Get Your Degree and Get Outta Here!

There are a few normal things to do after you graduate:

By Carly

1. Get a job.
2. Go to grad school.
3. Live at home and freak out about the future.

I don’t know about you, but none of these options sound very appealing to me. I prefer an option that is a bit outside the norm: travel.

That’s right. If you’re graduating, I’m here to convince you to put off getting a job and spend at least three weeks (and preferably more) in a new place or country. I went to India for five weeks right after I finished my post-grad fellowship, and it was one of the most amazing trips I’ve ever taken.

There are always reasons not to travel. It costs too much. It’s impossible to get that much time off. Your best friend won’t go with you. But those aren’t good reasons, and there are definitely ways around them all. If major post-grad travel is cost-prohibitive for you, consider doing a volunteer program in another country that will cover the costs of your airfare and lodging (surprisingly common).

If you already work a job and don’t have high hopes for getting time off, sit down and have an honest talk with your supervisor. If you seriously want to travel, your enthusiasm will come through, and as long as your supervisor isn’t a jerk, he or she should be willing to work with you to figure out how you can do it.

And if your best friend won’t go on a trip with you, compromise. Invite them along for just half the journey, or bring an adventurous acquaintance who you don’t know very well (yet).

The fact is, there are too many reasons why you should travel right now for you to ignore them. As you get older, more and more obligations will pile up for you, and you’ll have all sorts of things tying you to a place or a person or a career. Now is likely as free as you’ll ever be, so take advantage of it. Get out and see the world!