Why You Can’t Keep Procrastinating Travel

If you know me, you know I love me some John Legend. So to start off this post, I thought I’d quote a lyric of his that sums up what I’m about to argue pretty damn well: ‘There’s no promised tomorrow.’

At 23 years young, I have a whole life ahead of me (hopefully!) I try to never take one day for granted. I’m a big advocate of living life to the fullest, trying new things, and being adventurous, because you never know what lies ahead.

At the moment, my home state of California is experiencing the worst storm it’s had in over ten years, and it’s making headlines— not only because the state has been in a severe drought, but because the storm has brought down a historic landmark: the Pioneer Cabin Tree.

The Pioneer Cabin Tree was a sequoia located in Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The tunnel through it was carved into the tree’s trunk in the 1880s, and the tree itself was estimated to be at least 1000 years old.

I didn’t even know how much I wanted to see this legendary tree until the news of its demise was all over my Facebook news feed. Granted, there are still a few other trees whose trunks have tunnels carved out of them so the experience isn’t completely lost.

Yet.

For a variety of reasons, if there’s a particular place around the world that you just really want to visit, a sight you want to see, or an animal you want to observe in their natural habitat, do it now. Because there’s no such thing as a promised tomorrow.

For example, the Maldives? Those beautiful bungalows over the water surrounded by serene white sand beaches and lush green landscapes? Several of its islands were decimated by the 2004 tsunami, and the rest of the country could be underwater within the next thirty years.

The Taj Mahal, manmade and built out of marble. What could possibly tarnish that? Well, for one, pollutants from nearby factories are marring the bright white of the marble. Secondly, architects believe that the building’s foundations are being eroded away and the entire building is slowly sinking into the Yamuna River.

Want to cuddle a Koala in Australia? Koala populations are increasingly threatened by wildfires and disease, and each individual state has begun to put regulations into place against human contact.

The cute marsupials are just one example of a species threatened– there’s an entire list of affable animals that may one day no longer be a part of our world. Animals are being poached and their habitats threatened, so if you want to go on African safari or explore the Amazon jungle, go now.

Travel may not always be accessible to us for several reasons, between work, financial concerns, and family obligations. But we should all stop assuming the world will never change and will stay the same. Earthquakes and storms will be more frequent in years to come, so go now and experience the incredible diversity and history of other countries while you still can.

As climate change persists, maybe we can make a difference as long as we continue to be conscientious, global consumers. But that’s another point to be made on another day.

Article photo courtesy of Simona Ladan/NBC News.
Featured Image courtesy of Aron Bosworth/Outdoor Project