4 Reasons traveling is a waste of time
I’m growing sour on travel. I have always disliked it. When I was a kid my parents took us all over Europe and the Caribbean, and it really exhausted me. Now that I’m a grown up, I am better able to articulate why I think travel is a waste of time. Here are four reasons why I think the benefits of travel are largely delusional:
1. There are more effective ways to try new things.
While it’s true that learning and broadening your experience is important, doing that one time is quite different from consistently integrating something new into your life. It’s low risk to try something for a week. Which will make more impact on your life: going to Africa for a week and seeing wildlife and living in the jungle, or retooling your weekly schedule so that you take a walk through your local forest preserve once a week? You will have a stronger connection to the forest preserve than the jungle, and you will have a deeper sense of how it grows and changes and how you respond. So if you hope that travel will change how you see the world, doing something each week to see the world differently will have more impact than doing it one time, seven days in a row.
2. Cultural differences are superficial. Economic differences matter.
Don’t tell yourself you travel to learn about different cultures. Because you don’t necessarily learn from people in other cultures. And you don’t need to leave the US to find cultures different from your own.
Frans Johansson writes about diversity, and he says that race is not a indicator of diversity any more—background is. And the most diverse backgrounds come from economic disparity. So a rich white person and a poor white person are more different than a rich white person and a rich black person.
I think this is true across cultures as well. I had a South African roommate in college. But she was just like me: rich, white, Jewish. But when I lived on a French farm for a summer, the big difference between me and the farm family wasn’t that they were French. It was that they were living on a farm. I know this because when they figured out I was unhappy, they sent me to live with their cousins in Lyon—a large city in France—and the cousins were just like me.
3. People who love their lives don’t leave.
Imagine if you were excited to get out of bed every day because you had structured your life so that every day was full of what you have always dreamed of doing. And you were in love with your boyfriend, and your job, and your new handstand in yoga. You love it all—imagine that. Would you want to leave all that behind for two weeks? What would be the point? You’d have more fun at home than away from home. So instead of traveling somewhere, how about figuring out what you’d really love to be doing with your time, and do that? In your real, day-to-day life.
4. Travel is not the time to do deep thinking.
People who need an escape so they can think deeply actually need to add that to their daily life. How about setting aside time to think deeply every few days? Sam Anderson suggests in his article in New York magazine that meditation is so important that people are going to start making time for it in the same way we make time for exercise now. So maybe that travel bug you are feeling is actually a give-me-headspace bug, and if you think you need it only for a couple of weeks, you’re wrong. You need time to think each day. Re-craft your days to honor that need, instead of running away for what can only be a temporary respite.
My guess is that the things you are aiming to accomplish while you travel are generally things you could accomplish on a deeper level if you stayed home and made changes to your life instead of running away. Routine and practice are the keys to giving deeper meaning to your life. Sure, disrupting routine is important for gaining new perspective. But you certainly don’t need to travel to the next country. There is plenty that is new right where you are now. Just look closely.
Hey, there’s hope for Penelope: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_jayson_blair
I actually tend to agree with Penelope’s sentiments on this one, though I don’t presume to believe they apply universally. (What does apply universally, really? The need to breathe?) I have traveled some, and enjoyed it, and I look forward to doing more in the future, but I don’t think that travel necessarily makes one a deeper, or more fulfilled, person.
My parents have never left the country. My mother has never left the east coast. Quite simply, they cannot afford to travel. However, my mother is also one of the strongest, most compassionate, most stead-fast, enduring and optimistic people in this world. She didn’t need “fresh perspective” or “to get away” or “cultural exploration” to become these things. She has deliberately cultivated her character, rather than depending on life experiences to shape it.
To imply that a person is missing out on some critical element of personal growth because, for whatever reason, they have not traveled is nothing more than narrow-minded, privileged egotism. More than a little hypocritical, don’t you think?
OMG – THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!
People who love their lives don’t leave
I – like you – traveled extensively with my family of origin. Now that I’m a grown up with a family of my own – we aren’t big “travel bugs” and quite honestly, I am CONSTANTLY catching flak about it from both my parents and my in-laws.
Thanks for the ammunition. I plan on using that line A LOT in the future.
I’m surprised at the vitriol in some of these posts. Why can’t people disagree without making it a personal attack?
Whether or not I agree with your blogs, PT, I do **soooo** enjoy reading them and all the comments they generate.
