Do you regret not travelling?

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Spoken like someone who has never been travelling.

I think you'll find i've travelled a lot more than you and what does it even matter?

I've never met anyone who travelled properly for a decent length of time and didn't find it to be a brilliant experience.

Define 'brilliant experience'

Yeah, it's great to swan off to Thailand, hit the beaches, hit the Full Moon party, ride some elephants, have some Thai food, hit Bangkok but this isn't what i'd call a meaningful travelling experience. You can do everything in Thailand without even speaking a word of Thai. You learn nothing of any relevance or meaning about Thai culture, values, beliefs etc which is the main reason for travelling to a different place. Learning all this is what really makes it a brilliant experience which really does broaden your horizons.

Original post by ruperts

Except that youre not. If you've missed opportunities to go travelling and don't regret it, you should, because you've missed out.

How is anyone missing out because they don't travel? That's just arrogant and self-conceited.

My grandmother never travelled outside of England and she was full of more stories and experience than a 25 year old drop-out, travelling around exotic places could ever enthrall me with.

Travelling doesn't make you a better person, it's the people you meet, the people who live there who can offer you a different view of the world through their culture.

Stay with a family in the country for a year, learn the language, do their jobs and everything else and then come back to me with a brilliant experience. If you're just hitting those beaches, the cool party towns, never get off the traveller path and staying with Westerners then you've missed the true point of travelling and you should regret it.

Reply 21

Joanna-Marie :)

Original post by Anni19

Yeah, the only thing standing in the way of me and my partner going travelling is money :frown:

He doesn't earn that much and he is terrible at saving haha!

I'm sure you can convince your parents - especially if you've travelled alone before! Where abouts have you been travelling before?

Money is the only thing getting in most people's way isn't it! Life would be so much simpler without it :P aha

I've never been totally solo travelling before - always with a least 1 friends but I'm always the lead traveller and the one that does all the planning, booking, organising and generally looking out for when we are there .. I'm like an adult-minder :wink:

I've been various places, home and abroad; Around the UK, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Eygpt, Jamaica, Mexico, Belgium, Netherlands to name a few ..
How about you?

Reply 22

Et Tu, Brute?

Original post by TheMuppet

There is a difference between travelling/tourism and living somewhere.

I was lucky enough to work in South Africa for 4 months between 3rd and 4th year at uni. Loved the experience. I prefer to go and stay in places for a few weeks at a time rather than just be a tourist but work restricts how often I can do that (but work also allows some long trips round the world too).

I recommend living somewhere completely different for part of your life.

I agree and disagree with this. To be honest I'm not 100% certain what you mean.

I agree that there is obviously a huge difference in living somewhere and going there for a week.

But I disagree that there is a huge difference in travelling and living there, particularly given that you didn't specify for how long. I mean I don't see there difference in someone living in a country for 4 months and someone travelling around the country for 4 months. I suppose you could say you don't get as good a feel for the culture as you don't 'live like the locals'. However I find that long term travelling (longer than a month) forces people to live more like locals as money generally becomes an issue after 4 weeks.

Another thing is not everyone will travel for the sake of it, that is to say they would go there to see the country, see the touristy things, relax, party and whatever other activities that might interest them. However often people will go abroad for specific reasons. For example climbing, surfing etc. Usually it is extreme sports, but not always, could be wine tasting or anything really. I'm heading to North America in the summer for one reason and one reason only, to go mountain biking, BC and Alberta hosts the worlds best trails. I'll be there for 8 weeks+ and maybe only riding for about 2. The rest of the time I'll be travelling around. I wouldn't say that I am having a lesser experience than someone on a holiday visa just because I am travelling around and they are living in an apartment/hostel in a city.

I agree that living somewhere should definitely be tried at least once. But I personally prefer the back-packing style of travel over the working holiday kind.

Reply 23

ruperts

Original post by Laozi

Yeah, it's great to swan off to Thailand, hit the beaches, hit the Full Moon party, ride some elephants, have some Thai food, hit Bangkok but this isn't what i'd call a meaningful travelling experience. You can do everything in Thailand without even speaking a word of Thai. You learn nothing of any relevance or meaning about Thai culture, values, beliefs etc which is the main reason for travelling to a different place. Learning all this is what really makes it a brilliant experience which really does broaden your horizons...

If you're just hitting those beaches, the cool party towns, never get off the traveller path and staying with Westerners then you've missed the true point of travelling and you should regret it.

Totally agree mate. That's exactly what I was alluding to earlier when I said "travelled properly for a decent length of time". I don't consider a holiday in Thailand to be travelling properly. It's a holiday. A brilliant one for sure, but still just a holiday. If you've made a living there for some time then we're getting somewhere.

How is anyone missing out because they don't travel? That's just arrogant and self-conceited.

They miss out on experiencing first hand the great variety of cultures that exist on the earth. Whether they attach any importance to experiencing cultures is up to them, but for me, there are few things I enjoy more. Like I said, I've never met anyone who travelled properly for a decent length of time and didn't find it to be a brilliant experience. This leads me to believe that everybody who goes travelling values it highly, while the only people who don't value it highly are those who have never been and therefore have no real right to an opinion on the subject.

Reply 24

Joanna-Marie :)

Original post by Laozi

I think you'll find i've travelled a lot more than you and what does it even matter?

Define 'brilliant experience'

Yeah, it's great to swan off to Thailand, hit the beaches, hit the Full Moon party, ride some elephants, have some Thai food, hit Bangkok but this isn't what i'd call a meaningful travelling experience. You can do everything in Thailand without even speaking a word of Thai. You learn nothing of any relevance or meaning about Thai culture, values, beliefs etc which is the main reason for travelling to a different place. Learning all this is what really makes it a brilliant experience which really does broaden your horizons.

How is anyone missing out because they don't travel? That's just arrogant and self-conceited.

My grandmother never travelled outside of England and she was full of more stories and experience than a 25 year old drop-out, travelling around exotic places could ever enthrall me with.

Travelling doesn't make you a better person, it's the people you meet, the people who live there who can offer you a different view of the world through their culture.

Stay with a family in the country for a year, learn the language, do their jobs and everything else and then come back to me with a brilliant experience. If you're just hitting those beaches, the cool party towns, never get off the traveller path and staying with Westerners then you've missed the true point of travelling and you should regret it.

You have some valid points there. However, given that you have no idea what I may or may not have planned for a trip to Thailand you have made some very stereotypical assumptions. For instance; I have no interest in the 'Full Moon Party' - I couldn't personally think of anything worse (even if some people think it's 'fun'). I'm more interested in going there to meet the people and learn about the culture - but not in an entire year as you suggest!

ps. Who is the 25 year old drop out you are referring to?

Reply 25

rockrunride

You can never regret not having travelled because you'll always still be able to do it, unless you're dead of course, but by then you've also lost the faculty to regret.