Non-Travelers
Feb 21st, 2006, 02:30 PM
#21
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Oh Suze, let's regroup and make friends.
I wasn't being entirely joking. I do tend to look down on someone who would choose to buy a Lexus even if it means they'll die without seeing Paris. Maybe that's wrong of me, but it's honest. Smacks of materialism to me, and I'm a bit of an aging hippie, I must admit.
But pity and contempt are strong words. I probably chose them because Medea tells the Corinthian woman that she won't be pitied as "pity and contempt are twin-born." I recently taught that play, and it was on my mind
I wasn't being entirely joking. I do tend to look down on someone who would choose to buy a Lexus even if it means they'll die without seeing Paris. Maybe that's wrong of me, but it's honest. Smacks of materialism to me, and I'm a bit of an aging hippie, I must admit.
But pity and contempt are strong words. I probably chose them because Medea tells the Corinthian woman that she won't be pitied as "pity and contempt are twin-born." I recently taught that play, and it was on my mind
Feb 21st, 2006, 02:31 PM
#22
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The percentage of U.S. citizens with passports appears to be a shade above 20 percent. I know plenty of people who don't do much traveling and they are often people with different priorities in their lives. I'm not much into having lots of things, but about having experiences. For me, international travel takes me out of my everyday element and is incredibly stimulating. It makes me feel better about my life and it is an important element. I'm very conscious of the fact that factors can enter into a person's life that make such experiences difficult to have. I want to enjoy the opportunities I have while they are before me; not regret it later if circumstances change.
Other people draw their satisfaction in other ways -- or maybe they don't. But for whatever reason, many just don't seem to need the same level of excitement and diversity in their existence as I do to stay interested.
Other people draw their satisfaction in other ways -- or maybe they don't. But for whatever reason, many just don't seem to need the same level of excitement and diversity in their existence as I do to stay interested.
Feb 21st, 2006, 02:36 PM
#24
ok then- let's start over because it sounds like we are on the same side but words got in the way (oh god now you have me quoting bad pop lyrics!)
i don't know anyone who drives a Lexus all my friends love to travel, so i was having trouble seeing the point of your post in the first place, is all.
i don't know anyone who drives a Lexus all my friends love to travel, so i was having trouble seeing the point of your post in the first place, is all.
Feb 21st, 2006, 02:38 PM
#25
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Well, we never traveled because we had show dogs...and I just didn't want to leave them here in a kennel. We are trying to make up for it now...in our 70s. . I really wanted to travel but my dogs came first.
Also frankly, I know people who are just too lazy to figure out where they want to go. Let's face it, the way we travel on this board takes work and intelligence to get ready...not everyone is willing to invest that kind of time and energy.
Also frankly, I know people who are just too lazy to figure out where they want to go. Let's face it, the way we travel on this board takes work and intelligence to get ready...not everyone is willing to invest that kind of time and energy.
Feb 21st, 2006, 02:42 PM
#26
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Some people will reach really far to make themselves feel superior to others.
It's one of the ways bigotry, prejudice, and stereotyping are perpetuated.
When someone doesn't like the same things I like, it doesn't establish that they are somehow inferior to me.
Chacon à son gout
It's one of the ways bigotry, prejudice, and stereotyping are perpetuated.
When someone doesn't like the same things I like, it doesn't establish that they are somehow inferior to me.
Chacon à son gout
Feb 21st, 2006, 02:53 PM
#27
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My husband doesn't like to travel, so what? Just his interests are different from mine, this doesn't make him any better or worse as a person.
If you think they deserve some pity, think in reverse: they think you deserve it!
Vive la difference
And let them stay at home so Europe doesn't get as crowded
If you think they deserve some pity, think in reverse: they think you deserve it!
Vive la difference
And let them stay at home so Europe doesn't get as crowded
Feb 21st, 2006, 02:54 PM
#28
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My parents are both non-travelers. Well, they were until I made it so that being my parent meant traveling to see me. And I do not insist on it. I come home quite a bit, but I know how to get their curiosity going and they take the bait.
My mother is pretty much what Guy described in the first post. Her idea of what is fun and interesting does not involve leaving the country or oftentimes even the home.