Also wondering, since you’ve said before that you think you may be an Aspie (i.e. have Asperger’s), I’d like to see you write something related to AS and careers (as I recall, someone else asked for an AS blog long ago). Thanks!
George W. Bush agrees with you.
Come on traveling is fun, sure there are other experiences to be had but seeing or doing something first hand is an experience in itself. Finding the time is of course the bigger problem.
I usually agree with or appreciate a lot what you write in your posts. This is an exception. I couldn’t disagree with you more. I would never have pegged you as someone who’d turn your back on first-hand learning.
Well, if Annette is correct in saying you think you might be an Aspie (Asperger’s), then you are probably someone who thrives on structure and routine in your life… and traveling takes you out of your comfort zone to the unknown. (The Asperger syndrome children I’ve worked with over the years do not do well with change. They thrive on routine, and some things that would bore others to tears, they enjoy.) But that’s OK… to each his own.
You also had a bad experience traveling as a child. My kids traveled the world when they were young and loved it. They were and still are adventurous, flexible, and curious. No doubt your negative experience has impacted your world-view about the value of traveling.
We can love our life AND still love traveling. People who loves their lives DO leave, PT. The world is not so black and white, not so structured as you would like/need it to be.
No, it means that people who have the means and choose to learn about other people and other cultures are more broad-minded, empathetic, and intellectually curious.
BTW – when I was 24, I saved up a very small sum of money (enough for a one-way ticket to London)and then spent the next 2 years living and working throughout Europe and the Middle East. I had no means except what I was willing to do to put a roof over my head and food in my mouth.
Unlike P whose parents gave her the opportunities of a lifetime which she then chose to squander, my parents gave me nothing. I did it all on my own.
Hey, if people who travel are more intelligent and open-minded than people who don’t travel, does this make people in poorer countries (who can’t afford to travel) narrow-minded idiots?
Yep, no matter where you go, you’re always there.
(But now I think that’s a good thing.)
If P actually means what she says (which I doubt- comment bait more likely) then she epitomizes what is wrong with this country, i.e., ignorant, shallow, self-aggrandizing fools who prefer to live in their own narrow bubble instead of dealing with reality.
I traveled all over the world (by myself)and I can tell you it was the greatest experience of my life. I highly recommend it to the rest of the self-righteous idiots in this country who think civilization starts and stops within U.S. borders.
The minute I stepped out of the plane into Heathrow, I realized I left a very isolated island and had entered the real world.
If in fact P really believes what she wrote, I suggest she pack up and move to Alaska, where she could commune forever with people who think just like she does.
P-
I hate it for you that people are vehemently opposing this particular post — some even saying goodbye to your blog! Sure I diasagree with your thoughts, too. However, I am proud that these people are passionate enough about what they love to continue posting their disagreements, even the 220th commentator saying the same thing – just so they feel that their voice has been heard. While I hope you are happy in remaining in one place for a time, I hope you do get the travel bug again sometime in your life.
I think I might be confused by your post. I generally figure that a person can’t dispute data, and you provided data (or supporting facts) for your argument. Still, I disagree with #2. Personally, I hate traveling for a weekend get away. It’s more work than getting away. However, I love going places for a decent amount of time, maybe 3 weeks, and learning to live like locals. I’ve not done it a lot, but I’ve done it enough to see a difference. Life in big city Paris was still different than life in big city USA. The groceries are different. Salad dressing is a singular condiment that doesn’t come in flavors. Store are only open late once a week. They don’t have grocery bags. They don’t have grass, but they have beautiful gardens. Amsterdam was different too. The bikes have their own highway system. Whatever that was, it was not American, so I’m not sure I get your point #2.
I will say that I took my husband to Paris to show him the singular bottle of salad dressing, and he was not interested. He was also not fascinated by the assortment of mustard, the lack of American mustard, and the extreme use of neon in television commercials. Maybe I’m just into different things than you or most people for that matter. In that dozen times I’ve been to Paris, I am still yet to see the Mona Lisa or go up the Eiffel Tower. It doesn’t interest me.
As a child of the Cold War, I “knew” that the Commies were bad guys. Then I went to live in West Berlin and actually got to travel into East Germany. That’s how I came to understand in a very real and visceral way what life was like in the “Worker’s Paradise”. It was the kind of understanding you just don’t get out of pictures or books or by living in Madison, WI.
