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I've traveled a fair amount and I don't get the degree of fascination. It's essentially a form of entertainment. I've learned more about almost any place from

I've traveled a fair amount and I don't get the degree of fascination. It's essentially a form of entertainment. I've learned more about almost any place from books and media than just passing through, seeing the sites, and meeting some people. "Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend. Living somewhere a couple years is another matter.

zeroonetwothree 15y ago
I've traveled a fair amount as well (~30 countries, almost all the US states), and I guess I agree with you. I don't really find it "enlightening" but it can be very different and fun compared to what you can do while staying in the same place.
nirvana 15y ago
>just passing through, seeing the sites, and meeting some people. Is what most people do because they are very short of time, due to the fact that the time they have is vacation time from their full time job. This forces them into a particular mode. But for many people, this is still very rewarding. >"Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend. I think there's a big difference between spending 3 hours and 3 days somewhere. There's also a big difference between spending 3 days and 3 months somewhere. And then even further, you could spend 3 year somewhere. I know in 3 months we don't get the same level of experience as spending 3 years, and we may well find a place where we want to spend 3 years at a time. Everything in life involves tradeoffs, especially travel. I won't knock someone who spends 3 hours in a place I spend 3 months, anymore than I would want to be knocked by someone who spent 3 years there. But I strongly disagree that you can books and media can replace travel. Sure you can learn a lot, but the experience of living somewhere or even visiting is a lot different than seeing it portrayed by others.
- rubashov 15y ago
  I contend that mostly what you're getting out of your three days or three months somewhere is a blast of novelty. It's not making you any smarter or better, which is what a lot of people try to claim.
  - frasertimo 15y ago
    Ever heard the phrase 'you get out what you put in'? Travel can give you most of the benefits most people claim it does without you actively trying because of how it forcibly takes you out of your comfort zone. But if you show up just expecting it to change you, or even worse; challenge it to, then you won't get anywhere near as much out of it. I expect that your own experiences are more a reflection of your attitude towards it than what most enthusiastic travelers (including myself) claim it does. You get out what you put in.
  - glenra 15y ago
    Learning "how things are done" in other very different places does tend to make you smarter. In several ways, including but not limited to: - you are forced to solve new problems imposed by your surroundings, which makes you a better problem-solver generally - you become exposed to and aware of different ways that other cultures solve problems, which widens your own tool set - you become more aware of some of your own default cultural/political/technological assumptions, and thus better able to set some of those biases aside when you face problems for which they aren't appropriate. A weekend package tour won't give you much of that, but living for a few weeks or months someplace significantly different than your home country often will.
    - lusr 15y ago
      - you become aware of inner resources you weren't aware existed when you're exposed to situations you're unfamiliar with, developing a greater sense of self-confidence and self-respect
  - gwern 15y ago
    > I contend that mostly what you're getting out of your three days or three months somewhere is a blast of novelty. It's not making you any smarter or better Given the endless research literature on challenges and cognitive capabilities, and especially the inverse correlation between novelty and mental decline in the elderly, I would be chary of making such claims.
  - georgieporgie 15y ago
marquis 15y ago
> "Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend I strongly protest about this. I travel extensively, in a similar way to the OP (live where I choose for how long I can on a visa). My life, and especially my view on my home country, has vastly expanded. I have friends all over the world, I can speak a couple of languages and a smattering of many others which has lead to expanding our business because I can communicate sufficiently, and more critically, understand their particular needs. I wonder if you stayed in fancy hotels all the time? Have you spent a few nights in a Casa Particular in Cuba, or camped out in South Africa with local farmers? "Essentially a form of entertainment". Wow, what an understatement about what this great world and the people in it can teach us. Reading down a bit more, maybe you're referring to the travelling-salesman effect, a few days or hours in one place, all you are seeing are hotel lobbys and airports. This isn't travelling: it's commuting.
mixmastamyk 15y ago
Traveling has taught me that the majority of everything the media tells you is garbage.
bitwize 15y ago
I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there. I'm nuts about Japanese culture. Did a lot of reading when I was a little weeaboo, even took a few semesters of Japanese language in college. It's all tremendously exciting and rewarding. But, when I landed in Osaka last year, it was a whole new ballgame watching, meeting, and talking to these people, conversing in their language, eating their food, seeing their homes and shops and shrines. The reading prepared me for the experience. But it did not replace the experience. It's profoundly enlightening to go out, make yourself a foreigner in a new land and come to grips with a people, language, and culture who are not your own. It may have helped that I took an unorthodox approach to vacationing, and minimized "sightseeing" and visiting tourist spots, instead just choosing to spend time in the city or in one of the outlying towns, observing and interacting with the natives.

