Compared to some bumpkin who's never been more than 100 miles from home, though, you definitely have more perspective on the world.

Human variation...

Some people are cool anywhere.

Some freak out when they leave home.

Some have to leave and never come back

And some have to ping pong all over the damn place constantly.

If everyone was the same we'd never have made it anywhere close to this far.

The point is that after you've travelled yourself, you will no longer believe anyone who tries to tell you that people on the other side of the border are evil flesh eaters.

Maybe you wouldn't have believed this before either, in which case travelling wasn't as transformative for you as it has been for others, but that's the primary reason.

Yeah, I’m kind of with you and people are very snobbish about where one travels to. In my mind where you travel to, should only be where you enjoy going.

Two very dear friends of mine love doing Disney… I don’t get it, but I accept that they love it..

Me, I love going to New York City. I take a train. I get off the train at Madison Square Garden jump on the subway drop my shit off at the hotel and then I have the most powerful amazing city in the world to play in.

I’m an indoorsy kind of guy

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

I think there's people who look at 'traveller' as an identity, much like a lot of folks do with other interests. I'd argue there's some classism involved as well, as travel is a status symbol. However, there's also the (frankly true) idea that travel can broaden your perspective as you meet people from different cultures living life slightly (or dramatically) differently than you do at home.

Ultimately, people who deride people with little travel experience are rude. A better approach is to encourage people who voice an interest in travel but seem uncertain. There's also something to be said about a solid knowledge and appreciation of one's own backyard and community.

The more I travel (37 countries on four continents) the more I realize everyone is the same. For me, it’s like a mini-version of the overview effect. 

Everyone has a hand wrap (pita, taco, wrap, sandwich).

Everyone has their customs that bleed into public life (religious, secular, religious-cum-secular)

Everyone has to take care of children

Everyone has a grocery store

Everyone likes to drink a hot liquid out of a mug. Everyone likes to drink a cold liquid out of a glass

Everyone has their pockets of disengaged youth who lash out at society, “normalcy” and the status quo

it’s not a weird, scary world. We are all people. We all live here. The content of my pita might be different from what’s in your taco, but it’s basically the same thing. The difference between my town and one a few kilometers away is not that much larger than one on the other side of the world. We are all people living our lives.

When air travel became available, it was super expensive, which meant that only rich people could do it. Several decades later, it became cheap enough that middle-class people could travel occasionally. Because of that history, travelling got a shimmering magic aura in our minds.

It’s what rich people do, and most people want to be like them in one way or another.

If you have read it yet, you may find The Case Against Travel interesting.

Capitalist culture creates any consumption a form of status. The more you consume, the higher your status. We see this in people buying status through Rolexes, Lamborghinis, and travelling.

There is some inherent value in traveling. It expands your horizons. It gives you new perspectives.

So it works for both capitalist and less capitalist culture.

My ADHD prevents me from sitting still for more than a few minutes, even short road trips are torturous. To add to that, my driving limit due to my disability is about 2 hours and I physically can't drive at night. I also can't sleep during the day time.

How TF people survive 12+ hour flights is a mystery to me

Some of it might depend on where you're from. I live on a Scottish island, but have travelled extensively and can't recommend it highly enough.

Me and a young guy I worked with, here in my hometown, were once out on a tech support job. We passed an old quarry and the kid said "man, that's so cool and massive". He'd literally never been anywhere, so from his perspective this shitty (and actually rather small) quarry was impressive.

Travel gives you perspective. Dismissing travel for me is like dismissing art, or learning. You're willingly limiting your lived experience and that's not, to my mind, anything to be celebrating.

As for the kid, he's currently in Vietnam on a career break. Keen to hear how the sites he's seen compare to that quarry when he gets back.

When I was more active on dating sites in my 20s, I encountered a lot of people who held up travel as this big, important thing in their lives. I recall at least one profile where a guy said, "Love of travel is a must."

At first, I was annoyed - travel takes money and time, which I don't have. Why limit potential dates in that way?

But then I realized, maybe that's the point? Someone with the leisure time and spending money can easily filter dates to just those in their socio-economic status by making frequent recreational travel a requirement. My poor ass never had a chance.

Because its about the experience.

Whatever you buy now, you won't give a shit about in 5 years time. But you will remember the experiences.