You might be thinking, “How can travel be bad for my soul?” Although travel is a key essential to widening narrow minds, learning new things, and experiencing different cultures first hand… it changes who we are as an individual. That includes our habits, thinking, and way of going about life. This is good, but the pursuit of traveling can come with some bitter side effects.

The way we view the world shifts the more we grow as a person and before you know it you’re looking through a completely different lens. It’s a gradual change, but one that happens none the less and we start to notice these changes in certain situations. Here are some ways travel ruins your life:

1. You’ll never enjoy food again. Standards go up after eating authentic Mexican food and homemade tortilla chips. Whenever I travel I splurge on food and it just doesn’t quit hit the spot when you’re eating Mexican (or any foreign food) from chain restaurants once you’re back home.
2. Save/use all your money for traveling. A lot of my friends like to save money for the latest and greatest things such as the newest iPhone, new cars, and shopping for the latest trends. I prefer to save my money for flights and travel activities. No regrets.
3. Your international perception on money will change. The value of money is different around the world, flights are cheaper in Europe and what $10 can get you in the U.S may not get you as much somewhere else or vice versa. Kind of like at the airport, you pay $10 for a water bottle.
4. Your financial values will change. Whenever your friends encourage you to get $100 shoes, you’ll think “I could get a plane ticket with that money”. Or when spending $25 eating out I think how that covers a baggage fee. This is much like how some people say “I had to work 4 hours for this shirt”, ya feel?
5. “Normal” people back home are hard to deal with. Whenever I travel, I meet the friendliest and nicest people. Everyone is chill when you’re exploring the beach and riding on a catamaran in the gulf. Back home everyone is stuck in a routine 9-5 job and misery loves company.
6. You won’t enjoy the weekend like others. Most people look forward to the weekend as their getaway from work. You won’t enjoy it for one of two reasons, 1) You work the weekend to afford getaways 2) You’re always traveling and doing things no matter what day of the week it is, so the weekend doesn’t hold any special value anymore.
7. You aren’t satisfied with the “normal” ways of society. After shopping at the local farmers market on the islands it’s hard to be satisfied with your grocery stores “fresh” products. Or perhaps you prefer the handmade quality fashion over mass produced products. Your shopping experience isn’t as unique.
8. You realize nowhere is picture perfect. You’ve seen beyond the cliché photos to realize the imperfections each place has and have experienced that country uncensored.
9. You have a ton of little knick-knacks. Your space quickly became cluttered with shot glasses or little items as souvenirs that don’t really do anything but remind you about the adventures. But what would you with out all that junk?
10. You will never be in one place for long. You are always planning the next trip as soon as you get back from your current one. You never just chill or conform to the “normal” way of living a routine, predictable life. Even after just a month you want to see someplace new!
11. Committing to social events is hard. You have no problem buying a plane ticket 6 months out but that holiday party next month? Not sure if I can make it, might be on a spontaneous weekend trip or have found a good deal on a bucket list item that conflicts. (Don’t worry friends, I’ll pencil in your wedding).
12. Trying to make a relationship work is tough. It’s not that I don’t want to find the one but it’s hard to find someone worth or willing to work around everything you have going in your life. Between work, school, and using my free time for planning or going on weekends trips, it’s hard to balance a relationship aspect in all of that. You’re only young once right?

None of these consequences will stop anyone from traveling, as they are just minor side effects of the process.

“Loving life is easy when you are abroad. Where no knows you and you hold your life in your hands all alone, you are more master of yourself than any other time.” –Hannah Arendt