Penelope,
A couple of things:
(1) You are right only if you meant to say that going on a 1 or 2 week trip somewhere, however exotic, won’t change your life. For most people, it won’t. It can be a nice diversion, going somewhere, seeing some sites. But most return little changed–maybe a bit tanner, with some snapshots and cheezy gifts they could have purchased at home. I do like to travel, even if it is like this, but you don’t learn much this way, I agree.
(2) BUT if we are talking about travel that isn’t pure tourism, if we are talking about living or working somewhere else for longer periods of time, then your post is just wrong.
I am kind of surprised that you seem to think (you don’t say outright, but your post strongly suggests) that there is nothing to be gained by living or working in another country for longer periods of time. I am surprised because your blog is about culture–mainly business & generational culture, but culture nonetheless. For someone who spends so much time analyzing the _cultural_ differences between generations, sometimes between groups who may be separated by only a couple of years (for example, your posts about what Gen Xers would do versus Yers, etc.), how does it make sense to simply dismiss out of hand international cultural differences?
That is, I am challenging you on your own terms: If you think there are important differences between a baby boomer, a Gen X-er and a Gen Y-er, ones worth writing about (and you must or you wouldn’t have a blog about such differences), how can you say with a straight face that “cultural differences are superficial?” Do you really mean to say that there are no signficant differences (worth recognizing and learning) between an American and a German, a Korean and a Nigerian, an Argentine and a Russian–even if all of them are rich (and obviously not all of them are white)?
I can’t second guess–I don’t know you and I don’t know the people you’re comparing yourself with–but I am guessing that you probably underestimate (i.e., are unaware of) the major differences between yourself and your rich/white/Jewish South African roommate, or between yourself and the Lyonnais city-mouse cousins of the country-mouse French farmers you stayed with.
(3) You are right to say that a rich white person may have little in common with a poor white person, BUT why do you dismiss out of hand the differences between a rich white person and a rich black person (FYI, I am not black or white). If had any rich black friends (and I am sure you do), you would know that whether or not they are rich, their lives are different in important ways than yours. If you don’t know why, you might ask them.
(4) You are of course right that you don’t have to leave the US to learn about cultures different from your own–you can seek out people who are different from you in your own city (almost where ever you lived). But this does not mean that every different kind of culture is at your disposal if you stay in the same place in the US. On this point, I hope that you would grapple with Gary Arndt’s comment–Japan is as rich as the US but is nothing like the US.
(5) Do you speak other languages? I assume that you do if you spent time in France that you speak some French. If you really get to speak another language, I think it because even clearer that people in different places are not the same. And even people who speak the same language–Canadians and Aussies and English are culturally quite different from us Americans. OK,
(6) Lastly, Penelope, I like your blog even if I don’t agree with many of the posts. You raise interesting and important issues. But I really think this would be a richer blog if you were more active in the comments section and addressed the serious and thoughtful questions or criticisms raised by other people.
I kind of think it is not fair of you to raise a controversial topic and then let people rant, meanwhile responding selectively to only a handful of non-substantive comments, such as when you accidentally misidentify someone in your post or have a typo. Now, I realize you’re busy and don’t have all the time in the world, but if you are going to respond to a handful of comments anyway (as I see you do with most posts), wouldn’t that time be better spent trying to seriously engage the more interesting points raises that disagree with your posts?
I really think your readers would be interested to see what you had to say about some of the better points raised by commenters.
PS. As I do read the comments sometimes, I hope you ignore all of the abusive and angry comments you seem to receive. Seems to come with the territory, but I am sorry you have to read some of the shit that appears here.
PPS. I agree with your point that people who actually write don’t have time to spellcheck everything. So preemptive apologies for any typos I missed.
While you make some good points, it is obvious that you have never experienced the transformative power of travel. Penelope, it appears you were priviledged enough to travel from a young age. Most Americans dont’ have that priviledge. Travel to developing countries has changed my life, and it has in turn changed the lives of those around me. Maybe if you were more apt to get out of your comfort zone when you traveled (staying in that french farm) you would have really and truly experienced something transformational.
