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“Some of the least travelled people I’ve ever met have been to 100 countries, or even as high as 170 countries — what they do is fly between major cities
by eksith 13y ago
“Some of the least travelled people I’ve ever met have been to 100 countries,
or even as high as 170 countries — what they do is fly between major cities
and especially capital cities, stop off in the airport or take a hotel for the
night, and then say that they’ve ‘done’ such and such country,” said Bown,
speaking with the Sun via Facebook.
“To my view, such people are passengers, not travellers.”
For the record, this guy spent 23 years travelling; basically most of his adult life. The British guy: "Hughes used buses, taxis, trains and his own two feet to travel 160,000 miles in exactly 1,426 days - all on a shoestring of just $100 a week."
- seszett 13y agoI have seen people come to Kerguelen island, which involves a four-week trip by ship in rough waters (and seven thousand euros or so) and not even set foot on the island once there, because all they wanted was the stamp on their passport. Or disembark but not leave their room once on the base, to at least say they had set foot on the island. These people usually had no idea and didn't care about learning anything about the place they had come to. People like this are some of the least interesting persons I have met, and they clearly aren't "well travelled" indeed.
- fusiongyro 13y agoThat's an especially sad and wasteful example. What a beautiful place and what a privilege to get to see it, to squander by not even going out and touching it is such a travesty. I hope someday to have the kind of free time, money and connections that might afford a trip there, but it doesn't look likely. What a sad waste.
- seszett 13y agoIf you have the free time but don't have the money (connections aren't really that useful unless maybe you are a scientist), a few people have learned how to sail in order to go back there on their own (like Antarctica, people often become obsessed with the place once they have stayed there for a while)... that would be quite an adventure. (The mooring tax is cheap and a visa or authorization can't be refused once there). I'd like to go back there this way, one day.
- fusiongyro 13y agoTake me with you. :)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- vacri 13y agoI still think that to call them the 'least travelled people' is a misnomer. 'Shallow' may be a better term. I'm reminded of a friend who met a Scottish woman on the train to Edinburgh. She was elderly, had lived only 50km outside the city, and yet had never been there. There are also people in modern, developed countries who never even leave the city they were born in. I've had a couple of other friends who simply don't know how to travel - they are okay with the thought of it, but should something minor go wrong, they are clueless with what to do. It reminded me that there's a lot of unappreciated skills that go along with being a traveller.