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.
I travelled extensively throughout Europe in my 20s, and suddenly had enough of it. Every new city felt just the same.
I now stay in Amsterdam, where I can learn Turkish cuisine, experience a French voodoo treatment, join a Brazilian barbecue in the park, and meet plenty of people from all over the world and all sorts of backgrounds. Why go around the world to pretend and meet another culture, when there is so much to meet right at home?
My only travelling is now done by train, or the odd hitch hiking adventure, which is mostly about the journey rather than the destination.
Thank you for your post.
Human beings are not made to fly and travel the world for the weekend, this is just wrong, selfish and unspiritual.
Not everyone travels to escape or even to and that is the primary mistake of thinking in this article. To be honest though, I find it hard to believe that she really thinks like this. You have to be a lunatic to rationalize your own opinions as gospel the way that she does and think that what works for her life works for everyone else. She doesn’t like changes in her routine so she acts like something is wrong with you if you do.
Again, your advice only relates to the self employed as well. Having a flexible schedule as someone who is self employed allows you to create the kind of schedule you want so vacation isn’t as important. Being self employed is not for everyone. If it were, our economy would be vastly different.
I’m getting everything I want in life and I have a life I want to wake up to every day because I get to travel as part of it. I’ve walked through every forest in Pittsburgh and haven’t seen a tiger yet so I’m thinking I might have to go somewhere else to see something like that. Why do I want to see something different? Because it’s an adventure. If I were Penelope Trunk I would write a blog article about how people who don’t like adventure suck and it only makes sense to want adventure and lack of routine in her life but being a sane, logical person, I think I am just going to say that adventure is something that I want in my life instead, even though I am satisfied with what I do every day. It is a perfectly reasonable way to live.
Finally, you are smoking crack if you think that poor people are the same throughout the world. A poor person in Africa sees people die every day and a poor person in America doesn’t have cable. There is a huge difference and it is downright insulting that you trivialize it, but that is probably because you grew up rich. You probably think that when you were starting your businesses and low on cash that you were “poor” so I don’t know why I bother with that. Maybe if you had travelled more off of resorts than you would understand that.
Penelope, though I enjoy your site and agree with a number of your posts, I could not disagree with this one more.
4 reasons why traveling is amazing:
1.Travel is still one of the most effective ways to try something new. You’re taking yourself out of your comfort zone and letting yourself glimpse how others in the world, or even in your country, live and this can yield wonderfully positive benefits on one’s own life. For example, it was incredibly refreshing seeing the way Europeans and Latin Americans, to generalize, treat the work/life balance (overall, they work to live, not live to work as the workaholics in NYC) after travel throughout several countries in both areas, and that I inspired me to examine my own extreme workaholic tendencies and to re-examine my own life.
2. Cultural differences DO still exist, and as a first-generation American hailing from an immigrant family, I have a particularly strong perspective on this matter. Going to different places, seeing all the different ways that people live their lives is thrilling. Nothing is more educational or inspiring.
2. Whether you love your life or not, you can still yearn for changes of scenery. Overall, I do love my life, and I still find myself wanting to travel all the time and experience all the world has to offer. The planet is huge and each place has its own uniquely beautiful features. Variety is the spice of life and it’s natural to want to see a new place, even if you like your life at home. In fact, having no interest in seeing anything outside your ‘home town’ could point to frankly, a troubling lack of curiosity about the world.
4. Traveling is a great opportunity to do deep thinking. Being in the same atmosphere day after day can help produce the same behaviors, day after day, as you yourself point out. Taking yourself to a new location can be the perfect way to get some new perspective on a situation going on back home. I lived in Asia for two years and I DO feel that I was able to examine my life there in a way that it’s difficult for me to do while home, living in a hectic, intense city (that I love so much, but still). To use a different example, this is why retreats for weight loss, overcoming substance abuse, etc. have all become so popular — a number of studies show that there’s plenty of people out there who find it easier to change their daily behavior patterns if they are in new surroundings.