I disagree with the supposition that travel is a waste of time. I travel both for work and recreationally (although not that much actually). I find that even travelling in the USA can be culturally intriguing. International travel offers even more. I do agree that one can do more cultural exploration without leaving home by listening to/reading news programs and experiencing various arts. I also believe that most people go on vacation to foreign countries and get only the most sanitized introduction to the culture – or they avoid it entirely. They don’t gain much because of this. I have met many people that don’t like travel because they don’t actually want anything to be different – they just want to sit on a beach, or have different food. For them, travel is a reprieve from work.
I think I disagree with item 4 the most. I believe that routine is a tool to perform the maintenance tasks of your life in the shortest time possible. To me, routine is dreary. A burden on the soul. Obviously, having everything be new all of the time would be emotionally impossible to handle. It would be too hectic. Routine is the more common ailment though.
I feel like calling you an idiot. I won’t, but I feel like it.
I have to say that I totally disagree with the premise of this post.
Travel is best used as a learning tool. Nothing brings the learning experience home to many people better than to be physically removed from the familiar and introduced to a new environment where cultural assumptions as well as the language are different. It’s beyond income, at the upper income level, populations are very similar as they are educationally and socially advantaged and therefore think alike. But, it is at the middle and lower income levels that differences occur. This is where true learning can take place and a different perspective, which is not vicariously transferable, can be experienced.
Sorry Penny, but in this post you are wrong, even if I do like #3.
For me, travel is a way to relax and whether it is flying, driving, or taking the train, I thoroughly enjoy it. My life would not be as enriched if I had never seen Alaska, England, Canada, and nearly ever state in the U.S.
In fact, I just got back from a fantastic trip to Springfield, IL and I’m counting the days til I’ll be on the road again. I love to travel!!!
Just wanted to say how much I love all these “travelling through India taught me so much” pieces. It may have taught you something, but you learned it from people who don’t travel more than a few miles. Ironic, no? Because if everyone was privileged enough to be like you, a tourist getting a fix of someone else’s reality, then we’d all end up being the same. It’s the simple fact that most of the world doesn’t travel that preserves and nurtures all these differences. You are an agent of ruin in that regard.
Oh, and while I’m at it – I know that among the “actually I’m not a tourist, I’m a traveller” brigade you think you’ve done something wonderful by taking your backpack out among the “real people” rather than hang out in the tourist zone, but for most of the developing world that fat tourist with the big video camera who’s dropping $250 a day is actually helping out a lot more than you.
@ Mark
You’re wrong! As a former native now immigrant, I can tell you that the encounters between “travellers and “real” natives in their environs helps both participants.
I learned that all tourists are not fat, rich, self- rightous individuals who look down on me from one such individual. Also, if beautiful but isolated cultures exist but no one knows then an appreciation of the diversity in the world is that much less. The fat tourists usually bring more negatives than their money makes worth it.
Just my two cents worth.
Congratulations on baiting lots of people into engaging in a pretty silly discussion. If you’d presented the argument as, “let’s supplement travel with the following additions/changes to our lives,” it wouldn’t draw the reactions that this must to most readers.
Travel is essential, and not just the self-serving beach travel, but service-based experiences abroad and longer, more meaningful posts, like my wife and my current one in Japan for 3-4 years. This experience is teaching us a great deal and is unique beyond comparison to any experiences we’ve had in the States.
I feel this article could have been about how “Chocolate destroys lives and kills puppies,” or “Exercise really hurts more than helps.” Your basic assertion is just as ridiculous as these.
Two things:
1) I’m very curious how a conversation between you and Ben Casnocha about travel would go.
2) "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."
– Mark Twain, 1857
I’m pretty sure you ONLY wrote this post to get HIGH traffic and a shit load of comments. WELL DONE. I’m wondering if you really believe this crap you wrote or if you really just did it for numbers and page views.
TRAVELING is amazing. I was born here in America but my parents are from another country and immigrated here and every summer we’d go live in the small village where they grew up and it is some of the best memories of my childhood. I felt and still feel so blessed to have had that international experience of seeing how other people lived… seeing my roots, my ancestors, my family, life at a slower pace, away from the rush of american life, etc.
Also, there’s more than one way to travel. Sounds like you didn’t have much say in your Europe trip and you didn’t travel in college. You can do Europe backpacker style, live in hostels, meet amazing people with great stories, go on adventures every day and not spend more than you would at home. Also Europe isn’t the only place to go and it’s my least favorite.
