[zerkten]

This is my experience too. The impact on career progression is very minimal when it done intentionally. There are of course people who think it's a lark, but before 2020 there were many folks developing skills that will catapult them forward after they graduated.

I've moved to the US and can see how things are very different culturally with regard to travel. Others have mentioned that the US is not into backpacking. I think it's less about that, and more about travel being a prize for retirement.

I've seen this changing a bit in my time in the US, but it's still the norm for a lot of people who then end up being unable to travel. The US has many more people who are skilled and equipped for a backpacking lifestyle than I found in the UK.

[ghaff]

>Others have mentioned that the US is not into backpacking.

I assume "backpacking" in this context tends to mean riding trains around Europe, staying in hostels/couchsurfing/etc.

The US has a fair bit of backpacking and camping in National Parks/Forests/long-distance trails although it's not necessarily a fully mainstream activity. But much less of the "European-style" backpacking.

I think it's partly a difference of scale and ability to get around without a car once you get out of a handful of (mostly expensive) cities.