It is funny because the only travel I did as a child (age 0-17) was to visit my grandparents in Oklahoma, fly to Minnesota each summer for a month of camp, and 1 trip to Disney World. Oh! And travel for regional/state/national orchestras, but those consisted of lots of rehearsing and very little seeing. Anyways, I was a happy kid.
My mother, on the other hand, traveled extensively as a child (in the US), taking 2 month-long car trips with my grandmother and neighbors and visiting pretty much everything. But, when given the chance to go to boarding school in Lausanne, Switzerland, she said "no. I want to stay right here in rural Oklahoma." And stay she did. It is how she is wired. And she is actually one of the most open-minded people I know.
Claire
My mother is pretty much what Guy described in the first post. Her idea of what is fun and interesting does not involve leaving the country or oftentimes even the home.
It is funny because the only travel I did as a child (age 0-17) was to visit my grandparents in Oklahoma, fly to Minnesota each summer for a month of camp, and 1 trip to Disney World. Oh! And travel for regional/state/national orchestras, but those consisted of lots of rehearsing and very little seeing. Anyways, I was a happy kid.
My mother, on the other hand, traveled extensively as a child (in the US), taking 2 month-long car trips with my grandmother and neighbors and visiting pretty much everything. But, when given the chance to go to boarding school in Lausanne, Switzerland, she said "no. I want to stay right here in rural Oklahoma." And stay she did. It is how she is wired. And she is actually one of the most open-minded people I know.
Claire
Feb 21st, 2006, 03:02 PM
#29
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loisco--I totally understand. My dog is the only reason I don't travel more. I can't bare to be away from him for more than 10 days. Luckily, he has a "grandmother" who is willing to take him when I'm away.
Feb 21st, 2006, 03:44 PM
#31
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Despite all the hostility, this post brings up a really interesting point. My husband never caught the travel bug -- he wouldn't mind spending every vacation at the Jersey shore. Meanwhile, I have a six-foot world map in my office and I'm constantly coming up with new places to add to my dream-vacay list. He tags along on our trips and usually loves it, but he just doesn't have an ounce of inherent wanderlust.
It's just, as other posters said, different strokes. Given $30,000, some people want to buy a Lexus. I'd rather keep my '94 Escort and take a world cruise. My husband would buy a milling machine and reinvent the wheel. I think my pick is the best, but that's only because it's MY pick
It's like the classic SAT problem -- if some people stay home because they're close-minded, does that mean everyone who stays home is close-minded? I doubt it.
It's just, as other posters said, different strokes. Given $30,000, some people want to buy a Lexus. I'd rather keep my '94 Escort and take a world cruise. My husband would buy a milling machine and reinvent the wheel. I think my pick is the best, but that's only because it's MY pick
It's like the classic SAT problem -- if some people stay home because they're close-minded, does that mean everyone who stays home is close-minded? I doubt it.
Feb 21st, 2006, 04:19 PM
#32
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Travel is SUPPOSED to broaden the mind, which SHOULD, in my mind, result in being less judgemental of others.
I don’t think it is fair or accurate to assume that those who do not travel do so in order to spend their money on fast cars and mink coats. I know lots of terribly interesting people who don’t travel much, but are extraordinary well-read, intelligent and fascinating company. I also know people who travel a lot, see Paris regularly, and are boring pompous farts who have improved little from the experience.
To each his own, as Muckey said, and thank the Gods for that.
I don’t think it is fair or accurate to assume that those who do not travel do so in order to spend their money on fast cars and mink coats. I know lots of terribly interesting people who don’t travel much, but are extraordinary well-read, intelligent and fascinating company. I also know people who travel a lot, see Paris regularly, and are boring pompous farts who have improved little from the experience.
To each his own, as Muckey said, and thank the Gods for that.
Feb 21st, 2006, 04:31 PM
#33
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While I heartily enjoy traveling I don't see how it makes me a better person than my friends who devote all their spare time and/or funds to the pursuits they enjoy, be it community theater, participating in chess tournements or just staying home curled up with a good book.
And I fear that it makes me a considerably less of a good person than other friends who devote all their time, spare cash and emotional energy to helping the poor thru a food bank, volunteering at an AIDS hospice or acting as advocates for abused children.
Living, as I do, in a glass house, I do my best to avoid throwing stones.
