This is pretty unfair. I basically did just what this satire describes, minus the trust fund and eye-gouging. I did it by working hard and saving my modest sa

This is pretty unfair. I basically did just what this satire describes, minus the trust fund and eye-gouging. I did it by working hard and saving my modest salary for a pretty long time, finally having saved enough to take 6 months to a year off. People are always mystified at how I managed to do it. They think traveling the world is expensive beyond their wildest dreams. But the truth is, for much of the world the most expensive part is the plane ticket. You can live shockingly well on $10 a day in some parts of Asia, for example. It ruins you for when you return home: "Wait, a burger at a sit down restaurant costs $12?!? That's crazy!" Meanwhile you're meeting fascinating people and observing different and sometimes surprising cultures. The time I spent traveling became the most significant and formative part of my life. What this satire portrays cynically, I experienced joyfully, and with a profound impact on my sense of place in the world, in society, and in history. For Americans in particular, travel is one of the most important things we can do to get some perspective on the insularity and self-satisfied back-slapping that goes on at home. Suddenly you realize how homogeneous American culture can be, and, for all the praise we love to heap on ourselves, how far we have left to go to catch up to the rest of the world in so many aspects. I spent many years traveling the world alone. If you have any questions, or if you're interested in doing it yourself, I'd be happy to give guidance.