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People who manage their lives correctly don't need to travel. I am surrounded by the people/things that are important to me. I don't need to be crammed into a steel tube for hours on end to look at a bunch of stuff I can see on the internet.
If you think looking at pictures is the same as experiencing another culture...then you're not living your life correctly.
You cannot understand another culture by merely looking at photographs. You've got to talk to people. Walk around. Fully observe. What you're suggesting is the height of superficiality. It's like looking at one photo of Abe Lincoln would tell you everything about Abe Lincoln. Absolutely not. Shallow, shallow, shallow.
If you think looking at pictures is the same as experiencing another culture...then you're not living your life correctly.
You cannot understand another culture by merely looking at photographs. You've got to talk to people. Walk around. Fully observe. What you're suggesting is the height of superficiality. It's like looking at one photo of Abe Lincoln would tell you everything about Abe Lincoln. Absolutely not. Shallow, shallow, shallow.
I think the question is - Do humans need to travel in order to live a meaningful and fulfilled life?
Maybe some people can find satisfaction within themselves and their local environment and have little need for traveling.
I think the question is - Do humans need to travel in order to live a meaningful and fulfilled life?
Maybe some people can find satisfaction within themselves and their local environment and have little need for traveling.
That's fine, and I don't disagree but that's not the same as claiming the internet is the same as real travel, or that thinking otherwise means you haven't managed your life correctly.
People who manage their lives correctly don't need to travel. I am surrounded by the people/things that are important to me. I don't need to be crammed into a steel tube for hours on end to look at a bunch of stuff I can see on the internet.
Speak for yourself, perhaps? I have seen Cape Horn appear out of the mist from the deck of a square-rigger. Hiked the Alps. Ridden a motorcycle through lavender fields in bloom in Southern France. Eaten working-class meals in Oporto and Michelin-star in Brussels. Picked grapes in Beaujolais. Gasped at the sight of Grand Canyon.
I'll just refer you back to my post #6 in this thread.
Someone might argue that going to a country in which you don't know the language and everybody around you sounds like gibberish is the height of superficiality.
I enjoy traveling. I am not obsessed with traveling.
I've noticed this rhetorical 'technique' before, wherein someone who doesn't like something that others do like, asserts that those others are obsessed with that thing. It's a dishonest framing.
Nailed it! If someone else is obsessed, so what? I know a very affluent lady who seems obsessed, but I don't like her any less for it...good for her that she has an interest she enjoys so much.
Right now, she's off from SE Florida to Singapore, Malaysia and the Phillipines. She wore out Europe years ago.
My wife's not in her league, but she likes to travel a lot more than I do. I hate planes...but she endures them to get to the places she wants to see.
She's going back to Spain, & the Bahamas this year, and re-schueduled her trip to Egypt & Jordan after she landed in Tel Aviv October 7th and left the next morning after spending the night in the hotel's bomb shelter basement. She's skipping Israel on her return trip though.
She's taking our Son & his Girl on a Mediterranean cruise in April. I did an Alaskan cruise w/ the 3 of them last year, so I'm good staying here in FLA.
I prefer places I can drive to...like the mountains of Western North Carolina each Summer, to escape the Florida heat. 8-9hr drive up, rent a house for 2 months, then drive back...all the travel I need for 2024.
I wish I had a travel obession...or any obession for that matter.
GOOD Travel: I think I learned the most about a foreign country when I spent 3 weeks in Bremerhaven, West Germany in 1983 on Army business. I got to see what, IMO, a real civilization looked like where one could walk to an eatery/beer stube within a couple blocks, take a bus or train almost everywhere, and they had standards where the word "cafe" was well defined and adhered to. Education and healthcare were birthrights, and workers were respected and well paid. Beer/wine glasses had markings to assure you got 0.2L in your wine glass or 0.5L of beer, beer which was GOOD because it was made IAW purity laws. On one of my bus trips, the driver stopped the bus, put it in park, and got off the bus to help a young mother load her baby carriage. THAT is civilization. Here, it's heaven help you because no one else will. I also got to see a very good high standard of living since we had 300,000 military personnel there at the time pumping billions into the W. German economy during the Reagan defense buildup. Such is empire.
