Who takes travel sabbaticals?

Before I took my “adult gap year,” I thought I was the only one who had thought of the idea to take a year off to travel around the world. At least, outside of the socially accepted gap year periods – after college and after high school.

I was totally wrong. Lots of people take adult gap years.

When my husband and I joined a group safari in Africa – joining a large group that would travel from Nairobi to Cape Town together in one big truck – almost everyone we were traveling with was taking some kind of adult gap year.

Having now met several dozen people experimenting with long-term travel, I’ll share a few characteristics they (usually) share here:

1. Most long-term travelers are financially savvy. When I say “financially savvy,” I mean they have thought through their budget for the trip, they are tracking their spending, and they are able to negotiate their costs down where it’s appropriate. Some are well-off – coming from lucrative fields like tech, data, medicine, and law – but this is not a prerequisite. We’ve met quite a few couples who saved aggressively on tight incomes in order to realize their travel dreams.   
   

2. Most long-term travelers are low-maintenance. When you’re traveling through the Global South, the standard of living is lower. When we traveled, we got used to peeing behind bushes in Africa, to having a small tube of soap in our pockets for bathrooms, and to carrying our own toilet paper. Plus, long-term travelers are often up early for transport, face major cultural differences, and sometimes have to eat unbelievably gross food. These are just the realities of traveling long-term. It certainly doesn’t have to be this way. For example, long-term traveling through Europe certainly allows for a certain level of bougie-ness. But, being well-humored about annoying, tiring circumstances can go a long way towards helping someone to enjoy long-term travel.
   

3. Most long-term travelers are curious. Some people travel the world to party in new places, some people do it to take a break. But, in my experience, most long-term travelers are explorers at heart. They are desperate to see and understand parts of the world they’ve had no exposure to. They are curious to learn about other cultures, to learn words in other languages, and to see things they’ve never seen before. These curious travelers are endlessly satisfied of course. The world has so much to offer.

What is missing from this list? What have you found long-term travelers have in common? Let me know if the comments!