Moreover, there is a long and storied history of travel writing and travel memoirs for a reason; seeing international landscapes can be the very thing to prompt deep thinking and inspire you to see your life in a different life.
Overall, while there’s no completely ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer here I have to admit that I’m always shocked when people say they don’t like traveling…to me, it’s comparable to saying you don’t ‘like’ reading, or you don’t ‘like’ movies/music. It’s such an enormous field of possibility. Personally, travel is what makes the 9 to 5 workday bearable at all for me and most of the greatest experiences of my life thus far have all focused around travel.
Travel other than for business, are for people who can’t deal with reality and need to grow-up instead of running away from their problems. A death in the family, they travel. Job is stressful, they travel. An upsetting news event, or bad hair day, they travel. It solves nothing and does nothing. Remember that wherever you are, there you go. Whatever troubles you have in life and everyone has them, when you pack your bags you pack your troubles up with you and take them along. You are still the same narcissistic person you were thinking acting like a rock star to be pampered is going to solve anything or make you feel better. It’s like a taking a drink. Grow up, face reality and learn to deal with others, jobs, life and yourself instead of running away to go soak in a tub or drink by the pool. This article hit the nail on the head, but so many of you, too many of you, are actually proud of your weakness to deal with life and must run away at every moment. I feel sorry for you.
She seems like a spoiled whining brat to me. Oh how terrible it must have been to be “rich, white, and jewish”, and be *dragged* all over the world by her parents… and how pain staking it must have been to live outside of her element with a poor family on a farm in France (meanwhile talking about the importance of understanding economic diversity) to the point where they were kind enough to make arrangements for her to stay with their rich cousins in the city to accommodate her lifestyle… Also it must be nice to have everything be perfect… I don’t know what reality she’s living in where everyone is happy with every aspect of their life and have no interest in seeing what else is out there. Now I do agree that soul searching and “deep thinking” are things that should be done regardless of where you are and that “escaping” doesn’t solve all your problems. But sometimes a change of scenery and a new perspective is helpful and lets face it… sometimes you just need a fucking break.
She seems like a spoiled whining brat to me. Oh how terrible it must have been to be “rich, white, and jewish”, and be *dragged* all over the world by her parents… and how pain staking it must have been to live outside of her element with a poor family on a farm in France (meanwhile talking about the importance of understanding economic diversity) to the point where they were kind enough to make arrangements for her to stay with their rich cousins in the city to accommodate her lifestyle… Also it must be nice to have everything be perfect… I don’t know what reality she’s living in where everyone is happy with every aspect of their life and have no interest in seeing what else is out there. Now I do agree that soul searching and “deep thinking” are things that should be done regardless of where you are and that “escaping” doesn’t solve all your problems. But sometimes a change of scenery and a new perspective is helpful and lets face it… sometimes you just need an f-ing break.
You, Jill, are an idiot and a bigot too.
Like the line in JURASSIC PARK 3 said, some people are astronauts by nature while others are astronomers. I suspect that the “astronauts” are the ones who really like to travel while the “astronomers” do not. For the latter, learning about new places without ever visiting them in person is completely sufficient.
Also, travel is just the preferred form of recreation for many, while others enjoy playing sports, building ships in bottles, knitting, solving crossword puzzles, or what have you. There is nothing inherently wrong with preferring to stay close to home.
I love your blog, weather I agree with everything you say or not, that doesn’t stop me from loving it. But I just have to comment on this post because I disagree with every single thing you said. Cultural differences are huge together with economic differences and they are always interrelated, you can’t really separate them.
People leave because they want to expand their world and not because they don’t love their lives. I rather be friends with someone who has seen more about the world, than with someone who is extremely happy everyday but has never left her state.
Anyway, I could go on and on…
“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.”
Imagine you had all this, and could ALSO try new things in a foreign country! Wouldn’t that be even more brilliant?!