POOR travel: Took a couple of cruises in the Caribbean in the late 1980s. Bucket list, even though only 40 years old then. The old saying about such cruises in that they're for the newly wed or the nearly dead. The cruise industry refers to Carnival Cruise lines as the K-Mart of the Caribbean because they mostly offer low cost cruises on big alcohol party boats. People can get drunk and get lucky at their local taproom, no need to pay for a cruise AND run up a fat bar tab. I got to see some nice scenery and clear, clean water. But I did not really care for being dumped ashore in local "markets" set up to absorb money from cruise-goers who just had to go home with an item from the straw market in Nassau. I got a kick out of seeing other "savvy shoppers" stroll through airports showing off a 4-pack of 1.75L tax-free bottles of their favorite hooch as if they were the great white hunter flashing a big game trophy. They spend thousands for a cruise and this is what they have to show for it? These days one can get good food in most major cities, rock climbing walls, swimming, casinos, shows, shopping, golf, etc, all without leaving home, needing a passport or standing in line while U.S. Customs' drug sniffing dogs smell your luggage. No one ever got NoroVirus at their local brewpub.
I'm 75 and recall grade school in the 1950s where they showed us "filmstrips" of natural wonders like the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Yosemite National Park, the Redwoods, the Great Plains, etc. There was precious little on our 3 black & white TV channels so a lot of my generation hit the road to see most of these wonders. It's all different now, there are exquisite shows on TV, billions of great photo's on-line, and videos by do-it-yourselfers on YouTube to see much of what's out there. I used to go on "conventions" to different cities with my railroad history pals and stand by the tracks doing some train watching; no more, just call up youtube.
I don't care if I ever fly again, the experience sucks due to deregulation in the 1980 timeframe which has given us a race to the bottom; fares may be low but the experience is cattle-car dreadful. I remember flying in the 1970s; when a UAL flight was full everyone got a free glass of champagne and the food was good, yes it was so good, I once asked for and got seconds of lasagna on one UAL flight, with stainless steel utensils, not plastic sporks. Everywhere is crowded today, many people are nasty, airlines gouge you for everything, trash is everywhere and prices are high. I'm content to stay the hell home and enjoy a fine bottle of wine for less than $15 -- and I don't have to snake my way through the TSA security rope-walk.
To each their own. The young do need to get out and see places, especially well-civilized Europe. Like Bill Gates said 15 years ago: "See Europe now, in 15 years it will be a museum." As nice as Europe is, I don't want one of the package tours as I've no desire to tour a bunch of musty old cathedrals. Besides, Europe is crowded this year, the locals don't want us milling around their eateries, just like we here in the Phoenix area don't care for how crowded some venues get when the winter snowbirds come flocking in from the frozen north.
YMMV
Very funny but soooo true on many levels! Your age came into play when you said Carnival Cruises is the Kmart of the seas (Kmart is long gone!)
Travel is what you make it. I have relatives that literally will be 3000 miles from home and eat at Chilis/Cracker Barrel!
I don't like chain restaurants and eat at as few as possible and never on vacation unless its a desperate moment. Sandusky, Ohio (home of Cedar Point) is a little short on restaurants in town, we honed in on the local "Fridays" and that stands out to me as a desperate moment (15+ years ago).
I did Northern Italy, Germany and Switzerland this summer. I thought it was great, I hadn't been to Italy before but had been to Germany/Switzerland 35+ years ago.
2 summers ago I did Montana/Wyoming and have since returned to Wyoming and heading back again shortly.
One thing to consider is age: If you think you want to do something, waiting might never get you there if your health deteriorates. I'd like to get to Alaska and hit Vancouver while I'm out there. Australia and New Zealand are other "wish list" destinations.
One thing I always thought would be fun: RV the USA. Until driving through Montana and seeing that RV's are restricted to 55 mph (cars were 75). It took forever to drive around that state and slowing it down 20 mph would be painful! The RV fantasy is great until you do the math and realize its slow and expensive. The RV parks can charge as much as a hotel room in some places and they give you nothing but a concrete slab/utilities hook up! Also plenty of places are an RV nightmare as in you don't want to drive one in that area!
People who manage their lives correctly don't need to travel. I am surrounded by the people/things that are important to me. I don't need to be crammed into a steel tube for hours on end to look at a bunch of stuff I can see on the internet.
It doesn't compare, trust me..lol.. I've seen sites like The Eiffel Tower, The Colosseum, The Acropolis and Auschwitz... it's all worth it to see in person.
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and left the next morning after spending the night in the hotel's bomb shelter basement. She's skipping Israel on her return trip though.
