So you're in your twenties. Time for travel, or creating a career?

We asked writer Laura Greenslade which was best for twenty-somethings: forging a career like a mini Donald Trump, or travelling the world?

Your early twenties - they're filled with so much expectation. Waving farewell to those awkward teenage years, we're supposed to hit twenty and somehow get our lives together. It's a time when we're supposed to do, see, and be a million plus one things.

But what are our twenties really for? Are they for starting a career, establishing your profession and working towards your dream? Or are they for travelling, seeing the world and finding new places? If, like me, you are a recent graduate you've probably pondered this question many times while putting off an essay or mindlessly staring at your depleting bank balance.

For many graduates and 'young professionals' it's an age-old question, much like the the Chicken and Egg dilemma. Which should come first? Travel or a career? Both are unique and worthy paths to follow.

Starting a career early can obviously have so many benefits. With the economic crisis still in full bloom, and literally thousands of job seekers willing to recite the Greek alphabet while jumping on a pogo stick and making cup of tea after cup of tea just to get an internship and work FOR FREE, it can make you wonder if it is worth joining the working world just yet. Industries, particularly media and journalism, are becoming ever increasingly more competitive, and unless you're well connected, opportunities seem to become fewer and farther between.

But should this encourage us all to run away travelling just because it’s going to be a hard slog? I spend some days living in fear that if don't start my career now then too many opportunities will have passed and too many connections will have given up on me.

But maybe all this worry and self-doubt is the reason that I should go travelling, to relax, discover and be at one.

Many twenty somethings load up their backpack, wave goodbye to family, travel the world and return home months or years later inevitably with a tan, sun-kissed hair, way too many shell necklaces/leather bracelets and a subtlety hidden tattoo that doesn’t quite translate properly. Cliché? Yes. Do I want to do it? Yes. Most of us probably don’t particularly feel the need to go on an epic journey to ‘find ourselves’. Most of us have probably had a good grasp on who we are. But that doesn’t mean we don’t still have things to learn. And maybe, just maybe, we just want to see the world. We all know that immersing ourselves in other cultures can make us more well-rounded, educated and open minded individuals. 

If this is true, then surely travelling only enriches life therefore making you more qualified for any future jobs?

So what's the right choice to make? I suppose the answer is simply that your twenties are the time to do whatever's best for you. In an ideal world I would probably be working abroad somewhere completely culturally different to the UK. But for now I guess I’ll just wait a little longer to find out the answer to that question. What comes first?

What do you think? Are your twenties a time to travel, tick off your bucket list and be reckless, or are they the time to work like a dog on the building blocks that may establish your future career?