One evening, slouched on your couch, you’re scrolling through Instagram. Surfing in Bali, trekking in the Amazon, van life in Australia, you wonder why none of these people are working.
Historically, every society has had its own rites of passage into adulthood. Today, for a part of Western youth, this rite takes the form of travel. A prelude before diving into the professional world, an experience meant to change us profoundly. But between the pursuit of authenticity and the influence of social media, traveling in your twenties is it really an existential quest, or just a way to avoid facing real life?
Traveling: A new rite of passage or an Instagram-inflated trend?
Travel made accessible (almost) to everyone
Low-cost flights for €20, hostel stays for €10 a night, volunteering programs, CouchSurfing, online jobs… Traveling has never been more affordable. Inspired by the Anglo-Saxon “gap year” tradition, Western youth are increasingly adopting this pause between studies and working life.
However, while this democratization of travel makes it seem accessible to all, it remains a privilege. Even if it’s cheaper than before, in a world where inflation keeps rising and job insecurity is a growing concern, taking a year off is a luxury not everyone can afford. For some, the idea of dropping everything to leave is unthinkable, synonymous with too much uncertainty and responsibility.
The pressure of social media: Traveling to exist?
The rise of social media has turned travel into a performance. It’s no longer just an experience, it’s social proof of success. We want to show that we’re free, adventurous, open-minded. And for that, we need the perfect photo to match.
The problem is that this staged presentation creates a standardization of travel. The same itineraries, the same pictures, the same stories. Bali, South America, Australia… Destinations become products, and experiences turn into consumable content.
A new kind of pressure arises, travel becomes a social norm, an obligation to accumulate experiences under the fear of missing out on your youth: traveling to exist.
Consuming travel like a product
We start collecting destinations, proudly displaying them in Instagram highlight reels sorted by country. Tourism speeds up and turns into a race. You have to see everything, experience everything, capture everything. We pass through countries without truly understanding them.
And in a capitalist logic where accumulation prevails, experience itself becomes a commodity. But in chasing after the most Instagrammable shot, doesn’t travel simply become another form of exotic consumption?
Escaping the pressure of working life?
Travel as a survival therapy
For some, after years of academic pressure and on the verge of burnout, traveling appears as a way to breathe. A way to regain control after following a pre-determined path.
For others, it’s also a way to escape societal expectations, finding a job, settling down, having kids. Travel allows them to delay these pressures, to temporarily avoid responsibilities.
Traveling to avoid making choices
Traveling can also be a response to indecision. Who am I? What am I supposed to do with my life? We expect revelations, hoping for a life-changing epiphany on top of a mountain. But often, we return even more lost than before.
Because travel isn’t necessarily the answer to all existential questions, it can turn into emotional escapism rather than a true spiritual quest.
The Paradox of Freedom
We idealize travel as a symbol of freedom, yet we reproduce the very norms we claim to escape. We seek authenticity but follow the same tourist circuits as everyone else. We want to travel without money but rely on precarious jobs or financial support from our parents.
It’s freedom that remains constrained, and the paradox is hard to ignore.
The existential quest
Discovering oneself through the unknown
Traveling isn’t the solution to all our problems. But if we take the time to reflect, it remains a way to learn about the world, and about ourselves.
During a period of identity searching, travel serves as an accelerator of introspection, a way to push boundaries by stepping out of our comfort zone, to discover ourselves outside familiar circles, to explore passions and opportunities.
Getting lost in a new city, struggling through a foreign language, breaking down in the middle of nowhere… Facing the unknown teaches us self-reliance and confidence. Traveling means detaching from our usual points of reference, embracing the unexpected, learning to put things into perspective, and realizing that the biggest challenges make for the best stories.
And sometimes, in the middle of a random encounter or a moment of solitude, you understand things about yourself that you never would have found elsewhere.
Opening your eyes to the world’s diversity
Traveling also means realizing that the world is broader and more complex than we ever imagined. Living in a radically different culture allows us to step beyond our own reality, to deconstruct biases, and to open up to new perspectives. But more than anything, it’s about connections, learning to truly listen rather than waiting for the right moment to talk about yourself. Breaking down clichés, developing empathy and critical thinking.
And even if you don’t find “the meaning of life,” you return with skills that aren’t taught in school: open-mindedness, resourcefulness, resilience. In an increasingly globalized world, these qualities make a real difference, both personally and professionally.
Ultimately, for a generation constantly caught in between, travel is a mirror of our era’s contradictions. Seeking freedom but trapped in a capitalist logic. Wanting stability, but fearing entrapment. Wanting to connect with the world through travel while worrying about our environmental footprint.
There is no single truth. You can leave just to follow the crowd and end up finding yourself. You can go in search of answers and return with even more questions. And that’s okay.
No matter the reason and the place of the travel, what truly matters is traveling for yourself and taking from it whatever lessons you can.
