By Dear People,
Millennials are obsessed with travelling.
They fill themselves up with wanderlust by ogling at beautiful places that pop up on their Instagram feed. They create travel bucket lists on Pinterest. They constantly check for cheap airfares on the Internet. They save up religiously for their next big vacation. And they do all this because they’ve somehow managed to convince themselves that travelling is a necessary investment in themselves.
Quotes like ‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page’ justify their choices to travel. They travel to faraway lands in order to find themselves (whatever that means) and become better people. They brag to others that travelling has broadened their minds and opened up their perspective on life. They immerse themselves in foreign cultures in order to experience a more enriching life. In short, travelling is no longer deemed a luxury, it has become somewhat of a necessity for millennials. And because of that, I seem to be the only millennial who thinks travelling is super over-rated.
The truth of the matter is, millenials need to stop kidding themselves. Travelling can be enlightening yes, but not in the way most millenials are travelling. The way most millenials travel is merely just a form of hedonistic escapism.
I never quite understood what people meant whenever he or she proclaims that they are travelling to ‘find themselves’. Honestly, how does one even find themselves? The person you eventually turn out to be is heavily shaped by all of your accumulated life experiences. Travelling is not going to make you any closer to finding yourself because there is no self to be found. Travelling will merely give you a different set of life experiences that may or may not play a factor in determining the person you eventually turn out to be. So seriously, people need to stop making such ridiculous statements. You don’t sound deep, you just sound silly.
There is also nothing immersive or life-changing in the way most millenials are travelling. Millenials are too busy trying to take the perfect photo to post on Instagram to actually soak up the foreign culture. Travelling for most people isn’t some sort of journey towards self-enlightenment. It’s more of a form of hedonistic escapism. We don’t travel to broaden our minds or experience foreign cultures. We travel to escape our mundane lives, to run away from the harsh realities of our responsibilities. We don’t live through profound experiences in our travels; we merely indulge in hedonistic pursuits ranging from eating at fancy overpriced restaurants to partying with foreign lustful strangers. We don’t even actually truly explore, since we depend on urbanspoon and tripadvisor to determine our itinerary.
So while there is nothing wrong with travelling, people who travel extensively need to get off their high horses and stop acting like their travel experiences somehow make them superior to others. Because honestly, travelling is overrated, just like how most of the touristy spots that you’ve visited overseas are.
So millennials, maybe it is time to stop investing in yourself and maybe start investing in a house.
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I am so glad I am not the only one who thinks like that. Lol
I second this! As much fun as it can be to travel, when you’re going to a party island or shopping holiday, it’s not going to change your life. I find it interesting to travel and really experience other cultures and day to day living as opposed to being a ‘tourist’. (not that I do much traveling to be honest).
Glad I’m not the only one who feels this way 🙂
Travelling is the MOST OVERRATED activity invented by, yes, I will say this, EUROPEANS!
Travelling is a pastime invented by Whites. Non-whites (90% of them) have no concept of travel. We have no history of travel. We do it only because the Whites do it, and, imitate them like monkeys.
I will tell tell you what REALLY happens when Euros travel:
They go to shitholes like India. When they see the absolute squalor, filth, backwardness and filthy surroundings, they feel really good, knowing that they are not like these backward filthy people. They feel how lucky they are. How, yes, SUPERIOR they are. I once saw on a Discovery channel program, an American girl got so upset at seeing the filth in India, she immediately phoned her mother in the states to say she “loves her”. She was completely overwhelmed by the filth.
It is obvious that this is the main “KICK” that Europeans get when they travel, especially to third world countries. I would not call it racism. It’s White Supremacism, without racism. Yes, White Supremacism can EXIST without White racism.
PS: I am not a racist, I am a race-realist.
Enlighten = give (someone) greater knowledge and understanding about a subject or situation.
When Whites say they get “enlightened” when they travel, that they “learn” from other cultures, what they actually mean is that they get to know how shitty the life people in the countries they travel to. I mean non-White 3rd world countries. How superior we Whites are with respect to the locals. That is the “greater knowledge” they acquire. Then they realize that the grass is actually not greener on the other side after all. Then they can’t wait to get back “home”. Unable to tell the truth to their friends, that they wasted thousands of hard-earned (I assume) dollars on a wasteful trip, they bullshit left right and center and give “lectures” on how great travelling is. But deep down inside they KNOW it’s all BS.
Here is an example: Here is a couple who featured on the CNN front page for confessing that in real life, travelling really sucks. http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/11/travel/nomadasaurus-bloggers-couple-relationship-troubles/index.html
Check out this photo from their Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/p/30P0I0OlpH/?taken-by=nomadasaurus
Look at the comments.
