This is a contrarian analysis.
When I read blogs that listed reasons why you shouldn’t travel around the world, they fell into one of two categories—either the tongue-in-cheek (you don’t like eating bugs) or the dispelling-the-myth (it’s too expensive) variety. This is not one of those varieties. This is straight up: why you shouldn’t travel around the world…
You shouldn’t travel around the world to fill a void in your life. Many twenty-five-year-olds don’t like their jobs. College teaches us how to be a CEO. You are taught how to manage people and develop business plans. Our first jobs are data entry. You graduate, look around, and see only a pile of debt. Rent costs too much. You will never own a home. Health care costs too much. It’s a miserable start to adulthood.
Don’t sell your career goals short. There is little rhyme or reason as to why certain people achieve success or receive promotions earlier than others. You can plan. You can work hard. There are elements you can’t control. Be comfortable with lacking control. You will be discouraged. You will be disillusioned. Stay focused. Have confidence that over the long term, if you are honest, if you treat people with respect, if you remain committed to learning, and if you are motivated to be better every day, you will be successful.
In the interim, people search for instant gratification to end their misery. Travel is instant gratification. Around the world travel is instant gratification week after week after week. Until it isn’t. At a certain point the instant gratification fulfillment dissipates. If you are unhappy with your life, travel offers a quick fix. If you are searching for purpose in your life, around the world travel is not that purpose.
Travel instant gratification lacks substance. Your experiences in other countries aren’t the locals’ standard. Locals’ daily lives are not a vacation. Many Indians have not seen the Taj Mahal. Many Cambodians have not seen Angkor Wat. Many Kenyans have not seen a lion on a safari. And yet they lead adventurous and fulfilling lives. Talk to a Cambodian who lived through the Khmer Rouge regime. Their perspective on life appreciates the subtle wonder of the present while never forgetting the past. People all over the world challenge and test themselves. Visiting Angkor Wat to attain fulfillment in life, to fill a void, to escape the doldrums of a working life…it borders on the absurd.
You shouldn’t travel around the world because it’s an incredibly selfish activity. The first years in your life you follow your parents’ instructions. Then in college you waste your free time. Then you start a corporate life. Then you have kids. What happened to ME time? Around the world travel is the ultimate ME time. At its worst, around the world travel is the ultimate a selfish activity. There's nothing wrong with selfishness, there’s nothing wrong with ME time, but don't trick or convince yourself that travel has substance. Don’t convince yourself that your travel is making the world a better place.
There's a snobbery about travel, starting with the whole “travelers versus tourists” debate, that extends to other facets of life. Somehow sports and possessions are not worthwhile pursuits, there’s a perception that a career can't be rewarding...if football is just a sport, if a career is just a job…then guess what? Around the world travel is just a vacation. It doesn't belong on a pedestal rising over other pursuits or passions. You are not answering a higher calling in life.
It is fantastic waking up every day with no set agenda and doing what you want to do. There is nothing wrong with ME time. But acknowledge that living a life of leisure in countries where people earn less than $2 a day is selfish. Acknowledge spending more on beer in a night than what people earn in a week is obnoxious. ME time is fine in small doses. It’s questionable as a permanent pursuit.
You shouldn’t travel around the world because it may destroy the mystique of travel. Moderation. Moderation. Moderation. Don’t destroy what you love by taking it to an extreme. Since returning I’ve become indifferent to international travel. I don’t view travel as a positive. Or a negative. I have no opinion of travel. I traveled for so long that travel became ordinary.
You shouldn’t travel around the world because the world is in your backyard. I have yet to read an article promoting travel that couldn’t be accomplished in a weekend trip in America. Or even a Saturday morning trip. Or even a stop on your way home from work trip. If you live in a city, head to the country. Go upstate. Or vice versa. If you are trying to further your understanding of others, talk to your neighbor. Maybe they didn’t live through the Khmer Rouge, but their experience is unique.
There’s an assumption that what looks like you is similar. It is…and it isn’t. And conversely, what doesn’t look like you is different. It is…and it isn’t. Everyone is the same. Everyone is unique. Every location is the same. Every location is unique. The mind sees what it wants. If you want to see the same, you’ll see the same. If you want to see the unique, you’ll see the unique. If you want to see the same and the unique, you’ll see the same and unique. With a certain mindset you’ll find a new experience waiting for you around the corner, not around the world.
You shouldn’t travel around the world because there is nothing out there. There are no answers out there. Nobody found the secret to life. Go to the Bodhi Tree, where the Buddha attained enlightenment, where a bunch of backpackers hang out at sunset. Go to the birthplace of Jesus, where tour guides fight for position. Go to Slab City, where people live off the grid and visitors take Instagram photos. People find life plans that work for them. They evangelize that their findings will work for you. They may or may not.
When I read blogs that listed reasons why you shouldn’t travel around the world, they fell into one of two categories—either the tongue-in-cheek (you don’t like eating bugs) or the dispelling-the-myth (it’s too expensive) variety. This is not one of those varieties. This is straight up: why you shouldn’t travel around the world…
You shouldn’t travel around the world to fill a void in your life. Many twenty-five-year-olds don’t like their jobs. College teaches us how to be a CEO. You are taught how to manage people and develop business plans. Our first jobs are data entry. You graduate, look around, and see only a pile of debt. Rent costs too much. You will never own a home. Health care costs too much. It’s a miserable start to adulthood.
