Is thirty too late to travel? Forty? Fifty?

I’m part of a Facebook group for travelers and the question “is it too late for me to start traveling?” or “am I too old to keep traveling?” is asked at least once a week.

The fear behind the questions is usually that if you take the leap to travel, or continue to travel, you’re risking your career, family, or any stability you’d otherwise have down the line. There’s the thought that somehow travel is too whimsical for a practical adult. That this dream is reserved for 25 year olds looking to find themselves on cobblestone streets.

“Is it too late for me to start to travel?”

I look at these posts, sometimes replying with encouragement, sometimes reading for encouragement of my own. Because despite an ardent love of travel, and the fact that I’ve got three trips planned in the next three months, there’s a tinge of fear that this unconventional life is something I should have pursued only when I was younger.

Should there have been a flight attendant that, like a bartender, would tell me I’ve had enough? Should I have been cut off? Am I too old for this?

While I’ve read many posts and comments about this very same fear of mine, there’s only one comment that ever truly stood out. A woman once replied that she’s in her sixties, spends most of her time traveling, and the only age when it’s too late to travel is when you’re dead.

I’m not gonna lie, I laughed out loud.

The only time that’s too late to travel is when you’re dead.

Not at thirty. Nope, not at fifty either. Not at seventy. (Have you seen pictures of cruises? Judging by the pictures I’ve seen, there is definitely not an age limit for shuffleboard on a cruise ship and stops in the Bahamas.)

And as far as I’ve heard, border control doesn’t check your date of birth and turn you around if you’re over an age limit. So, no. It is not too late to travel. You aren’t too old to travel. Go. If you have the financial ability and the health, go. Travel in your thirties. Take a trip in your forties. Go on a cruise in your fifties. Backpack in your sixties. It’s not too late until it is actually very much too late.

As for the fear of risking your career and family and the security you’ve built up? Starting to travel – or continuing to travel – does not have to mean disappearing to a foreign land, and starting a new life under a new name. You don’t have to become a telenovela character or Carmen SanDiego to start, or continue, traveling. 

Traveling – both short and long term – has been the most breathtaking and inspiring part of my life. I’ve been catatonically awe-struck over jungle-consumed temples in Cambodia and have had a borderline meltdown over impossibly delicious gelato in Italy. I loved travel when I was 20 and I love it over a decade later. There is no age limit to appreciating world wonders and gelato.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to share several posts about how I’ve made the room in my schedule and in my bank account to travel as often and as far as I do. I hope that I can offer some advice and inspiration – and a little bit of How-To – to help others bring those travel dreams to fruition. Regardless of age.

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