I love my life–my hometown, my partner, our child, out pets, our lovely home, and cooking from scratch in my own kitchen. But guess what, it’s ALSO as much fun to cook while camping, over a gas canister, or hike in the outback, or swim in the Caribbean.
Some of what you say is true, but really, why must there be a dichotomy?
Why can’t I take weekly hikes in my local forest (as my family currently does) AND hike a jungle in Honduras? Why can’t I volunteer with underprivileged children in my own community and overseas (BTW: although we are high income earners, we actually bought a house in a low-income neighbourhood, specifically so we could travel extensively. Our daughter loves her friends, here and overseas, from all backgrounds).
I found this blog entry silly. Some people just don’t want to travel. It is what it is. But to say these choices are somehow superior or better thought out, is absurd.
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pros and cons on either sides of the coin, it all boils down to what u want in life, generally, to love travel and working till you’re old to fund yr travelling and getting old with no money. ceased travelling, work and save money for retirement for yr golden years. getting old and attain financial independent freedom. different strokes for diff folks:)
I’m sorry but I strongly disagree with your reasons. Not everyone who travels does it as an escape from the daily grind they hate. I do absolutely love getting up every morning and jumping into my day. I do stay aware of the world around me in my every day life and learn new lessons each day. BUT when I travel I see and hear things I don’t at home. I begin to examine my world from a different perspective. Travel broadens my world view like nothing else can. Read my blog and you’ll see the many lessons I learn from travel.
While there is diversity at home, especially in Canada, not many people bother to really get to know the other cultures living in our own back yards. And once those people have left their home country and start assimilating into their new surroundings, they are no longer typical of what you find around the world. As long as you keep yourself surrounded by people who are the same as you (whether rich or poor, they are still the same as you), you will never broaden your thinking.
I liked this blog post. It’s catchy, controversial and provided valuable insight for me.
As a 20-something trying to figure out exactly what the heck I should do I linked here after reading Penelope’s post listing her really good reasons to have a baby now (or sooner than later) if you want children. Her reasoning is that you can have a career later. Plus you will be alive longer to enjoy your babies!
I don’t think Penelope is saying don’t travel ever or that travel is useless; rather she is speaking to younger people who are trying to figure everything out or people who are starting over. Her point is that taking time off to travel is just putting you behind of creating the life that you want now. It’s postponing you growing right where you are. Once you create a life that makes you happy and fulfilled you can travel, explore and enjoy all the beauty and diversity that being a human encompasses.
That’s all everybody wants, right?
In summary, time spent traveling and self exploring in another country isn’t a prerequisite to creating an ideal life right where you are!
I am part of that 5%. I don’t travel, won’t travel and am open-minded nonetheless. Reading about places on my Kindle is far more rewarding than seeing them and if I couldn’t swim daily, see my cat or work my job, I’d go mad within a day. I just don’t see why I should have travel to “get away” from happiness and relaxation.
Most assuredly, to those who do love to travel, God speed and enjoy your trips! ;) I pass no judgement as to whether you like or dislike it and it’s all good. But it’s nice to know that someone else understands my reasons for refusing to do so.
I agree with those who say it’s invalid to generalise our own feelings to include everyone else.
Still, I am an Australian who has never travelled before, and currently in Europe. There have been some lovely moments but for the most part I wish I was home.
The flight over was seemingly endless and horrible. The logistics are insane with tons of organisation and admin and long queues and strict deadlines. The assistance given to a lame old retired woman by so called customer service people is negligible. The people seem surly. My feet and back are killing me. Ripoffs and opportunism are everywhere. I have to constantly grip my bag because of pickpocket warnings. The immense and tightly packed crowds around the great historical sites greatly diluted what could have been enlightening experiences. There’s not even tea making facilities or a fridge in the postage stamp sized room (4 stars?).
My feeling is that you have to wade through tons of rubbish to build up enough experience to make travel enjoyable. The eye candy and history and the occasional pleasant interactions don’t make up for the negs. Maybe if I didn’t already live in a highly multicultural city I could learn more from it.
