“What will you say right before they put you six feet under? Will you say “I wish I could have, I wish I would have, I wish I should have,” or will you say “I did it all. Thank you and good night”.
Gene Simmons.
We are lucky people. Only a few decades ago you had to be pretty damn rich to afford to get your ass to a different continent, not to mention a few centuries ago when people could only dream of such things. (Actually not even, because they didn’t know all those other wonderful places even exist on the same planet)
The whole world is yours to enjoy, so stop being stuck in everyday routine! Did you think about going on a vacation soon?
Whether it’s by yourself or with a good friend or two, traveling can only do you good, especially when you are traveling with a guitar and love music. You can find awesome musical thing to do wherever you go!
When I say travels here, I mean everything on the scale of:
- Flying for a week in Japan or any other distant culture location. (or to the US if you are from Japan for example)
- Leaving home for 6 months to travel around the world. (see pictures from my recent trip here)
- Going on a weekend getaway to some cool place.
- Boarding a bus to go spend a few days in a cool city (if you live in the US so you’re just a bus/flight away from one of the coolest music cities the world has to offer)
Remember – People Vastly Overestimate The Price And Complexity Of Travel And International Travel
The most expensive part of your trip would be the flight ticket, and even then if you hunt hard enough on apps like Expedia I assure you that you can get a round trip from almost anywhere to anywhere else in the world for no more than 1200$ at the worst case. And that’s for international flights if you’re European or American a simple bus or a train might cut it for you to get to a totally different place. And a flight to somewhere not too far away can cost as little as 500$. If you live anywhere in the western world, that’s money that you make in just a few days of work!
When you get to your destination, if you stay in hostels / Couchsurfing / camping in a tent / AirBnB apartments you can easily live on a budget of under 40$ for a night stay. If you plan ahead and cook for yourself or eat mostly at street vendors you can also keep food costs lower than 20$ a day in just about every country in the western world and a fraction of this for less developed countries such as Thailand. You can also hitchhike to save travel money in places where it’s safe.
That adds up to an estimated overall of 60-70$ a day for most destinations which is really not bad. And that’s the minimum, of course, you can treat yourself and spend more than that if you’d like. If for example you also want to rent a car for some added comfort, you can get deals for as low as 30-40$ a day in most countries.
Anyway, with these costs, most people can afford such thing once a year if they’d save up for it, and considering the experiences that the travels offer you, it makes traveling a damn good deal nowadays.
Buses might also be an option for some travels that people overlook. Last summer I got a Megabus round trip from New Orleans to Memphis for 31$! That’s an 8 hours for a one-way ride that crosses three states! Buses can be ridiculously cheap. Megabus are also available in Europe but I’ve never tried them there. Look up your destination and you can get a bargain especially if you are booking a few weeks ahead (just try to stay away from the sketchy Greyhounds…).
By Traveling, You…
– Enrich yourself with new experiences and make magnificent memories.
– Meet interesting and cool people and have conversations that just cannot happen when you’re a local.
– See and appreciate the beauty of the world and its vast landscapes.
– Get Exposed To Fascinating New Cultures.
– See and hear about different point of views on the world.
– Eat interesting new foods.
– Challenge yourself.
– Broaden Your Horizons.
– Get to know yourself better and grow.
– Empower yourself and experience full independence.
– Relax.
– Smile. Always smile…
And much more.
Especially as a musician, traveling has even more bright sides to offer you:
- You will get to explore new kinds of music and live shows that you can see nowhere else. Every place in the world has its own music!
- You will have opportunities for the coolest jams with unusual languages and instruments!
- You can learn new things about playing your own instrument from other people that you meet.
- You can go and play at open mics thousand of miles away from home, and also meet local musicians that way.
- You can find some amazing music museums to spend a few hours at and learn something new.
- You can play around a campfire while camping. Honestly, there aren’t many things that I like more than that.
- And in general, when you are traveling with a guitar you simply attract good people and invite awesome experiences even more than the usual backpacker. That’s just how it works, people are attracted to music and guitars have good energies about them.
Hope that gives you something to think about. Drop the excuses and just do it! Jump in the water, they aren’t cold at all. I have never met someone who regrets any traveling that he’s done in his life. We only live once.
Please share with us your music journeys stories in the comments, more reasons to travel, and whatever else comes to your mind!
Thank you for reading. Peace and have fun on your journeys.
