There is so much talk about how we love to travel, and how traveling is money well spent etc. But, for every 1 person that travels there are probably 4 that don’t..I wonder why? Is it just not something they are into?
And, I’m not even talking about long term travel here, for months at a time, I haven’t even done that myself yet, I’m just talking about getting up and going — seeing places. All I’m saying is, people, there are options out there — to suit every type of person, and take it from anyone who has the bug — it is worth it, much more than the L’oreal or SKII splurge your or your better half will make sometime in their life.
Observing people I know, some of the reasons why I think people don’t travel are..
1) Money: This is a big one. No matter how cheaply you do it, it still costs money to travel. And let’s face it, there’s only so cheap some of us will go. Not everyone has millions of points floating around to use for flights and hotels, and not all of us are willing to backpack it around in hostels. So, for the normal folks, it costs money to book that flight and the average $100/night hotels. Then of course there is the internal travel, food, maybe some shopping, sightseeing to take care of. But, again there are options there for every budget. There are bus or train trips one can do closer to home, heck even a hiking and camping trip!
2) Kids (or pets): There are only so many places you can go depending on how old your kids are. How many people would be willing to lug their child up a trek to Machu Picchu? At that point, sitting around on a beach for a week may sound more enticing. Or even a B&B that one can drive to with a stroller, diaper bag and all the goodies packed away safely in the trunk. Again, there are places you can still go to.
3) Time: This one I hear about a lot but don’t get and largely don’t agree with. One finds time for the things they love to do, whether it is playing video games for hours, or an entire weekend spent getting to a hangover and then nursing it, or 2 hours spent knitting on the train everyday (nothing wrong with it, but I’m just not one of those people).
4) Visas: This may not be obvious to many people who don’t need visas to travel in most countries. I must say that this has not been a deterrent for us thankfully but can imagine the pain residents of some countries have to go through to plan travel. There was one occasion recently when we were traveling to Brazil when we had to go into NYC to drop off our passports and documents to obtain a tourist visa (we could collect by post but had to drop off the application in person — not cool). For many, this could be a botheration and just not worth the effort. I know a couple from India who wanted to go to Barbados for their honeymoon, but would have to go out of the country to obtain a visa! Umm yes, Barbados was not where they went for their honeymoon eventually.
5) Comfort Zone: Some people like their day to day lives, their routine, their coffee mug, pillow and the comfort of their couch. Getting out there, getting lost, figuring things out, a different language and food they may not like is not something they want to get into. Fair enough, but there’s got to be someplace that’s not too weird for you where you could go?
6) Career: Certain folks are so focussed on their careers that taking a break is inconceivable for them. In America, most workplaces only offer about 2 weeks of paid leave. In my very humble opinion that is just not enough to switch off, relax and detox from the work life. Taking 6 months off every year is obviously going to make it hard for you to remain at the top of senior management, but one should definitely be able to take more than 2 weeks off in a year to travel.
If you don’t travel, what are your reasons not to?
just zenning 