Travel Now, Your Health Depends On It

We wandered the streets of Belmopan looking for a place to eat, and as we approached the main square we heard shouting and chanting.  After a morning of cave diving and an afternoon of mountain biking, we just wanted some food.  When we entered the square we saw a massive political rally, and our interest was immediately piqued.

Hundreds of animated Belizians shouted and sang, some holding “PUP” signs and others “UDP” signs.  They were passionate, engaged, and we were enthralled watching democracy in action in a foreign country.  My hunger went away, pushed aside by my curiosity to witness the dynamics of a political rally in another country.

It didn’t matter that we were clueless about the issues, it clearly was important to them so it rubbed off to us.  My buddy and I decided we supported the PUP party (aka Peoples United Party), only because we loved that the acronym was “pup”.  Everyone loves puppies right?

Such are the magical moments that occur during travel.

 

My Travel Roots

I worked for almost 2.5 full years at my first real job out of college before I took a single day off.  Growing up working class in Baltimore, vacations weren’t really a thing.  My parents tried, but we really only had one every 2 or 3 years. 

So after 2.5 years of hard work in a small dot-com company, I went all in on a three week adventure to the American West with a colleague.  I was 25 but had never been on a commercial plane, and had only been outside of the neighboring states around Maryland once. 

Those three weeks changed my life.  We saw Yellowstone, Yosemite, Mt. Rainier, The Grand Canyon, and Glacier National Park.  We hiked every day in the some of most beautiful places in the world, and camped every night. 

I saw the Milky Way for the first time, and learned that you can actually see satellites without the ubiquitous light pollution that had shrouded my entire life.  In short, the trip took an inner city kid raised on concrete and grit, and turned him into a lifelong outdoor enthusiast. 

Fast forward more years than I’d care to admit, and here I am a semi-retired entrepreneur who’s been to over 40 countries, all seven continents (including Antarctica), and some of the most remote, dangerous, exotic, and mysterious places on the globe. 

In short, travel has made me a smarter, healthier, and better person.  And the research backs me up.

 

Go Places, Get Healthier

The Global Coalition On Aging has done many studies about travel, especially with retirees, and the results are eye opening.  This comprehensive study titled The Physical, Cognitive, And Social Benefits Of Travel found that:

women who vacationed every six years or less had a significantly higher risk of developing a heart attack or coronary death compared to women who vacationed at least twice a year

And the results are similar for men: 

In a nine-year study, men who did not take an annual vacation were shown to have a 20 percent higher risk of death and about a 30 percent greater risk of death from heart disease.  Even when accounting for factors such as pre-existing poor health or affluence, the researchers concluded the same results – that vacationing is a restorative behavior with an independent positive effect on health.

Want more?

One survey shows that after being on vacation for only a day or two, 89 percent of people are able to leave the stressors of work behind and relax. This has long-term effects, as stress has been shown to play a damaging role in health and can actually speed up the aging process. .

I could go on but you should read the report, if you want a short version of the main findings I’ve got you covered.  I’m here to serve at Accidental FIRE. 

 

Waiting Until You’re Retired

Many dream of a life of travel in retirement.  Sure, it sounds great.  But most won’t retire until they’re in their 60’s.  And with over 73% of Americans overweight, 42.5% obese, and about 88% metabolically unhealthy, banking on being healthy enough to handle the rigors of travel in your mid 60’s or 70’s is a crap shoot. 

I realize everyone cannot achieve financial independence and semi-retire to 20 hours a week in their mid-40’s like I did.  But many many people can do it if they saved more money and stopped chasing things.  Either way, you don’t need to be financially independent to travel. 

Even if your job only gives you a measly two weeks of vacation, you should take it.  And you should try to go to a cool place and experience something new.  Turns out we Americans suck at that too. 

According the U.S. Travel Association more than half of Americans don’t use all of their paid vacation days.  And they get way less of those paid vacation days than workers in most other wealthy and developed countries.

Look, if you have no interest in travel, that’s great.  Different strokes for different folks.  But if you do, don’t wait.  Waiting until you’re retired is delaying all of the amazing health benefits and memorable life experiences that travel provides.  

 

Magic

Travel is magic.  On a good trip you don’t know what will happen next, or what’s around the next corner.  If you’re like me and enjoy being spontaneous, half of the fun is waiting until the next unexpected situation arises, and figuring out how you’re going to solve it. 

New sights, new smells, weird customs, and exotic landscapes all stimulate the brain and open your mind to new ideas. 

I remember being lost in Seoul South Korea and having to figure out how to order something – anything – at a small family eatery on the street.  A menu filled with Korean characters was useless.  I tried charades, the back and forth was comical.  In the end they served me damn good food, and I ate every last bite. 

I’ve dived with sharks in 4 different oceans, climbed mountains around the world, taught classes in El Salvador and Colombia, seen wild giraffes in Tanzania, played guitar on stage in Kathmandu Nepal, and eaten Mexican food in Russia (it sucked).  The memories of these things will last forever. 

I get it, those kinds of trips are expensive.  I saved for them, and reaped the reward.  But travel can be anywhere, you can drive two hours and see a place you’ve never been.  I guarantee there’s more available to you in a days drive than you probably realize, all you have to do is open your mind, get online, and start planning. 

I realize with the pandemic still ongoing that travel is more difficult right now.  But driving trips minimize that difficulty and allow you to explore at your own pace.

I’ll end with this video called Travel And Healthy Aging which is a wonderfully engaging explanation of why travel either before retirement or after is key to healthy aging and better health outcomes.