India is a beautiful country, especially the south (Kerala is a gold mine of waterfalls, nature, lovely locals who will do everything to make you feel at home). And South east asia as well as New Zealand, Bolivia, cities off the beaten path (Sevilla is better than Madrid and the Tasmania is better than Sydney)…
There’s no way that people who are ‘happy’ with their lives don’t travel, as you state. In fact, I LOVE my life in America and that’s why I DO travel. I travel with best friends from the states, college friends, my boyfriend, sometimes my parents and even sometimes by myself. I feel like the world is my oyster and if I plan ahead and budget, I can go anywhere and see anything and still save money.
Life’s too short and if you don’t see how other people live, you are missing out.
I actually feel sorry for you because it seems like you’re very career driven now and have 2 kids and have made a personal choice to NOT travel. AND that’s TOTALLY OK.
BUT PLEASE don’t write a post saying that TRAVEL is BAD for EVERYONE. IT’s only bad for you.
The food in Italy tastes better than anything you could ever get at even the best Italian restaurants in NYC, the sunset in the Philippines is more beautiful than words can describe, a houseboat ride on the rivers in Kerala, India is a once in a lifetime experience that you will NEVER forget, and watching a footy game in Melbourne, Australia is more fun than any baseball game I’ve been to.
I guess it depends on what you want out of life. And if you don’t want to broaden your horizons and just want to ‘read’ about the world in magazines and books, go ahead but there’s no way you can learn about other places without visiting and living there.
I spent a year traveling around the world, in addition to studying abroad in New Zealand, and spending summers in some of the poorest regions of Asia. And it has enhanced my life in ways that words can’t describe.
So I guess you were successful in that you got me to ACTUALLY POST on this but you totally missed the mark and you know it.
I actually lost some respect for you. As a business/career writer you of all people should know how traveling and living abroad improves your life, stimulates your senses and creativity and encourages you to learn new things immediately (the way the buses work, how to get from one city to the next cheaply (bus,train or plane or drive?), and it forces you to MEET new people. Ok, I’m done.
you are a tool
omg girl, this is so true! I think I am finding that out more and more the older I get. Truth is, I really really love my life (Really!) and hate leaving it (as in, leaving the house to go on a trip).
The one travel I do that I get the most out of is going and visiting people (friends and/or family) I want to see and want to visit with.
Otherwise yeah…..I kind of love waking up in my own bed and love the life I have created right here! :)
It wasn’t until I traveled and lived abroad that I discovered a whole new world of appreciation about my upbringing. Suddenly things I took for granted on a daily basis were filled with gratitude I never had before. And if the life you love is mobile, then the world is your home… not just one solitary place.
I appreciate very much the point you make that travel is only one of the many ways you can broaden your experiences and change your perspective of the world around you.
But experiences from personal travel, which I enjoy for many reasons, has got me through many a difficult question in a job interview, so it was useful in that way, not a waste of time. But getting experiences for job interviews was never the objective of the travel – enjoyment, new experiences, learning and food were.
I will never ever though take travel out of my toolbox for : refreshing my mind when it gets tired, seeing creative inspirational things, warmer weather, eating better more varied food, meeting new and interesting people…
because why would you take anything efficient out of a toolbox?
And I totally disagree that economic/social difference is the primary difference between people. Its one of many many differences between people. And meeting people of a certain culture, where their culture is in the minority or in the majority is also completely difference. I know quite a few catalans, but I only learnt by going to Catalonia that they drink beer at breakfast, and it was fascinating to me.
I wanna do this kind of travel:
Global Exchange Reality Tours http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/
“Our tours provide individuals the opportunity to understand issues beyond what is communicated by the mass media and gain a new vantage point from which to view and affect US foreign policy. Travelers are linked with activists and organizations from around the globe who are working toward positive change. We also hope to prompt participants to examine related issues in their own communities.”
Instead, how about a post on four steps toward recognizing that Penelope’s blog is a waste of time.
1) Happen across an article of Penelope’s that seems to make sense and has a strong message.
2) Start reading her blog regularly and realize that over 50% of the advice is wrong. Not just situationally so, but totally wrong.
3) Realize that she’s a humanistic narcissist, and that as long as the source is broken, the information will be too.
4) Remove her from your RSS reader.
I thought I had already taken care of #4, but apparently not. I’ll rectify that.
Part of me has to wonder if this isn’t some more anti-Tim-Ferriss hatred she’s spewing.
