Travel Obsession

At some point in recent history it became very trendy to travel. I think, however, most of the traveling people do this days is of the performative nature. The point of travel to most people is to take photos for Instagram and be able to boast to their friends about it, so far as I can tell. I suppose there are some folks who enjoy the thrill of airports, airplanes, and hotels. For me however, spending unnecessary time in an airport, airplane, or hotel is the last thing I want to do.

I suppose I have a pet theory that in the Instagram/internet clout era, people care more about signaling status than they do about actually enjoying the things they do. I don’t necessarily think travel is all bad, but I do think tourism is lame, and tourists have ruined a lot of wonderful places. Everyone wants to travel, but nobody wants to be a tourist.

I think much of the modern obsession with travel is vapid, shallow, and not only terrible for the environment, but also for the people who live in the places that are being traveled to. I think it’s important to be mindful of the impact of our actions, and to be aware of the consequences of our decisions. I think it’s important to be a good steward of the Earth, and to be respectful of the people who live on it.

I do find myself nostalgic for a time when travel was more about exploration and not so much about tourism and getting the best selfie for your Instagram feed. It reminds me of an old post I saw on Reddit long ago, where I think someone asked the question of “How do you know when you’ve become a man?” (as in, a grown adult). The top answer, as I recall, was: “Climb a mountain. Tell no one.”. That always stuck with me for some reason, I think because it speaks to the idea of doing things for yourself, and not for others. And not only doing them for yourself, but doing them for the experience itself, not so much doing a performance for the internet points you get from it.

When I listen to people talk about their travels, they always get very excited about how they went to such-and-such place, and tried such-and-such food, or did such-and-such activity. But I also know that most of the time these experiences are underwhelming and disappointing, but I suppose the sunk cost fallacy helps them lie to themselves about how much of a great time they had being a tourist in touristville.

These days I prefer going nowhere. I really like just spending time where I am, staying within walking distance of my home, and learning to love what I’ve got. The grass will always be greener, but if you can’t be happy where you are with what you’ve got, you’ll never be happy. There’s no amount of vacation days that can fix that.