And I fear that it makes me a considerably less of a good person than other friends who devote all their time, spare cash and emotional energy to helping the poor thru a food bank, volunteering at an AIDS hospice or acting as advocates for abused children.
Living, as I do, in a glass house, I do my best to avoid throwing stones.
Feb 21st, 2006, 04:49 PM
#36
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As long as a person has a genuine interest in <i>something</i>, then I have no real interest in changing their minds.
As much as I'd like to give myself a big pat on the back for picking the "right" area of interest, I can't honestly say I contribute more to the well being of the world than someone who is into investments, improving shareware code, riding horses or whatever.
Personally, I'm sort of glad I don't have to compete for plane space with the billions of non-travelers. Can't say that I see any reason for pity, except for those that have no choices. Let's make that sympathy. And contempt? Wow, I hope not. Holding others in contempt for simple choices that don't involve horrors against man or beast has just never even occurred to me. Feel lucky to be able to travel, luckier still not to be worried about what other people are doing.
Feb 21st, 2006, 05:58 PM
#37
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I had a similar conversation with my young niece the other day, who asked why I was going on another trip, and why didn't her family go? I pointed out that some people had different prioroties...some like big houses or cars, some liked to have season tickets to sporting events, some spent their money on things like tuition and such for their kids That everyone had different interests; mine was to travel, so I was willing to spend my discretionary funds on travel (not having kids certainly makes that easier!) She asked when she could go to Europe...my stock answer, when you have a job and save enough money to go! Most of my friends don't care to travel the way I do, but I certainly don't pity them!!
Anne
That everyone had different interests; mine was to travel, so I was willing to spend my discretionary funds on travel (not having kids certainly makes that easier!) She asked when she could go to Europe...my stock answer, when you have a job and save enough money to go! Most of my friends don't care to travel the way I do, but I certainly don't pity them!!Anne
Feb 21st, 2006, 06:54 PM
#38
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I agree that contact with people from different cultures (or getting out of one's comfort zone) can widen or deepen one's view of the world and be a life-changing experience, and I worry about individuals with parochial attitudes (and I don't think it judgmental to point out that parochial attitudes can have negative ethical and political results). Unfortunately, I don't think travel is always the way to guarantee increased understanding. For example, I've known women whose idea of travel consists of the semi-annual shopping trip to Paris - I think they would have a more broadening experience if they spent a few hours at their local Walmart! Or a woman who once said that she had much more to say to a colleague in the Czech Republic than she did to someone who lived in a particular neighborhood in our town (an area dominated by Mexicans and Mexican-Americans). In that case a visit to the Czech Republic would probably not entail "leaving her country," as Guy18 initially suggested. In fact, I can go all over the world, from conference to conference, and even though I've left my country I've not left my (dis)comfort zone - at all.
Feb 21st, 2006, 08:17 PM
#39
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The problem is that for every stick-in-the-mud or cruise ship passenger I might sneer at, there's someone else pitying me because I don't plan to hike through the Golden Triangle or backpack through the Horn of Africa.
Whatever my head tells me, though, who wouldn't take the opportunity to feel superior to the guided-tour brigade (and no, we don't mention that tour we took in Indochina) while dismissing the hikers as a bunch of hairy-legged vegetarian masochistic cranks? I hope my brother-in-law isn't reading this.
My head also tells me that there's no real point in pitying the stay-at-homes, because their instincts are probably right - they just wouldn't like having to deal with foreign cultures, especially the untidier ones. Why should they inflict (expensive) pain on themselves?
Actually, I know very few people who can afford to travel overseas and haven't, even if it's just a Pacific Islands cruise or a week in Bali. New Zealand doesn't count, though.
Whatever my head tells me, though, who wouldn't take the opportunity to feel superior to the guided-tour brigade (and no, we don't mention that tour we took in Indochina) while dismissing the hikers as a bunch of hairy-legged vegetarian masochistic cranks? I hope my brother-in-law isn't reading this.
My head also tells me that there's no real point in pitying the stay-at-homes, because their instincts are probably right - they just wouldn't like having to deal with foreign cultures, especially the untidier ones. Why should they inflict (expensive) pain on themselves?
Actually, I know very few people who can afford to travel overseas and haven't, even if it's just a Pacific Islands cruise or a week in Bali. New Zealand doesn't count, though.