I have to say, your cultural diversity bit is just wrong.
I am an American who moved to Austria. I didn’t do it to “learn about the culture,” I did it because I fell in love with a man — and Vienna. I got married and stayed.
Vienna is not terribly different from a number of American cities in terms of the overall wealth. (It’s much poorer than NYC, for example.) But the culture is extremely different.
Superficially, I can see how you might say “Oh, it’s Western culture. It can’t be that different.” And you might not really notice much on a two-week pleasure trip. But, unlike what my foolish ex-neighbor said, they are not just like Americans because they “Grill and drink beer, just like we do.”
These are people who have grown up learning English in school as a requirement, and watching American TV and movies, and listening to American music. But they are so far from America, culturally, that it is breathtaking. The longer I am there, the more I discover just how deeply those differences run.
And, yes, it changed my outlook on life. A lot.
I grew up in a totally unremarkable and very white middle class suburb; I moved to Baltimore City and later, Prince George’s County, MD. I lived class differences, and economic differences, but you know what? Under all the poverty and posturing, the Americans were still Americans. They shared fundamental beliefs that run under the superficial differences caused by the wide gap in wealth and education.
And it’s hard to see that if you live in it all your life. Living abroad, on the other hand, brushes away those economic differences and shows you the deeper nature of what lies underneath.
You sound bitter. Your arguments are unconvincing. Travel, done right, can be a thrill, complete rejuvenation, enlightening, inspiring and can generate wonderful lifetime memories. I feel bad for you. It sounds like you have been doing it all wrong.
The point is, this author, obviously, only had this “air plane->tour guide->hotel->air plane” type of travelling. He assumes and HUGELY! generalizes that every corner in the world is just like some Caribbean resort. I wonder if this person has ever been to MIddle East or Africa. And he is completely ignoring the humanity part of interacting with people with hugely different cultures, which is something you can’t get from this rich-guy style type of travelling mentioned above. He has no idea how some medias can be very crooked. He totally needs to read Han Biya’s books. Han Biya is a Korean woman who spent more than 7 years travelling all around the globe only by foot. She wrote numerous books. I don’t know if they have been translated into English yet. I just think that you’re too ignorant to know what is happening in the other side of the globe.
I agree with YOU! I never traveled much in my life. I’m more interested in the inner exploration anyway. I think you can go a lot further that way.
I like this post — it is the perfect blog post, I suppose, in that the title lured me in with my guns a-blazing, thinking there was no way someone could think traveling is a waste of time.
Truth be told, however, is that normally I want to travel really badly when I want to escape really badly. The things I love about traveling — new experiences, new people, new food, new architecture — could be found in one way or another if I put in some effort closer to home.
However — sometimes the act of leaving, of allowing yourself a “safe” retreat (i.e. 2 weeks instead of a year) seems to be the jolt you need to break out of the day-to-day habits that you want to escape so badly.
So, how about a compromise? Why not have a nice break for 2 weeks, see some lovely _________________________ (insert “art”, or “people”, or “beaches”, or “architecture” here) and THEN resolve to spend some time — an hour a day? — trying to cultivate what would make you happier long-term.
Economic differences matter, and unless you already grew up in poverty, you aren’t going to see the gamut of economic differences in the world without traveling.
I really enjoyed your post. I always find it refreshing to get a new an opposing opinion on something:)
At first I obviously disagree with you since I strongly believe that traveling is good for us. Traveling has for me and my family had life changing qualities.
But then reading your post I realize that we are not coming at it from the same perspective. You are talking about shorter trips of a week or two at the most whereas we are in to long term traveling. And from your perspective your ideas do make sense, even to me –
We believe that if you for one reason or another want a change in your life long term traveling is a fantastic tool. 2 weeks just won't do the trick –
So if you are up for our perspective on traveling you are welcome to extendedworldtravel.com
So sorry.
You make good points, but I think this is just your preference. Traveling allows you to look forward to being in a different place. That in itself is exciting.
Interesting comments, but I agree with the view that living abroad for a longer period of time certainly can be beneficial, especially if working out there. Organised placements, such as what often happens on language courses in UK universities, are very useful indeed.
I will say this though, when you consider buying a home (and the mortgage), decorating said home, running the car etc., then travel appears a relative waste of time and money compared to those. The money spent on travel could pay off a mortgage faster (or just buy a damn comfortable bed…I sleep seven to eight hours a night so it’s important – far more time than a two week holiday!).
