Just like everyone else, I want to travel a lot too. I want to see every corner of the world, witness the boundless beauty of the planet earth, and see the ruins of historical architectures, and so on. Traveling is fascinating. It gives a different perspective of the world and people. It gives a different perspective of yourself. That’s right – yourself. When you pack your bags and get on that plane/train or whatever, not only are you traveling the world, but you are also traveling inwards, within yourself – okay fine, I will stop being philosophical. My point is, traveling is awesome. Simple as that.

Also expensive. Simple as that too.

But then you may wonder, how does everyone travel? There are many “travelers” around you. You can see people calling themselves travelers, travel-addicts, globetrotters, and many other fancy names on their social media and all. I travel once or twice a year. I am pretty much a vacationer – not a traveler. I am a software designer by profession, and I travel as I earn my vacation days throughout the year. I fly out to explore one or two countries every year – maybe three. I also do many other short trips to nearby townships and cities as weekend getaways. Wait – does it still count as traveling? I’ll allow it. Meh!

With a fully committed life and career goals, it is absolutely impossible to just travel all the time, though it is fun and exciting. Some influencers may preach, “It is your only life, drop everything, backpack and disappear”. I can’t speak for others, but if I’m committed to something, I like to stay committed. I like to balance my family goals, career goals, and financial goals along with my travel goals equally. If you have the urge to travel and if you are somewhat smart about your travel plans and budgeting, you can make it work – just fine. Just like how you commit to other things, you have to be committed to traveling too. This commitment may include precise planning, proper researching, and of course, a lot of savings. From my experience, if you can commit to it, you can check out a couple of different destinations every year, spending a reasonable amount of time in each without jeopardizing other aspects of your life and commitments.