“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

When I was more active on dating sites in my 20s, I encountered a lot of people who held up travel as this big, important thing in their lives. I recall at least one profile where a guy said, “Love of travel is a must.”

At first, I was annoyed - travel takes money and time, which I don’t have. Why limit potential dates in that way?

But then I realized, maybe that’s the point? Someone with the leisure time and spending money can easily filter dates to just those in their socio-economic status by making frequent recreational travel a requirement. My poor ass never had a chance.

Thank you for this post. I’ve never been a fan of traveling, but do enjoy day trips. I love how I have everything setup at my home and always want to retire there at the end of the day. Nothing is better or more comfortable than my custom setup, especially since traveling to certain places can cause me major inconvenience due to health issues.

I’d probably be more likely to see places farther away if teleporting existed. Traveling long hours is horrible in itself.

I’ve thought about this a bit and think it comes down to mental wiring. Some people focus more on “peak” experiences, but I focus more on “average” day-to-day experiences. I live in a major city, so it’s not like there’s any shortage of activities to choose from.

I personally dislike travel and find it to be expensive and stressful. I rarely travel for leisure/tourism but do travel to see non-local friends and family. I find it’s helpful to have a few days of downtime between work and travel, both before and after the trip, to give myself an opportunity to actually recharge.

Fully agree. I love my gf to pieces and for her traveling is what makes her, her. She’s a minimalist consumer and talks about the environment all the time and bikes everywhere. She knows that flying polutes enormously but she can’t help it. I like endurance sports and I find enough excitement right here around home and within let’s say a 250km radius. She travels alone 3 weeks per year and she says she needs more. I stopped trying to figure it out.

The more I travel (37 countries on four continents) the more I realize everyone is the same. For me, it’s like a mini-version of the overview effect.

Everyone has a hand wrap (pita, taco, wrap, sandwich).

Everyone has their customs that bleed into public life (religious, secular, religious-cum-secular)

Everyone has to take care of children

Everyone has a grocery store

Everyone likes to drink a hot liquid out of a mug. Everyone likes to drink a cold liquid out of a glass

Everyone has their pockets of disengaged youth who lash out at society, “normalcy” and the status quo

it’s not a weird, scary world. We are all people. We all live here. The content of my pita might be different from what’s in your taco, but it’s basically the same thing. The difference between my town and one a few kilometers away is not that much larger than one on the other side of the world. We are all people living our lives.

My ADHD prevents me from sitting still for more than a few minutes, even short road trips are torturous. To add to that, my driving limit due to my disability is about 2 hours and I physically can’t drive at night. I also can’t sleep during the day time.

How TF people survive 12+ hour flights is a mystery to me

For me, travel is a luxury. Even if it’s not luxurious, it’s still more expensive than being at home. I’m not rich by any means. So, it’s special.

Travelling show you that “normal” at home is not normal.

Travel Europe for a few weeks and get back to the US and realize just how sick and fat Americans are. And Europeans walk after dark, while Americans rarely walk, and never after dark.

Part of it is a different signaling of wealth. Goods outside of real estate get cheaper all the time while experiences don’t.

Part of it is a way to signal willingness to experience the world differently. Saying that you’ve been in a place and experienced it gives greater authority on that place even if the trip is a curated experience.

I think advertising did it. Advertising told everybody that it’s the greatest thing so now it’s the greatest thing.

A while back I went to my high school reunion and met up with the guy who had been my best friend. He admitted to having never been more than 50 miles from where he was born …. And was exactly the same as in high school. No growth, no personal development. I had moved to a large city, which was totally alien and frightening.

Obviously there are degrees and most people aren’t this bad, but visiting other places and other people can really open your eyes. I don’t know if lack of travel is cause or effect but it really seems like people who have never been anywhere tend to be very small minded, have a very narrow view of people and the world.

The point is that after you’ve travelled yourself, you will no longer believe anyone who tries to tell you that people on the other side of the border are evil flesh eaters.

Maybe you wouldn’t have believed this before either, in which case travelling wasn’t as transformative for you as it has been for others, but that’s the primary reason.

Finally someone like me. I’m going through these comments reading things about wanting friends in other countries, having an experience, whatever.

And I’m like, I worked so hard to be comfortable at home, why would I spend 4 figures to leave? I absolutely have bought things 5 years ago that I still use and enjoy.

I’m lucky enough to live in a city with tonnnnns of museums, food from all over, and cultural hotspots in different neighborhoods.

Life is so absolutely chaotic these days that I’d rather just relax at home with the things I worked hard to get.

And of course, all that said, I am going on vacation in a week to a place further away than I’ve ever been before, so, ya know. Maybe once every few years is fine, but I’m not going to foam over it the whole time between.

Some of it might depend on where you’re from. I live on a Scottish island, but have travelled extensively and can’t recommend it highly enough.

Me and a young guy I worked with, here in my hometown, were once out on a tech support job. We passed an old quarry and the kid said “man, that’s so cool and massive”. He’d literally never been anywhere, so from his perspective this shitty (and actually rather small) quarry was impressive.

Travel gives you perspective. Dismissing travel for me is like dismissing art, or learning. You’re willingly limiting your lived experience and that’s not, to my mind, anything to be celebrating.

As for the kid, he’s currently in Vietnam on a career break. Keen to hear how the sites he’s seen compare to that quarry when he gets back.