I expect that some keen travellers will find various ways of impugning my character for feeling this way but I believe different people need different “nourishment” in this life.
Travel does not feel like a path to happiness or wisdom for me … unless I take the above listed hardships as character building. If I wanted character building pain I could just stop taking painkillers at home without 24 &/$%^ hours in the air each way etc.
Sorry to be a downer but I am bitterly disappointed and feel grossly mislead by the pollyannaish reports I’ve been fed all my life about travel :(
Thanks for the post, PT. It makes me feel less like a freak for feeling like this.
Though i would agree with a lot of writeup about “you don’t have to be rich to travel” and all that… personally, i think travelling is best done if you don’t save for it or it’s an extra money you can waste for a trip… In my case however, i should say i’m fine with the beach vacation an hour from my place or so since when i have to think of how much money i have to spend for travelling, my mind’s telling me “no! that money is good for another small investment you’re planning and it comes with an ROI”. So mainly that’s the reason i don’t travel… even if i wanted to… it’s just not practical
I love your article and could not agree with you more. I have always thought travelling is overrated.
To each his own;that’s what I say. I travelled extensively when I was young. Unfortunately I now have health issues and lack of funds-but luckily I am one of the 5% who genuinely enjoy their community. I do have someone I love, as well as meaningful work and activities. I am neutral on this issue.
Factual or not it’s based on her opinion of growing up a child of traveling which I’m assuming most of you were also. Everyone has a right to feel and believe in their way of life and doesnt have to do what you do. Out of respect for the girl shame on all of you for being such narrow minded travelers to have to some how prove your ridiculous points about your life. If your all so culturally educated doesnt sound like you learned the basics in life, respect to differences at all! There are different people in the world right and if anything maybe she makes people who don’t agree with you feel normal like her!
Very insightful! Most of the people I know who are obsessed with travel are not really happy individuals. And, believe it or not, many of them are kind of shallow! They have “the grass is greener on the other side” mentality.
Hi there, here speaks a 17-year-old girl from Italy. Just wanted to say that I don’t know if this is a fake post or not, but trust me, you wouldn’t think the same thing if you lived where I live. What’s more is that I absolutely disagree with what you wrote up here.. Please, are you serious? I hope you are not.
sincerely,
me.
I quite disagree on what you said in this post. You missed some important points and, in my opinion, your reasons are not so convincing.
I agree on what you said about knowing better where we live. I think it’s important to be well aware of the places we live in and I believe that we could discover amazing things just by walking nearby our town.
You are right when you say that there is no need for a holiday to think, as well. We should all learn to create moments in our lives when we can think and know better ourselves, and we can do it where we are now and everyday.
But you also said that we can’t know other cultures or other places, and instead of travelling we should stay where we are. And I think it’s untrue.
Travelling is exhausting, you are right, but there are so many things out there, amazing things, and by travelling we have the chance to see them.
You actually CAN know other cultures if you spend two weeks in a country. You can see amazing sceneries and if you spend all your life locked in your so well-known city, which is what you are advising people to do, you will never know how it feels like when a place takes your breath away.
On top of that, what you said in point 3 is completely crazy! If you go on holiday for a couple of weeks, it’s not like throwing your daily life away, it doesn’t mean that you dislike what you do everyday, neither that there aren’t people you love or you care about.
It just means that you are not a fish in a bowl, you are free. Travel is freedom. Is thrill. Is… I don’t know how to make it into words, but it’s something which gives you the chance to see how the world is. If you don’t ‘see further than the end of your nose’, if you prefer the safety of your day-to-day life, if you think that travelling is a waste of time because is useless… Well, you’re wrong.
I’m aware of the fact that there are people who don’t like travelling, I’m just telling you that you should not despise all the places you had the chance to see as a kid. Treasure them.
And travel. Travel as much as you can. Don’t waste your freedom.
I’m flight attendant.
I hate traveling, I love my job , but hate traveling. Don’t you see there’re many locals out there actually dislike tourists.