So, summa summarum, I have to say that compared to some priorities, I would agree with the basic premise, but not with all of it.
I also strongly disagree with the Twain quote. During my undergraduate studies a fair few had the luck to be able to take a year out. Most of these were immature, lacking financial acumen and discipline, yet very keen on saying how much they had “grown” for the experience.
I would remind you all of the quote by G.K.Chesterton, who famously wrote “They say travel broadens the mind, but you must have the mind.”
With regards to your point on economic vs. cultural differences, I have to say the opposite is true when talking about what is superficial; I find economic differences to be the more obvious ones, more in your face, visible from the start, hence more superficial, literally “on the surface”. Cultural differences go beyond the visible and tangible, or mere language, race, economic power and appearance.
Working on a French farm was of course more difficult for you than being with your other hosts in Lyon, because of your superficial commonalities, such as being a city person, being from a certain upbringing, maybe religion, social class, income group. But I think had you gone to Lyon in the first place, without the stint at the farm, you would have been able to perceive cultural differences more easily, because you wouldn’t have been “shocked” by the farm experience. Sure, after the farmstay, Lyon didn’t seem such a bad place.
Maybe that experience was too far out of your comfort zone. It is only natural for people to build up comfort zones, and that’s exactly what you got in Lyon.
I think it is good that you would like to tell people to admire the beauty that awaits them on their doorstep, though. I disagree with you though when you say it is a perfectly equal or even better pastime to travelling abroad. But take this from a woman who has studied, lived and worked in 5 different countries on 2 continents, and had many travels to tons of countries by the age of 30: travelling does broaden your mind, gives you ways of looking at challenges from completely different and multiple angles, it gives you an edge, builds your personality, and it has therefore always been perceived as very positive by any employer.
You should try it more! Get out of your comfort zone!
I find I’m a tad obsessed with travel and at times envy people who ‘are’ content to stay in their comfortable surroundings as it’s much more relaxing. But that being said, one certainly does miss out on seeing the world from a different perspective one can only get from smelling the whiffs of the market in Morocco, the gentle breeze among the mountains in Italy as the entire place takes the afternoon off to rest, the bustle of Manchester of so many poshly dressed people, the country side of Scotland so beautiful, the huge mountains in France, the continental divide you view as you go around the bend in Costa Rica, how expanse and gorgeous it is! The beauty in British Columbia that goes on and on.. I’m so glad I have experienced a lot of travel but I get over anxious wanting to see more and more and more……. What is wrong with me! Ergo, envy some who are content to just relax in their own city. I have found through my inner self it’s important to enjoy every moment where I am, each and every day. Be thankful for where I’ve been as well where I am. If you want to make God laugh, do some planning is indeed true. Guess we all need to plan for future dreams though don’t we..
I had always wanted to travel (as opposed to take a vacation – which is mostly what Penelope is describing) and I must admit it took a major disruption in my personal life to jolt me out of my safety net of home, work, etc. I was happy with my life as it was, or maybe just more afraid to give up the comforts I had.
But I finally did take the plunge and ended up travelling for two years, making my way alone, connecting with people, learning about who I was. It was just the life experience I was looking for.
I ended up in South Africa and ended up living, working & building a life there for 12 years. I must admit that, now that I have returned to my home town & country (Canada), even a year later I am having a hard time adjusting to the “local culture”. I miss SA, its diversity, its extremes that cannot be understood except by being there (preferably for a while). There are many different cultures there, not just the one Penny experienced second hand. Many different ways of thinking. Living in Africa brings entirely different deep rooted cultural aspects which Penny would know of as curiosities (for example things like the influences of traditional healers, ancestors, polygamy, coming of age ceremonies, the legacies of apartheid and political upheavals as well as social, political and personal reconciliations) rather than daily influences and facts of daily personal and working life.
But that said… If you are not interested in such things, it will be just one big pointless exercise. After all, I hate golf and find american football mind numbing. I realise however that millions of people who think otherwise are obviously of sane mind, but I can’t agree with them. So who is wrong? No one. As in most things in life, YMMV.
Vive le difference, I guess.
Have you read the recent Harvard Business Review article and study where they found that people who travel are more creative?
http://hbr.org/2010/09/be-a-better-manager-live-abroad/ar/1
“The more expats interact with locals and local institutions, the more creative and entrepreneurial they'll become.”