How can these people say that they “loved” this place? It’s a group of primitive people, without any modern amenity living (in mud huts) a very bleak existence. The ONLY reason for Euros to “love” this place is the feeling of how “superior” they are to these primitive people. I can’t think of any reason. Remember, these people did not invite the tourists. The tourists went their on their own.
Wasantha, I get what you are saying, but have to say that as a white European (at the time of my travels far more naive than now) you do not have the full picture. What you say is true of some people, yes. But I was humbled by my own experiences and lucky to meet the people I did. Not because their lives were more impoverished. I never, EVER felt ‘superior’ to the people I met. I travelled at a time when mobile phones were unusual and social media nonexistent. Even at the time I was aware of what a privilege it was to travel and experience those places. I have never forgotten them and decades later still think about the people I met. It is unlikely they got much from me; cliche it might be, but I learned a lot from them. Sometimes they were hard lessons too, which is the whole point – travel should not be a bed of roses. I think you are rightly incensed that some travellers do not accept the hard lessons involved in travelling. Those lessons are every bit as valuable as a pretty selfie.
I don’t travel much now due to budget reasons, only for necessity as my mother is abroad and cannot travel so we go to visit her. I don’t like how superficial the whole thing has become.
I’m 32 and prior to 2016 I had never been abroad and lived all my life in London with the exception of a family trip when I was 4. I think I have an interesting perspective on this.
I never got why everyone wanted to travel. We didn’t go on holidays in my family due to my parents owning their own business and claiming they couldn’t leave it for too long. At school there were various trips that I didn’t participate in due to social phobia. But really I didn’t think I was missing out on the travelling aspect. I felt I was missing out on the social aspect.
I’ve always been very interested in learning about the world through books, documentaries and web. Through learning this way I could travel to every point from just after the big bang to the heat death of the universe and everything in between. This knowledge lust has driven me throughout my life.
In 2016 I finally decided to travel to see what all the fuss was about and my conclusions didn’t change. You travel in a new city, you walk around, eat food and see buildings. It’s fun but very over-rated. I feel the same when I do the same in London ,it’s fun but I walk around see buildings and eat fancy food here too. I really relate to “An Idiot Abroad”.
One thing I did do that had a deep impact on my life was a Safari. That was pretty special. But that’s really getting away from tech and getting in touch with nature.
I don’t get the allure of travelling either, especially the “hey look at me selfie-ing at X tourist trap that has been done to death by millions of others” crowd.
If I have to travel I would rather visit off the beaten track places like my ancestral village home in China or a cargo ship trip because:
-It isn’t full of tourists.
-Experience things that I can never find as a city dweller.
Lovely write-up :))))))
I love the way you have expressed. I agree with each and every line. Its so like me my twin soul speaking to me
Go thru my blogpost on FOMO you can find it in my blog… its something similar but different… you can scroll my blogposts all are diff topics and yeah taking on the alternate perspectives on things which people rave about
I am a millennial, and I rather travel than own a house and get into debt. I rather live in an apartment! How insulting this is….why would millennials even buy a house when most of us have student loan debt??? Not every millennial is the same. Come on! Also, there are plenty of older people traveling too. You are just jealous because there is a millennial travel movement going on. Quit hating, all of you. Shame on all of you.
stw, it’s not jealousy. People on here are making fair points. If you leave aside the sniping point about buying a house, we have a thoughtful set of ideas as to why travelling is overrated (or, in my case, not what it used to be). I think it’s lovely if you can afford it and don’t mind the air travel/pollution which for me is the worst. Next worst thing: globalisation. As some people have commented, the same brands all over the world. Do I really want to fly X hours to an unlikely place, only to be confronted by Marc Jacobs and H&M when they are constantly rubbed in my face at home? Personally I think it’s great that more people are travelling these days and broadening their minds but we need to seriously consider the negative side of that. Can travellers, regardless of age, truly deal with everything a real ‘journey’ entails?
When one is younger they should explore the world. There are many places to see and things to do.
The problem is your generation is retarded and cannot think for themselves. I never knew someone to follow these stupid Instagram pages and trends, I do know very smart people who value travel, especially leaving America as Americans can be quite the stupid bunch.
And you must be young if you think buying a house is a good investment. LOL.
Once you hit my age you will see things differently, you are young and think you know it all.
Stop thinking ‘The Millennial Way’ is the only way to live as it is NOT. It is the WORST way to live.
And if you want to get into pollution and other BS why don’t you start with yourself? I am sure you eat meat. Right there you are contributing to more green houses gasses emissions than those who do travel.
You have quite a chip on your shoulder which is understandable as you are part of the worst generation in the history of mankind but seriously, you need perspective and more time on this planet to really see how shit works.
You don’t have it all figured out although you like to think you do.
Trust me. Stop thinking like a Millennial and you may end up ok.