A few years ago I turned 27 in an airport, on my own, because none of my friends could get the same two weeks off. My family thought I was mad. "Isn't that a bit sad, travelling on your birthday by yourself?" No. It was one of the best birthdays I've had. But it also took me about a year of trying (and failing) to get a group together before I stopped waiting and just went.
That's basically the whole story of your 30s and travel, so let's get into it.
There's this idea floating around that travel has an expiry date, and it's roughly 29. After that you're meant to be doing all inclusives and city breaks with a wheelie case and calling it a day. I don't really buy it, and neither do the numbers actually - adults aged 30-39 make up the single biggest chunk of solo travellers worldwide, 25% of the entire market. Bigger than the 20-somethings. The 40 - 49s aren't far behind either. So whatever the story is, it's clearly not "travel stops at 30".
You've actually got money now
This is the boring one but it matters. At 23 a €2,000 trip was a fantasy you'd mention after a few pints and never actually get around to booking it. At 33, with a real job behind you for a while, it's just... a decision. You can make it.
I'm not talking about an unlimited budget or private villas. I'm talking about the difference between counting every euro for six months on the road, and being able to say yes to the cooking class or the extra excursion without doing maths in your head first. You can stay somewhere with a proper shower. Nobody's socks are drying above your bunk…. (yes I have unfortunately experienced this)
You know what you actually want, which changes everything
At 22 most people are travelling to work out who they are, and there's nothing wrong with that - I did plenty of it. But by your 30s you've generally got a decent read on yourself, and it means you stop doing things because you think you're supposed to.
You don't need to do the sunrise bar crawl to prove you're fun. If you'd rather sit with the family who cooked your dinner and just talk for an hour than tick off the next attraction, you can do that, and nobody's judging you for it. I've skipped entire "must see" landmarks because I was having a better time somewhere else. That would've felt like failure at 24 but at 31 it just feels like a good afternoon.
The actual problem isn't money, it's everyone else's calendar
This is something that nobody really touches on. The true obstacle, in my opinion, to travelling in your thirties usually isn't you - it's trying to get anyone else to come. Your friends are scattered by now. Kids, mortgages, a partner who hates flying or a job that won't give proper notice. Getting six people to agree on the same fortnight, the same country, and roughly the same budget gets harder every single year, not easier.
I know so many people who aren't avoiding travel at all - they're just stuck waiting on a friend group that was never going to sync up. That's really the whole reason group trips exist for this age bracket. You're not the one organising a spreadsheet and chasing deposits from six different people. You just show up and the group is already sorted, all roughly your stage of life, all wanting the same kind of trip you do.
You don't need a hostel dorm to earn the story
There's a bit of backpacker culture that says the trip doesn't count unless you suffer for it. I don't agree, and I never really did even in my 20s if I'm being honest.
A shared twin room in a decent guesthouse doesn't make the sunrise any less magical. The food doesn't taste worse because you slept well the night before. What changes is you're not queuing for a bathroom with eleven other people at 6am, and you've actually got the energy the next day to enjoy where you are instead of just getting through it.
What's actually harder now, because it's not all upside
You've got less flexibility. Annual leave is real and you can't just disappear for four months the way you maybe could at 23 - trips need planning now, not stumbling into. Trips actually need to be made with real intention.
You'll care more about sleep than you used to, which sounds small until you're the one nodding off on a 6am transfer bus because you didn't build in a slow morning. And occasionally you'll end up somewhere clearly designed for 22-year-olds and feel a bit out of place - that's not a you problem though, that's a wrong-trip problem, and it goes away the second you book something actually built for your stage of life instead.
So, if you're still waiting
If the only thing stopping you is not having anyone to go with, that's not something you need to sit around fixing on your own anymore.
I wish someone had told me that at 27 instead of me figuring it out in an airport on my birthday.
Christine x