Why “Travelling” is Overrated (Greece, ideas, package, Europe)

[InteriorDesign]

I reckon this modern fixation with “travelling” has blown itself right up its own ass.

Travelling doesn’t at all necessarily make you more culturally sensitive, nor does it necessarily make you more aware, nor does it necessarily make you more enlightened, nor must it necessarily mean anything other than… you’ve travelled. doesn't mean much more than that, folks

Because, fellow readers, the simple point is that we take our prejudices and biases with us, wherever we go. They follow us like a plague follows its victims. Someone who hasn’t travelled isn’t necessarily any less cultured, or more “enlightened” than someone who has travelled

if people who lived 300 years ago could lead full and happy lives without aeroplanes or super fast bullet trains, so can we. Travelling’s overrated. First-world shenanigans, I say.

I think the whole “well-traveled” thing mostly in white culture is so that you can impress your peers how “cultured” and cosmopolitan and “sophisticated you are. This sort of psyche is more prevalent among yappie type.

They all go in a group and they aren’t genuinely interested in learning different cultures, languages or getting to know “locals”. Many of those people think they are “cultured”…but this usually means “having traveled Europe” or speaking European based languages

It seems like everyone these days is an avid traveler and has been bitten by the traveling bug. And boy, do they love telling you about it. They’ll talk until they’re blue in the face about all their supposedly amazing adventures, but all it does is totally bore you. People who brag about traveling are super annoying. They get this superiority complex and it seems to defeat the whole point of getting away. You always come away from interacting with those travel crazy people thinking, what’s the big deal? You just don’t get what all the fuss is about.

[Wild Flower]

You have a great deal of generalization there. Do you think you can look at the whole world and make a judgment like this?

I traveled for a living for 5 years. I'd tell you about it but it seems that it may bore you. (It was exciting for real!)

I will say this, it changed who I was because I was grew as a person navigating through our country and being exposed to new ideas.

[Shimmy00]

Lol. Agreed. I honestly could care less about someone's travel story to a "beautiful, quaint town" in Greece or how they ate some kind of foreign food. It's not fascinating and it doesn't make the person any more interesting. In fact, my ex bragged about visiting different countries in Europe and it was a huge turn off. I prefer non-pretentious people who can just live in the moment and crack jokes.

[Wild Flower]

Originally Posted by Shimmy00

Lol. Agreed. I honestly could care less about someone's travel story to a "beautiful, quaint town" in Greece or how they ate some kind of foreign food. It's not fascinating and it doesn't make the person any more interesting. In fact, my ex bragged about visiting different countries in Europe and it was a huge turn off. I prefer non-pretentious people who can just live in the moment and crack jokes.

There are pretentious people who travel and unpretentious people who travel. The same can be said for people who don't travel- some are pretentious and some are not.

But to each his own with prejudices and biases. (We all have them)

[OzzyRules]

I do respect Rick Steves and I wish that more travelers had his perspective. But if people are blind in their everyday lives they will be blind overseas as well.

[Bayesian]

Originally Posted by Shimmy00

Lol. Agreed. I honestly could care less about someone's travel story to a "beautiful, quaint town" in Greece or how they ate some kind of foreign food. It's not fascinating and it doesn't make the person any more interesting. In fact, my ex bragged about visiting different countries in Europe and it was a huge turn off. I prefer non-pretentious people who can just live in the moment and crack jokes.

I'm tired of Europe travel stories. I'd love to hear stories from AT-thru hikers, from people who have actually lived in a remote community in Africa, from anyone has real amazing experience.

I know there are tons of arts in Florence, I don't need to hear people bragging about it. There is an exception, if you really know arts in Florence and you have something to say, you are interesting. Most tourists can only tell you it's beautiful, it's eye opening, but they can't tell you much about Renaissance arts.

[Bayesian]

Originally Posted by InteriorDesign

I reckon this modern fixation with “travelling” has blown itself right up its own ass.

Travelling doesn’t at all necessarily make you more culturally sensitive, nor does it necessarily make you more aware, nor does it necessarily make you more enlightened, nor must it necessarily mean anything other than… you’ve travelled. doesn't mean much more than that, folks

Because, fellow readers, the simple point is that we take our prejudices and biases with us, wherever we go. They follow us like a plague follows its victims. Someone who hasn’t travelled isn’t necessarily any less cultured, or more “enlightened” than someone who has travelled

if people who lived 300 years ago could lead full and happy lives without aeroplanes or super fast bullet trains, so can we. Travelling’s overrated. First-world shenanigans, I say.

I think the whole “well-traveled” thing mostly in white culture is so that you can impress your peers how “cultured” and cosmopolitan and “sophisticated you are. This sort of psyche is more prevalent among yappie type.

They all go in a group and they aren’t genuinely interested in learning different cultures, languages or getting to know “locals”. Many of those people think they are “cultured”…but this usually means “having traveled Europe” or speaking European based languages

It seems like everyone these days is an avid traveler and has been bitten by the traveling bug. And boy, do they love telling you about it. They’ll talk until they’re blue in the face about all their supposedly amazing adventures, but all it does is totally bore you. People who brag about traveling are super annoying. They get this superiority complex and it seems to defeat the whole point of getting away. You always come away from interacting with those travel crazy people thinking, what’s the big deal? You just don’t get what all the fuss is about.

Is English an European based language?

[HarryHaller73]

yes, i know what you mean. people also like to use their travels as a means to elevate social status and i find that quite annoying. i could care less about someone's visit to the louvre or riding a gondola in venice or drinking wine in tuscany.. these things are all prepackaged touristy things baiting people via carrot stick. we live in very superficial times, at work people talk about where they'll be going for memorial day or 4th of july and people are judged on that. i say, i'm staying home, and drinking and grilling by the pool.. and you see the blank faces of horror.

i do travel, but i don't boast about it. most of the places i travel to in europe is for work, and i am able to fit in a day or two to experience the local culture, i will say tho, my most interesting travel was the mongol rally, and i got inspired to do it from hearing it from a friend and it really seemed fascinating. you can only join by purchasing a small vehicle within spec guidelines, and then you begin in europe, and drive east for several weeks following a specific map. on the way, you bump into others who are part of the rally and truly experience the cultures as a homeless person. finally, we end up in mongolia and have a huge party.

[PJSaturn]

Folks, the Travel forum is a place for people to share information and stories about traveling. It is not an appropriate place to complain about boring or pretentious friends. That topic may be addressed in a thread in the Non-romantic Relationships forum. If you don't like traveling or travelers, then please move on to another forum.


This thread is now closed.


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