A friend of mine said he doesnt need to travel at all because of YouTube and local restaurants

[Chairmanchuck (另一个我)]

A friend of mine and me were talking about traveling, since I love to travel and experience new cultures, food, smells, people etc. and usually fly once or twice a year to faraway destinations.
He said he can not understand it since if he wants to eat new food, he can just go to a restaurant here and to see new sights he would just watch a YouTube video, which to him is the same as travelling.
After I asked where he even went he said he never actually went out of Germany, so I think if he didnt even experience that, why would he think that a YT video and some restaurant visit is actually the same as travelling

 

[Spine Crawler]

a good opinion to have in the days of global warming and a pandemic.

 

[Kingpin Rogers]

Seems fair enough. Just be happy he can enjoy "travelling" through watching a youtube video rather than having to pay for it.

 

[BeI]

a good opinion to have in the days of global warming and a pandemic.

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Maybe I was ahead of my time lol. I just never saw too much appeal in traveling myself. So many different experiences to have with media / games already. I'm already put off of visiting many countries by default due to my lifestyle choices though.

 

[MJForum Poster]

Traveling for pleasure is a relatively new concept. Most people throughout history lived and died roughly in the same area they were born. If he's happy with his life, why cause a big fuss?

 

[entremet]

Lots of people don't give a crap about traveling. This is not a new thing.

I love it, but I'm fine waiting until this is all over.

 

[MechaMarmaset]

It's not the same, but if it's good enough for him, I don't see why you should care. He does his thing. You do yours.

 

[JoeHisaishi]

Tell your friend he also doesn't need friends. If he closes his eyes hard enough and starts talking to himself he'll have all the friends he needs in his head.

 

[Cucurbitacée]

On one hand, fair enough and good for him to be able to enjoy it this way. On the other hand, it's not the same. Watching a video will never show the whole picture and local restaurant never have the exact same ingredients and won't taste exactly the same.

 

[HStallion]

Not wanting to travel is fine. Acting like YouTube and local restaurants somehow compare is bullshit.

 

[Soap]

I did spend a period of my life travelling, and my wife is even from a different country, but I don't find it odd to be contented to stay at home. Frankly, outside of seeing my wife's family, I don't really think I want to travel that much again. Airports and flying suck.

 

[Spine Crawler]

Maybe I was ahead of my time lol. I just never saw too much appeal in traveling myself. So many different experiences to have with media / games already. I'm already put off of visiting many countries by default due to my lifestyle choices though.

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I like travelling. But its work. hard work. Research, getting the funding side done (so you will have to work to get money to reavel, depends on your paycheck I guess), actually doing it... it all is effort and watching youtube may be not the 100% experience but its a 30% experience and you dont have to pay.

I did spend a period of my life travelling, and my wife is even from a different country, but I don't find it odd to be contented to stay at home. Frankly, outside of seeing my wife's family, I don't really think I want to travel that much again. Airports and flying suck.

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Fly Business. Case closed. /s

 

[Aizen-S-Kennedy]

Most ppl don't travel or fly to places twice a year. You're the outlier not your friend

 

[catboy]

Not wanting to travel is fine. Acting like YouTube and local restaurants somehow compare is bullshit.

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i think bullshit is a fairly strong response to something that seems like a reasonably harmless philosophy

 

[kristmen]

The Nick Wiger Theorem

 

[Westbahnhof]

Reminds me of a youtuber who said he's not interested in seeing, say, the colosseum or the sagrada familia, since he can see pictures of those online anyway. He'd rather see interesting doors.

 

[MrRob]

Yeah I can't understand this viewpoint. Traveling is all about seeing and meeting other people from different cultures. It helps you get a better perspective on the world to meet people where they are and experience their reality. This viewpoint is very isolated and part of the reason the whole world seems to be going to shit.

 

[teruterubozu]

People say travel expands the mind, but some of the most entitled people ever are tourists. Not to mention the despicable behavior on airplanes.

 

[Seductivpancakes]

I use to not give a shit about it but being confined to mostly home for almost a year now, I want to start traveling more as soon as this pandemic is over.

 

[The Masked Mufti]

Traveling for pleasure is a relatively new concept. Most people throughout history lived and died roughly in the same area they were born. If he's happy with his life, why cause a big fuss?

