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The visit to Japan made me believe diversity in demographics is actually a very bad thing. If diversity were suddenly introduced to Japan, it would collapse.
I definitely think that travel at the least can offer a wider range of views and experiences.
I have sat with native Chinese and listened to them question why I would think Tibet is NOT part of China.
I have visited Dachau and the Anne Frank house and came to better understand the horrors of war.
I find a different perspective on the history of people visiting ancient dolmans in Ireland, Clava Cairns in Scotland or Stonehenge in England. Even visiting man made sites like the Parthenon in Rome, the Acropolis in Athens or the Library of Celsus in Turkey allows me to reflect on the ability to mankind to create great things.
I understand how traveling can be educational and fun.
But what I'm getting at is - how has traveling changed your life in a profound and permanent way? Did it change your religious beliefs? Did it change how you work, how you spend your money, what your main hobbies are or how you go about your daily life? Those kinds of things.
I have enjoyed traveling to countries in Europe and Asia. So, I'm not saying it's a waste of time. However, I can't think of anything in my experiences that really changed me as a person. I didn't find myself in my travels. Maybe I just don't get it. :-)
I'm with OP. I saw/experienced nothing that changed me or added to my quality of life when I used to travel. When the trip was over, all that remained was the charge card bills!
I never understood "travel porn" books like Eat, Pray, Love or Wild. Didn't think the experiences really changed the authors in any appreciable way.
My FIL was an avid traveler. He would return from a trip and wear native clothing (his walking around in a lungi skirt from Burma/Myanmar was a sight to behold!) or drink wine exclusively from where he had just traveled to (had to be Australian wine for a while)...until the next trip then led to a focus on stuff from there.
I have a friend who also loves to travel. When she went to Vietnam, she ate Vietnamese food for the first time...and last time. She won't ever think to have it again, even though it's readily available here.
I have a friend who recently went to the Netherlands. She toured a couple of places where they grow tulips. Saw all the photos. But she didn't know about tulip fever that had happened years ago. (I did and have never gone there.) Hasn't been interested enough since returning to read about it.
I believe in "wherever you go, there you are." People aren't going to change just from a week of sightseeing. Maybe if you actually stayed in a place for a year it would. But even then, you could be likely to fall back into old ways of thinking and being once you return to your home base.
I have a curious mind and love learning and experiencing things different from myself. Watch tons of foreign movies. Read books from all over. Eat ethnic foods. But I don't need/want to travel to do so. And the personal growth I've experienced has come from doing the hard work of going inside, such as through meditation and really thinking about who I am and who I want to be, not flying to a place and taking photos. Not saying travel isn't right for other people---but I think anyone who expects to be changed by it will be disappointed.
Nodpete, I do like the Mark Twain quote, but don't you think things have changed a lot since then? With globalization and the Internet, travel isn't necessary.
I understand how traveling can be educational and fun.
But what I'm getting at is - how has traveling changed your life in a profound and permanent way? Did it change your religious beliefs? Did it change how you work, how you spend your money, what your main hobbies are or how you go about your daily life? Those kinds of things.
I have enjoyed traveling to countries in Europe and Asia. So, I'm not saying it's a waste of time. However, I can't think of anything in my experiences that really changed me as a person. I didn't find myself in my travels. Maybe I just don't get it. :-)
Perhaps you were a tourist and not a traveler — there to see sights and leave, not to immerse yourself in another culture without value judgments about how others live.
Those unchanged by travel probably went on a tour, or to ClubMed or on a cruise, where they stayed within the same circle of tourists.
To get the most out of travel, DIY. Research, make your own plans, rent a car (it's fun to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road), don't stay in a hotel...rent a house or apartment.
How did travel change me....after a week in Central Mexico, we came back to the US....and immediately made plans to return the following month. Bought a home there and lived there full-time for 5 years until we had to return to the US to help an elderly parent. Stayed in US for 3 years, until my FIL died.
We are now back in Central MX, looking to buy a house again and move here permanently.
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