I know a guy who came back from backpacking and he just goes on and on about how it was so great and he cant wait to do more backpacking across the world. I dont get, what is so great about wondering around a foreign land all day long? Im serious, can someone tell me? Or is it not so great and does this guy have problems?
Try paying closer attention to things, for starters.
huh
I don’t like to travel. I am not a traveller by heart. However my work has required me to move around quite a bit; I don’t think it’s “so great”, it is frustrating and exhasting --but educational: not unlike getting through Phenomenology of Spirit?
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If the guy is truly ‘going on and on’ about his experience, perhaps paying closer attention to what he’s saying would answer your question. It just seems ironic that you’d have near to you what you say is an endless source of the very information you’re seeking, but are instead here asking a flock of message board strangers to explain it to you.
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Experiencing an atmosphere that is altogether foreign causes one to pay closer attention to the details of their surroundings. It’s similar to the difference between watching a movie on your 13-inch TV and going to an IMAX theater, or between going to a local little league game and attending a genuine MLB event. (If these examples don’t serve you well, I have plenty more.) The consequence of this is generally rather profound. Considering that much of one’s being is spent wallowing in the monotony of day-to-day life, to break from this and experience something unique and exceptional is to live, if only for a short while, outside the boundaries of what you’re accustomed to, forcing you into what one might call ‘pure consciousness’. The true vacation represents a freedom seldom experienced; the prolonged and eccentric vacation - such as, oh, I don’t know, ‘backpacking across the world’ - is the ultimate freedom, the ultimate experience, the ultimate consciousness, because it’s the very antithesis of monotony.
When push comes to shove, the short answer to your question is this: do it for yourself and you’ll understand, provided you’re not a total idiot.
I followed the grateful dead with my parents when I was a kid for about 3 years. Alot of interesting shit happened.
i think traveling is important… you should try to see as much of the world as you can.
why?
To combat ignorance, mental and spiritual sloth, and to counter presumptions.
i think people like to travel because what happens in ______ stays in ________.
Siatd, as well as a Sound reponse to the question ‘why people travel’, I can’t help but read that line as a statement of your philosophical mission, for if you ever had one, if you did that would be the approriate reponse to anyone wondering ‘why’. (Then again, maybe the word: Subversion - covers it better.) 
On travel:
Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe. ~Anatole France
-I love a good Wander, you’ll often find me wandering many streets in Glasgow.
The time to enjoy a European trip is about three weeks after unpacking. ~George Ade, Forty Modern Fables
To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. ~Aldous Huxley
an unhinged hamster wheel remains bound by the cage…
-Imp
I like to travel so that I can sample different hos and weed from all over while taking corny pitures of myself next to famous landmarks. Then I come home and tell my friends how ignorant they are culturally and condescend them about their lack of worldliness.
because its more variety. what do humans like more than choice? there is always lots of choices when you travel. All kinds of choices you make. where to go, what to try new. how to get there, what to take. why, when, how. loads. its adventure. its new, its scary, its fun. Its an experiance worthwhile for sure. Iv been cross country, hit 49 states in 2 months, been to hawiaii, peurto rico, st. thomas, on a cruise. mexico. lived in 4 states. its fun to get around. you learn alot of perspectives. loads of shit i can go on forever. TRAVEL> TRAVEL, travel all you can.
so you like to travel because youre a typical male that feels absolutely imprisoned if forced to stay in one place?
I like to travel because there is an invisible (to most, for now) world out there which greatly dictates the emotional states and mental clarity of all creatures who inhabit the physical world we see.
Meditating in nature, by a lake, isn’t done just for the sake of getting out of the computer chair for a stretch.
Electromagnetics of the city are the chains of your mental prison.
my mental prison is not cause by city electromagnets, more like bad childhood memories
I’d say both could contribute, and do.
Well, these are among the best reasons to do anything, but travel is one way to pretty much guarantee results. I’m already working out how much it’ll cost to get to see the Easter Island statues.
And I don’t have a philosophical mission, as such. More a political-spiritual-literary one. I suppose you could call that philosophical. Indeed, most people would.
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Oh, I love traveling so much. I haven`t nearly done enough of it.
When you travel to a different country, you get to experience a different culture, a different way of doing thing, and it helps you to understand other people and see them as people. Also, once youve seen how people live in another culture, youll start to notice things you do, and you`ll learn about yourself.
It`s a wonderful experience.
Im traveling now. Im currently in Omuta, Japan, and it has to be one of the greatest experiences of my life! Ive learned so much from the people here. Its just amazing!
I could understand how it seems frustrating, but if you try not to worry about things too much, and just look, listen, and experience everything around you.
So, yes, travel is very important.