61–70 of 76 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How am I going to change the world doing that? By planting seeds that you have no other way of getting into your brain. You can reap the (currently unknown) harvest later.
Not saying you are wrong, but could you give some examples? There are always zillions of options in life - to choose one, a little more than "currently unknown" would be nice? Is traveling better than working on a startup?
Stop comparing. Do both, do neither. During the dotcom craze, I "traveled" to a foreign country and worked at a startup. The experiences were very rewarding. Your mileage may vary.
Advising people to travel is a bit like giving advice to learn Lisp. And, I know that hearing "well you just don't get it unless you do it" is not very helpful. But, I am learning Lisp anyways.
As Krishnamurti says, "Don't do what I do."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not saying you are wrong, but could you give some examples? There are always zillions of options in life - to choose one, a little more than "currently unknown" would be nice? Is traveling better than working on a startup?
This is one of those things that is incredibly difficult to explain to people that haven't done it, while the people who have, instantly get what you're talking about. I disagree with the author that you shouldn't just travel, but you should actually live in different places. You hardly learn anything from staying in a place for a few days but you learn much more if you stay in a place for at least a few months. Livi…
True. On the other hand, who can honestly say that he has exhausted all possible ways to challenge oneself at home?
Meh. Travel is overrated. The chances of you actually learning anything of substance by running around from one exotic country to another are very slim indeed. Staying in another country for a substantial amount of time, on the other hand, is of course an entirely different matter but travelling for the sake of travelling, while pleasurable in and of itself, does not teach you anything you couldn't have learned from…
It was the best experience of my life.
I was hugely nervous about doing it, but it was something I had always thought about doing. Naively I didn't expect to learn much, just that I'd have an interesting time, but I ended up learning a lot about myself (on top of everything that I learned about the countries I traveled through.) Long term travel gives you the luxury of distance and time to think clearly, something you do not have very often in life. On returning I've readjusted my priorities and I think I know better now what really makes me happy. I hope that everyone gets a chance to do something like this. It is a luxury (although it really doesn't cost as much as you'd think), but an amazing one that is well worth it.
I also have some excellent stories :) Let me tell you about the desert in North Sudan...
Meh. Travel is overrated. The chances of you actually learning anything of substance by running around from one exotic country to another are very slim indeed. Staying in another country for a substantial amount of time, on the other hand, is of course an entirely different matter but travelling for the sake of travelling, while pleasurable in and of itself, does not teach you anything you couldn't have learned from…
Double Meh. Traveling is definitely overrated. Nonconformity != Traveling. The perks of travelling just to "see" new places is novel, but gets old fast. If you've travelled a lot, you get to see the hoards of backpackers and tourists that swarm to the usual (and usual unusual) destinations, and it starts to get lame, fast. And I'd agree mtts that you don't "learn" much about just visiting a country. Sure, you may "se…
I have plans in place to do exactly this beginning of next year. But let me clarify: I plan to backpack, living on the bare minimum and traveling mostly by foot and train and using a plane only when absolutely necessary (like when I visit my parents). It's possible to travel and live in many countries around the world for How will I pay for it? Well, the little on-the-side web hosting company I started 5 years ago, w…
Definitely go for it. FYI, my monthly expenses while living in a city outside Shanghai was about $400 per month. I think $300 would be pushing it in a lot of places. I would budget $500 just to be safe and to not have to restrict your lifestyle that much.
Meh. Travel is overrated. The chances of you actually learning anything of substance by running around from one exotic country to another are very slim indeed. Staying in another country for a substantial amount of time, on the other hand, is of course an entirely different matter but travelling for the sake of travelling, while pleasurable in and of itself, does not teach you anything you couldn't have learned from…
* "I like staying at home." - This is another way of saying, "I'm afraid of change and different experiences."* Bullshit. I find travel very stressful, and none of it is due to fear of change and different experiences. It comes from living out of a suitcase, having to re-buy all the toiletries and crap I have at home but forgot to bring, and being away from my wife and dogs who I enjoy spending time with. Just rememb…
Every trip abroad has one week of suck at the beginning and one week of suck at the end. You need to acclimate & buy toothbrushes when you get there, and you need to stress a bit about the real world before you come back. That's a given.
So given that, if all you ever do is little 2-3 week trips then pretty much all your time abroad is smack in the middle of that suck zone.
Imagine, however, that you went away for 9 months. Now that little bit of suck that you describe is relegated to a noise at the ends. In the middle lies the good part. And it really is that good.
Sounds like you've never actually committed, so you've never reaped the rewards. Give it a try sometime and report back!