Lately I have seen something posted over and over on social media that just drives me nuts. I do believe that most of the people sharing it don’t intend to be condescending douchebags, but it comes across that way anyway.
What is this hated trend?
Any version of “Just travel! You can always make more money later!” It’s hard to find a more privileged, out of touch statement that gets so much traction.
There are so many things wrong with this I hardly know where to begin, but I’m going to share my 2 biggest issues with it.
#1 Depending on which poll you look at, anywhere from 35% to 60% of Americans say they are living paycheck to paycheck. Meaning, the loss of just one paycheck means they can’t make the electric bill this month. Or make their car payment. How the actual fuck are these people supposed to save up the cash to jet off to Europe? Or road trip across the country? “Tips for Traveling on a budget” doesn’t mean much if your budget is zero.
I grew up on a small family farm, which wasn’t exactly a big money making venture in the 70s and 80s. My family did take short vacations every summer, but we camped in state parks a couple hours from home. We made most of our meals over a camp fire with groceries we brought with us. We took nature hikes and took in free demonstrations at interpretive centers. We didn’t go to amusement parks or water parks or eat at amazing high class restaurants. Why? Because we couldn’t afford it.
I’m not saying we didn’t have a lot of fun on our vacations. We did, and I appreciate everything my folks did without so we go at all. But I will slap the shit out of anyone suggesting that they should have just thrown caution to the wind and maxed out every credit card they had to take me and my sister to Disney World or Mexico instead and “just made more money later”.
#2 Around 25% of Americans have some kind of disability, and about half those folks’ disability affects their mobility. How much harder- regardless of their financial state- is it for these folks to just live their daily lives? Whether their condition requires a wheelchair, an oxygen tank, a colostomy bag, or whatever it might be, that is one hell of an extra burden. And then there are all of the people with mental health issues. Telling anyone with a disability or other serious illness to “just travel” is incredibly ableist. And I HATE that term, but here it 100% fits.
Travelling is a privilege. If you can afford it, and if you want to, by all means go wherever your heart desires. But you are putting yourself into serious debt because you think you can just fix it later, I strongly suggest you rethink your choices. Credit card debt is a nasty, nasty thing that can eat you alive and impact your finances (think buying a new car or getting a mortgage) for decades. And encouraging others to risk financial ruin for a week of fun is insulting, out of touch, and just plain ignorant. One might even call it privileged.