wait until you're "ready" then you'll never leave, because the circumstances will never be perfect.
This is extremely good advice. You can't put it off, if you have the opportunity you should go, you never know what might happen (good or bad) that will prevent you from going in the future.

>>1275132
That sounds really nice

How has language learning factored into your ability to maintain a life in international affairs? What are some things a recent college graduate could do in the coming years to be an attractive option for employment abroad?

What counts?
I did some Europe trips with my family as a kid, and a bunch of trips around the US. My first solo travel would be to college, and I did trips out of state to conventions at that time as well. My first solo international travel was at age 23, but it was just a train trip up to Canada.

My mom took me to Egypt and London when I was 14. My godmother is Egyptian and wealthy so I got to party in Hurghada by The Red Sea going to night clubs and on boat trips during the day. Shit's surreal to think about now.

When I was 18 I went to Nepal and Taiwan alone for two months and did ebc trek. I went back to Egypt with my godmother again when I was 21 but tensions are a lot higher with the recent isis shit.

I am now 23 and waiting to get my next paycheck tomorrow night and will be booking a flight to Thailand from January 2nd-22nd. Traveling with a friend makes it a lot easier as opposed to going alone. I've traveled solo but it's really a subjective matter on if you can handle it. I say just do it you will always be anxious beforehand but you will most likely have a great experience.

>>1275037
No joke my dad dated the daughter of the mayor of Guadalajara in the 80's and basically had the most extravagant life being pampered by los carteles. Pretty fuckin jelly since he showed me pics and she was a total babe

>>1276113
Same here senpai

>>1276114
i guess there isn't a way to prove this on a mongolian basket weaving forum and since he now works in the NoDak oil fields i can't get the polaroids but i swear its true bro haha

19 is young bro, i would wait until you are a little bit older with more life experience under your belt.

>>1275880
>What counts?
No one's counting the travels you did as a kid.

1. It is highly unlikely that you, as a child, had any say in where you went, and when you went.
2. If traveling as a kid counts, then like 99% of the first world would have something under their belts.