5 Reasons Why Travelling is the Worst
Travelling abroad is one of the worst things you can do. Why waste your money on an incredible experience that will only highlight how miserable your daily grind at home really is when you have to return to reality. That's why in this week's episode, I'm going to share with you 5 reasons why travelling is dumb. That's right. Dumb.
Talk to anyone about their dreams in life, and I guarantee most, if not all of them, will mention travelling. But so many people put it off. Why? Because packing and unpacking sucks. Also, what’s the point of going away somewhere warm in the winter for a week when you know you’re just going to be coming back to the winter, knowing it will feel a thousand times colder when you get back. Not to mention the crush of reality from going somewhere new where your senses are awakened only to return to the seemingly unchangeable reality of your fairly changeable life.
I’m sure we all have at least one person in our life that’s thrown caution and common sense to the wind in the name of adventure. That one friend or friend of a friend who just bought a backpack and a one-way ticket to some remote place in the world and returned with a global perspective on things and complete self-awareness… what a douche. Don’t be that jerkwad. Instead, double down on the inescapable escapable reality of your self-created stress-filled world rather than realizing your need to put your dreams and desires first.
So without further adieu here are five reasons why travelling is dumb.
1. Travelling requires money
Anywhere that’s worth travelling to is expensive, which means you have to save. Saving is for poor people. Spending money, even if it’s money you don’t have, gives you the impression that you have money. What does this have to do with travelling? Well, it means you can’t have a $7 latte every day or buy things you really don’t need. So instead of investing in your usual short-term hits of artificial happiness, you’re putting all your money into a plane ticket hoping that Thailand actually is amazing. Just so you know, a plane ticket to Thailand from the east coast will cost you over a thousand dollars, while Pad Thai with delivery runs around $20.
Why not just close your eyes and envision yourself somewhere else? Paris is technically far away unless you use Google street view all you have to do then is merely imagine yourself strolling the Champs de Elysees as you click your mouse. To add more legitimacy to your stay-cation, throw on a beret, pour a glass of merlot, put on a Parisian café playlist from Spotify, and take a selfie of you in front of your computer screen. Et voila. You just went to Paris. FYI, you can also find this podcast on Spotify. You’re welcome.
2. Travelling means, you won’t live forever
You can either live with the belief that you’re going to live forever so Australia can wait. Or you’ll wake up one day and realize you’re not getting any younger and you still haven’t hugged a Kola! One, will keep the safe, soothing veil of denial over your eyes for the entirety of your very plausible immortal life, while the other will force you to realize you’re actually sadly mortal and you’re going die one day. Talk about a downer for you fear driven trip to the land down under. That Kola better be a therapy Kola to help you ignore the growing stench of death on you.
3. Travelling forces you to appreciate what you already have
There are very few things in this world worse than perspective. Perspective is a reality buzzkill. For instance, say you travel to a place in the world that isn’t a first world nation. When you’re confronted with an extreme level of poverty as well as a lack of basic comforts and amenities that we take for granted in our western lives forces you to annoyingly take stock of what you actually have and how lucky you really are. I made that mistake when I travelled to Nicaragua. I had never seen or experienced that level of poverty before in my life, and confusingly enough, the Nicaraguan people were some of the happiest and most giving people I’ve ever met in my life. Despite houses made of repurposed sheet metal, rampant unemployment, and no running water or running water you couldn’t drink, they still found a way to smile. To be fair though, they’ve never had to live the nightmare of trying to connect to the free WIFI in a Starbucks.
These experiences can force you into realizing maybe things in your life aren’t so bad, and perhaps you do have the opportunities to be who you want to be even though many in the world don’t have that same option. The culprit in all of this, once again, is perspective, and all of this could have been avoided if you just listened to your comfort zone and never got your problematic passport in the first place. That’s on you, and you’ll have to live with that.
4. Travelling broadens your understanding of the world
Living in a bubble of your own creation is fantastic. No need for facts or reality to counter the false narratives you’ve created about yourself or someone else. That’s why travelling is problematic. It makes you see other people, cultures, and countries as they truly are instead of what our stereotypes have safely labelled them as. Even if you’re simply going somewhere boring like Canada, it can have a massive impact on how you see the world.
5. Travelling proves you can achieve your dreams
You wanted to travel, and you did. Congratulations, now you’re stuck with the travel bug. That itch will never go away. No matter how much mediocrity ointment you use, you’ll forever be itching for that next getaway or adventure. Not only that but you’ve proven you can achieve something you want, which means you now have positive goal achieving proof to counter the negative narratives you’ve wisely created to keep you safe in your comfort zone. You have proven you can, and now that memory will help fuel your self-confidence leading you to accomplish some other stupid goal or dream.
Worst of all, once you prove that you can accomplish something you can no longer play the victim card because others will point out that you can have what you want. If this sounds far-fetched to you, that’s great, it means you’re not ready to take a risk on trying something you’ve always wanted to do, so keep playing that victim card. However, if you do know this feeling your life is forever screwed by your selfish need to push, grow, and challenge yourself while travelling the world. It’s a fate worse than death, which is a fate you could have avoided if hadn’t turned your back on your fake immortality but save your crying for your therapy Kola, loser.