Hey just wanted to add my two cents...
I'm in my last semester of university in Long Island NY studying Biochemistry. The whole time I've been in school all I could think about was traveling. I watched all my friends leave and to this day I'm jealous every time I talk to them or hear about their travels.... however I feel that I'm doing the smart thing.
Right around the time when they are going to be burnt out from the road, wondering what they're going to do next, I'll be finishing my masters degree in biochem and will be free. I will have a degree, and can then do whatever I want! I will travel everywhere and see everything I wanted to see (granted I'll be a bit older than many travelers are). The beauty of it all is that when and if I decide to settle down after all the traveling, I will have the degree to fall back on and can afford to get myself a decent place and all that jazz. Laboratory jobs tend to not care how their employees look tattoo-wise so I won't have to worry about my hand and neck tattoos being a problem.
I just want to give you this piece of advice: If you get your degree now, then you have the rest of your life to be free and do what you want to do. If you go travel now, you may end up regretting not finishing school for the rest of your life! Believe me, it's difficult to get ANY job without a degree of some sort nowadays. My girlfriend has 2 bachelors degrees and after 6 months of looking for ANY job, still cannot find one out here (These degrees were both humanities degrees however).
I hope I was able to help in some way... good luck to you.