zeroonetwothree 15y ago

I've traveled a fair amount as well (~30 countries, almost all the US states), and I guess I agree with you. I don't really find it "enlightening" but it can be very different and fun compared to what you can do while staying in the same place.

nirvana 15y ago

>just passing through, seeing the sites, and meeting some people. Is what most people do because they are very short of time, due to the fact that the time they have is vacation time from their full time job. This forces them into a particular mode. But for many people, this is still very rewarding. >"Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend. I think there's a big difference between spending 3 hours and 3 days somewhere. There's also a big difference between spending 3 days and 3 months somewhere. And then even further, you could spend 3 year somewhere. I know in 3 months we don't get the same level of experience as spending 3 years, and we may well find a place where we want to spend 3 years at a time. Everything in life involves tradeoffs, especially travel. I won't knock someone who spends 3 hours in a place I spend 3 months, anymore than I would want to be knocked by someone who spent 3 years there. But I strongly disagree that you can books and media can replace travel. Sure you can learn a lot, but the experience of living somewhere or even visiting is a lot different than seeing it portrayed by others.

rubashov 15y ago
I contend that mostly what you're getting out of your three days or three months somewhere is a blast of novelty. It's not making you any smarter or better, which is what a lot of people try to claim.
- frasertimo 15y ago
  Ever heard the phrase 'you get out what you put in'? Travel can give you most of the benefits most people claim it does without you actively trying because of how it forcibly takes you out of your comfort zone. But if you show up just expecting it to change you, or even worse; challenge it to, then you won't get anywhere near as much out of it. I expect that your own experiences are more a reflection of your attitude towards it than what most enthusiastic travelers (including myself) claim it does. You get out what you put in.
- glenra 15y ago
  Learning "how things are done" in other very different places does tend to make you smarter. In several ways, including but not limited to: - you are forced to solve new problems imposed by your surroundings, which makes you a better problem-solver generally - you become exposed to and aware of different ways that other cultures solve problems, which widens your own tool set - you become more aware of some of your own default cultural/political/technological assumptions, and thus better able to set some of those biases aside when you face problems for which they aren't appropriate. A weekend package tour won't give you much of that, but living for a few weeks or months someplace significantly different than your home country often will.
  - lusr 15y ago
    - you become aware of inner resources you weren't aware existed when you're exposed to situations you're unfamiliar with, developing a greater sense of self-confidence and self-respect
- gwern 15y ago
  > I contend that mostly what you're getting out of your three days or three months somewhere is a blast of novelty. It's not making you any smarter or better Given the endless research literature on challenges and cognitive capabilities, and especially the inverse correlation between novelty and mental decline in the elderly, I would be chary of making such claims.
- georgieporgie 15y ago

marquis 15y ago

> "Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend I strongly protest about this. I travel extensively, in a similar way to the OP (live where I choose for how long I can on a visa). My life, and especially my view on my home country, has vastly expanded. I have friends all over the world, I can speak a couple of languages and a smattering of many others which has lead to expanding our business because I can communicate sufficiently, and more critically, understand their particular needs. I wonder if you stayed in fancy hotels all the time? Have you spent a few nights in a Casa Particular in Cuba, or camped out in South Africa with local farmers? "Essentially a form of entertainment". Wow, what an understatement about what this great world and the people in it can teach us. Reading down a bit more, maybe you're referring to the travelling-salesman effect, a few days or hours in one place, all you are seeing are hotel lobbys and airports. This isn't travelling: it's commuting.

mixmastamyk 15y ago

Traveling has taught me that the majority of everything the media tells you is garbage.

bitwize 15y ago

I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there. I'm nuts about Japanese culture. Did a lot of reading when I was a little weeaboo, even took a few semesters of Japanese language in college. It's all tremendously exciting and rewarding. But, when I landed in Osaka last year, it was a whole new ballgame watching, meeting, and talking to these people, conversing in their language, eating their food, seeing their homes and shops and shrines. The reading prepared me for the experience. But it did not replace the experience. It's profoundly enlightening to go out, make yourself a foreigner in a new land and come to grips with a people, language, and culture who are not your own. It may have helped that I took an unorthodox approach to vacationing, and minimized "sightseeing" and visiting tourist spots, instead just choosing to spend time in the city or in one of the outlying towns, observing and interacting with the natives.