In some ways this may support some of your theory. Spending two days in Paris or Montevideo may be a waste of time, depending strictly on how you define that. But spending weeks or months could change your life.
This list is silly. The author assumes that all those things are mutually exclusive. Going to the local forest preserve and going to Africa are not a one-or-other. You can do both. Similarly, you can be excited about doing yoga handstands and also be excited about seeing the pyramids. The author seems to assume that “travelling for fun” is a full-time thing.
No. People like to take a vacation. I love my job and I love everything about my lifestyle right now. But I also like to see new places.
I have to say that I find your blog by typing in a Google search: “Traveling is a waste of time” I was born in France, I live in the US now and I’ve traveled a lot and I’m about to travel again, but this time I have doubt. I don’t feel like it. I am perfectly happy with that I have here and I have a deep longing to actually improve the place where I live. I just feel that there are places I should see. You know, you always feel like you should see places like India, Japan, china, Vietnam, Machu Pichu etc.. but when I try to imagine myself there, what I’d do, what I’d experience, I know I’d be fooling myself. I know I wouldn’t come richer from it. So to see if somebody thinks like me out there I did that Google search and I’m glad I did. Yes, most of the time if not always travel is illusionary. I’m going to take those 3 grands I was going to spend travelling and see how I could improve the place I live in instead. Maybe buy new trees for the small downtown?
i dont think you are right on all points thought because people can travel for recreational purposes also and even to enjoy their holidays so how can you enjoy your holidays sitting at your place and do the same routine like everyday???
You seem to have changed your position on travel:
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Brazen Careerist
If you’re stuck, take an adventure
Posted to: Finding a career | Fulfillment | Job Hunt
January 16th, 2006
If you're out of work, or your job is so annoying that you wish you were out of work, then it's time to take an adventure. Some might say that an adventures is an expensive, childish way to avoid reality. This is partly true. But who cares?
The reality of adulthood is hard. There are no teachers stroking your ego with A's, there are no parents making sure you're doing fun and challenging activities every afternoon. So it is no surprise that putting off adulthood looks appealing. In fact, taking an adventure to see how other people do their lives is a good first step into adulthood because there is no better way to choose your life than to see how other people live.
There are some great things you can accomplish while you're adventuring:
You can use an adventure as a way out of a bad job. It's very hard to quit a job when you have nothing else lined up. But it's very hard to line up a new job while you're working at your current job. So a good way to ease yourself out of your job is to go on an adventure. You can tell yourself that you must quit now – now is the time for adventure.
You can sort out personal problems. A lot of career issues are actually personal issues. Do I want to be a doctor or do I want to please my parents? Do I want to settle down or do I feel pressure from my boyfriend? These are issues that dictate your career choices, but cannot be solved by changing jobs or rewriting your resume. Putting yourself in a new situation, away from the outside influencers you are used to – is will help you get a more clear perspective.
You can learn what you don't want. When I worked on a family chicken farm in rural France, one day, when we spent three hours looking for mushrooms in the forest, I said, "Why do we have to keep looking? It's taking so long and it's only mushrooms. Let's go home.” And the father said, "But how will we have wild mushrooms for salad?” I couldn't believe it. I wanted to have my mom buy some at the grocery store and send them via airmail. This is when I knew that although living close to the land looks appealing from the outside, but to me it felt monotonous and intellectually dissatisfying.
There are a few ways to get the money to travel. The most obvious is that you should alter your lifestyle And prolific travel blogger Ali Watters has a few suggestions: Don't get a car or a mortgage unless you absolutely need one Give up smoking or expensive trips to coffee shops – it wastes money each day. Stay away from material possessions. Before each purchase ask yourself what you'll do with it while you're traveling.
Ali also recommends that you go somewhere cheap; a month in Europe will cost you three times as much as a month in South East Asia.
If Ali's advice is too hard to swallow, you might try lining up a job that's an adventure. If you are under thirty years old you might be able to benefit from reciprocal work agreements with the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
Adventure is a good choice for a lot of people. It will give you perspective on a career that's stuck, and if you don't even have a career, there's little difference between a good entry level job and an adventure. Both are about learning, trying new things, and making sure you don't starve. So when you are looking at your job choices, put travel right up there on top with everything else. It's good for your resume and good for your life.