We ain’t living in caves anymore, we are well connected. Everywhere I am now, I can see people are in pain, hunger, and worse.
Maybe I’m a negative one. But to enjoy fully the beautiful sunset in cambodia while many children beggars looking at you hungrily is inhuman.
If you still own a human heart. There’s NO enjoyment in each TRIP like safari in Africa or looking at young prostitutes in Cambodia or simply watching old men in Bangkok.
I think most of tourists are inhuman, I say so not to make me feel better, but what’s the point coming to these destination? You think you” wow, this place is beautiful” with pictures attached in your facebook status can get attention and therefore the population there will be saved with the rain of dollars from tourists? You think these people, these children are there for your saving. You’re only saving the business of those who profit from children workers exploitation – tourists company and airlines!
I never and never want my country become a destination. God bless!
Anyway, most of the beautiful pictures about my countries were taken by backpackers….that’s a beautiful thing.
Maybe traveling as a person , staying on the street with low fare airlines ticket is fairly different.
I do really like those who come to my country and be able to bring home a bit of our culture.
Then you should travel!
This is why I love travelling I don’t meet people like the author. I Disagree with every sentence in the article ( that’s a first ever)
Travelling gave me confidence I never had before leaving even though I had a generally good life and income although we never had money for family holidays as a child. Travel has made me care more about humans as individuals and the environment and as a result it heavily inspired me to study both environmental science and youth work which I later integrated to set up a charity giving young people hope and confidence – often taken away by modern narrow minded views.
Without travel I would have stayed stuck in my ways and been selfish and materialistic caring about money over people. Travel ( I mean long term, months – year(s) leaving on your own) doesn’t change people completely but it helps refine who you are. I think you need the distance to reflect and think which I did a lot off. This is very difficult to do in the immediate environment you grew up in.
I think the author is in a sense rebelling against her parents for making her feel uncomfortable traipsing along on package holidays.
Thank god someone said it….
I agree with the writer. Traveling is great, but these entitled kids now a days don’t do it for the right reasons. Most want to be able to say “i took a year off and traveled” to look cool at their next party. As if traveling gives them a “one up” or a reason to “now settle down”. Make a life you love where you are now, traveling doesn’t have an expiration date.
Can I disagree with you but agree with everything you said? You traveled all over Europe young, then came to melting pot USA. So for you, you’ve seen enough to not be curious anymore. Also, when i was young my dad made me drink two cups of carrot juice a day, forced it down my throat because i wore glasses and he read it could cure me. I still hate carrot juice to this day. The sound of the carrot being juiced took me two decades to stop cringing over.
I have not traveled much, a few times in my life. But for years now, i have found happiness teaching people how to see Gods face, to see heaven, hear his voice and to have God come to them with power, alone with no people, church or any money needed.
My channel has grown to four million hits on youtube and now i get thousands of people viewing without doing any work.
So that has freed me to go walk around talking about what I have seen with people, that is my favorite thing to do.
But I live in the desert in California, really hot and nasty, nobody walks anywhere.
So for me, I am going to Europe to do what my life has structured me to do here to be happy: get out and love on people, talk about heaven and how to do what God requires to see it, taste it and hear His voice.
So i agree, one must be happy first before traveling, you cant run away. Similarly, one must be 100 percent happy before entering a relationship. Then you will be really really happy once you meet someone. But if it doesn’t work out, then you merely happy again.
LIVING WATER. ASK JESUS to enter your dreams and ask to receive this… when you sleep HOPE HE comes…. DO this for a week or two straight, he ignores the person a short time to test them.
“OUT OF YOUR BELLY RIVERS OF LIVING WATER WILL BURST FORTH” Said Jesus in John.
I will show myself to you… said Jesus in John 14:21
IN SECRET seek…. nobody listens!
JESUS GAVE ME SOMETHING MORE POWERFUL THAN REACHING NIRVANA.
HE GAVE ME THE HIGHEST NIRVANA IN ME NOW.