Don’t sell your career goals short. There is little rhyme or reason as to why certain people achieve success or receive promotions earlier than others. You can plan. You can work hard. There are elements you can’t control. Be comfortable with lacking control. You will be discouraged. You will be disillusioned. Stay focused. Have confidence that over the long term, if you are honest, if you treat people with respect, if you remain committed to learning, and if you are motivated to be better every day, you will be successful.
In the interim, people search for instant gratification to end their misery. Travel is instant gratification. Around the world travel is instant gratification week after week after week. Until it isn’t. At a certain point the instant gratification fulfillment dissipates. If you are unhappy with your life, travel offers a quick fix. If you are searching for purpose in your life, around the world travel is not that purpose.
Travel instant gratification lacks substance. Your experiences in other countries aren’t the locals’ standard. Locals’ daily lives are not a vacation. Many Indians have not seen the Taj Mahal. Many Cambodians have not seen Angkor Wat. Many Kenyans have not seen a lion on a safari. And yet they lead adventurous and fulfilling lives. Talk to a Cambodian who lived through the Khmer Rouge regime. Their perspective on life appreciates the subtle wonder of the present while never forgetting the past. People all over the world challenge and test themselves. Visiting Angkor Wat to attain fulfillment in life, to fill a void, to escape the doldrums of a working life…it borders on the absurd.
You shouldn’t travel around the world because it’s an incredibly selfish activity. The first years in your life you follow your parents’ instructions. Then in college you waste your free time. Then you start a corporate life. Then you have kids. What happened to ME time? Around the world travel is the ultimate ME time. At its worst, around the world travel is the ultimate a selfish activity. There's nothing wrong with selfishness, there’s nothing wrong with ME time, but don't trick or convince yourself that travel has substance. Don’t convince yourself that your travel is making the world a better place.
There's a snobbery about travel, starting with the whole “travelers versus tourists” debate, that extends to other facets of life. Somehow sports and possessions are not worthwhile pursuits, there’s a perception that a career can't be rewarding...if football is just a sport, if a career is just a job…then guess what? Around the world travel is just a vacation. It doesn't belong on a pedestal rising over other pursuits or passions. You are not answering a higher calling in life.
It is fantastic waking up every day with no set agenda and doing what you want to do. There is nothing wrong with ME time. But acknowledge that living a life of leisure in countries where people earn less than $2 a day is selfish. Acknowledge spending more on beer in a night than what people earn in a week is obnoxious. ME time is fine in small doses. It’s questionable as a permanent pursuit.
You shouldn’t travel around the world because it may destroy the mystique of travel. Moderation. Moderation. Moderation. Don’t destroy what you love by taking it to an extreme. Since returning I’ve become indifferent to international travel. I don’t view travel as a positive. Or a negative. I have no opinion of travel. I traveled for so long that travel became ordinary.
You shouldn’t travel around the world because the world is in your backyard. I have yet to read an article promoting travel that couldn’t be accomplished in a weekend trip in America. Or even a Saturday morning trip. Or even a stop on your way home from work trip. If you live in a city, head to the country. Go upstate. Or vice versa. If you are trying to further your understanding of others, talk to your neighbor. Maybe they didn’t live through the Khmer Rouge, but their experience is unique.
There’s an assumption that what looks like you is similar. It is…and it isn’t. And conversely, what doesn’t look like you is different. It is…and it isn’t. Everyone is the same. Everyone is unique. Every location is the same. Every location is unique. The mind sees what it wants. If you want to see the same, you’ll see the same. If you want to see the unique, you’ll see the unique. If you want to see the same and the unique, you’ll see the same and unique. With a certain mindset you’ll find a new experience waiting for you around the corner, not around the world.
You shouldn’t travel around the world because there is nothing out there. There are no answers out there. Nobody found the secret to life. Go to the Bodhi Tree, where the Buddha attained enlightenment, where a bunch of backpackers hang out at sunset. Go to the birthplace of Jesus, where tour guides fight for position. Go to Slab City, where people live off the grid and visitors take Instagram photos. People find life plans that work for them. They evangelize that their findings will work for you. They may or may not.
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I was an Anthony Bourdain disciple. Where he went, I went. Where he ate, I ate. I visited Ping Kee which was featured in a Hong Kong episode of No Reservations. Prior to visiting the restaurant, the No Reservations camera crew filmed at the chef's home as he prepared the noodles from scratch. The scene of the old man bouncing on a bamboo stick to mix the ingredients and spread the noodles flat isn't simply one of the best No Reservations clips, it’s one of the best media clips, period. The scene captures a cultural moment that will soon be lost to modernization. I visited Ping Kee and saw the chef. In that moment, I realized the most inspiring thing about Anthony Bourdain wasn’t Anthony Bourdain. It wasn’t the food he ate. It wasn’t the locations he visited. It was the people he met. Every show had a new cast of characters engaged in a story-telling-worth activity. The rotating cast was the inspiration. Behind the stall at Ping Kee stood a man looked worn down and yet he rose every day to preserve his heritage. That’s inspiring.
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Ping Kee noodle man in action
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Bourdain as the host was the least inspiring person, yet he’s the one inspiring people to travel beyond their neighborhood for a local experience. That’s backwards. The inspiration isn’t the traveler capturing the images, it’s the people creating the images worth capturing.
While traveling around the world you aren’t contributing to world improvement. You aren’t moving society forward. The people you see every day during your travels are the ones making the contributions and creating a better world.
These thoughts will make more sense after you travel around the world.
While traveling around the world you aren’t contributing to world improvement. You aren’t moving society forward. The people you see every day during your travels are the ones making the contributions and creating a better world.
These thoughts will make more sense after you travel around the world.