HEAVEN IS FOUND ON EARTH WITHIN YOU… and nobody enters the gate unless through Jesus.
HE STILL LOVE YOU ALL!!! SO YOU ARE NOT GOING TO HELL!
BUT YOU WILL NOT RULE IN HEAVEN AS ROYALTY. YOU WILL BE A MEMBER OF THE KINGDOM, A SUBJECT, not a RULER in the Royal House.
THOSE who receive the Living Water and SEE JESUS IN LIFE through asking, reading, fasting and HOPING until it happens….. get to see God here in life, feel heaven within (AS IF every emotion, thought and cell is taken to heaven) BUT WHILE YOU LIVE.
Could you handle perpetual bliss in this life?
I think its what you’ve been seeking, now ask Jesus to show you a dream about Him being real and to give you and show you about…… THE LIVING WATER.
Bye my friends…. we are all family.
1 Timothy 4:10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.
God will save all…. eventually.
I was so encouraged to read this post. Finally – someone who thinks like I do! And then I read the comments and my heart sunk. The same comments I get all the time. I tell people that I don’t like to travel, and they look at me with great pity as if I have some sort of disability. And then they gush, “I LOVE to travel.” I get it constantly. I’m tired of being treated like a freak because I don’t like to travel. Those commenting keep saying that Penelope is narrow-minded, judgmental, making generalizations, etc. Well, maybe her tone is a bit harsh, but what people don’t realize is that it’s just as judgmental to say that everyone needs to travel or that people who don’t like to travel are missing out, etc. I am not missing out – I take part in a variety of community activities, and have a variety of friends – including people from other countries. My life is very full (and i don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to have a full life.)
Wouldn’t the importance of travel have some link to living somewhere cool? I get it that you already mentioned that to an extent, but there is a very short list of places where it’s hard not to get bored. NYC being the only in the U.S. IMO, and there’s no way I could afford to move or live there or barely even visit.
*hard to get bored
I have to say I completely agree with this, I didn’t read through all the comments as I didn’t like the disagreements! But this was just what I needed. I have been travelling/working abroad for the past 3 and a half months and I have been through hideous bouts of depression, anxiety and stress. The circumstances could have been better, it turned out I came out here with a bully on my uni course who proceeded to make my life hell but whilst I’m just about to go through 1 last gruelling weekend before my flight home I am so glad I read this to stop me from feeling so guilty about not enjoying myself!
Yes the sights are great, meeting cultural people is great as is seeing the different cultures. But I love my family, my friends and my boyfriend, I love my home life, I had my feet on the ground and a bunch of friends, I loved the gym and knowing where I needed to go to do what I needed to do! This trip has not only stressed me but my friends and family who have tried to be there for me whilst they are in another country! Some people if they don’t enjoy themselves can just hop on a plane home, and if that’s the case then why not give it a shot! No one likes to live with what ifs! But if you are in 2 minds and might be going just to please your family; however there is no way you can stop half way through like me then think hard. We might feel at times like we hate our life at home, that we hate our every day life and having to go to the same old job but it’s the people around us that count and I will not change my loved ones for another country ever ever again
I am sitting outside the security check, while my girlfriend has gone in. It is some 10 day hike and I hate traveling – let alone waste ten leave days on it. I could have just been sitting at home and writing some music.
Your post really made me feel better
better that I am not alone :)
I love this post. I hate traveling for pleasure or business. The only exception is that in Feb 2001 I finally got the chance to go to Florida and sit on the sandy beach in front of the beautiful blue ocean. I wanted to do it all my life until that point. After 2 hours it suddenly hit me that it was no better than meditating and relaxing at home. Then I realized that I was perfectly happy as I am at home! I have never gone anywhere since then except for a couple of business trips. Love the simple things in life going to the grocery store, running errands, staying at home and enjoying life. Love my job too even my boss says I am the only one who wants to be there including him. With the right attitude it works fine. I have plenty of opportunities to grow at work and at home. Don’t drink, drug, or party just enjoy a few people, work and home.