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This. The only ones travelling far were traders or government men. There was this old guy that lived near us who claimed he'd only travelled out of town once in his life (to another town 15 minutes away) which blows my mind since travel is such a normal part of life now.

People say travel expands the mind, but some of the most entitled people ever are tourists. Not to mention the despicable behavior on airplanes.

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Entitled people always ruin everything. The sad part is how tourism economy has adapted around them.

 

[entremet]

I did spend a period of my life travelling, and my wife is even from a different country, but I don't find it odd to be contented to stay at home. Frankly, outside of seeing my wife's family, I don't really think I want to travel that much again. Airports and flying suck.

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I love the flying and airports lol. I also love rail stations too. Not subways or metros mind you, but the long distance trains.

 

[HStallion]

i think bullshit is a fairly strong response to something that seems like a reasonably harmless philosophy

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And I noted that not wanting to travel is fine. My issue is acting like a YouTube video and a local restaurant compare. They do not at all. It's a foolish notion.

 

[LinkStrikesBack]

Despite now having spent at various times living abroad in at least America/France/Germany for work reasons, I don't think travelling actually appeals much to me. I get entirely where your friend is coming from, it's easier than ever to experience other cultures through digital formats and that can be enough for a lot of people.

 

[julia crawford]

The thing about food is literally and demonstrably wrong, because gastronomy that is brought from a culture to another often goes through a process of adaptation to local palates and habits and produce, etc., so they are with perhaps the smallest of exceptions not a fascimile of their original incarnations.

Also videos cannot replace physical presence because they are distinct experiences. Video is authored and our brains read and interpret spaces in videos differently than physical spaces. Videogames cross some of this gap by adding some degree of spacial awareness but they're still not the same because we experience our exteriors in much more detail and with the help of all other senses. So i that sense a video (or photograph) can be of a place but not the place.

Other than that dude is just... well, it's ok not to have the drive to travel, but it's definitely not the same.

An introduction to one of my favourite photobooks has a really nice way to put this idea of art about a place and the place itself that i think is relevant:

At this writing I have not yet visited Memphis, or northern Mississippi, and thus have no basis for judging how closely the photographs in this book might seem to resemble that part of the world and the life that is lived there. I have, however, visited other places described by works of art, and have observed that the poem or picture is likely to seem a faithful document if we get to know it first and the unedited reality afterwards -whereas a new work of art that describes something we had known well is likely to seem as unfamiliar and arbitrary as our own passport photos.

Thus if a stranger sought out in good season the people and places described here they would probably seem clearly similar to their pictures, and the stranger would assume that the pictures mirrored real life. It would be marvellous if this were the case, if the place itself, and not merely the pictures, were the work of art. It would be marvellous to think that the ordinary, vernacular life in and around Memphis might be in its quality more sharply incised, formally clear, fictive, and mysteriously purposeful than it appears elsewhere, endowing the least pretentious of raw materials with ineffable dramatic possibilities. Unfortunately, the character of our scepticism makes this difficult to believe; we are accustomed to believing instead that the meaning in a work of art is due altogether to the imagination and legerdemain of the artist.

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[astroturfing]

yeah traveling is overrated imo. i don't think i will ever leave Europe, not much interest to be honest. last time i was on a plane was in 2011, went to Crete with a friend and it was nice, but mainly because i was with a good friend.

hell, i might never get on a plane again. i don't see why i should.

 

[shnurgleton]

Acting like surfing the internet and ordering grubhub is a valid substitute for going outside and seeing the world is incredibly depressing to me

 

[Kurita]

His reasoning is a bit weird but more power to him.
I'm not really a big fan of travels either, but I try to go to Japan every year to see my friends.

 

[KomandaHeck]

He's just not interested in travelling. It's fine, dude.

 

[808s & Villainy]

i think bullshit is a fairly strong response to something that seems like a reasonably harmless philosophy

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I wouldn't call it harmless or remotely true. It's equivalent to someone saying they don't need real social interactions because they can just watch people on Youtube

 

[sredgrin]

Is he as well off as you? Could be a way of deflecting. If someone told me about travelling to far off places twice a year, I'd roll my eyes at them personally, even before the pandemic.

Some people don't have the means to do what they want, and will instead speak as if they are choosing not to do those things rather that they cannot do those things.

 

[Shadybiz]

Eh, if he doesn't have the desire to travel, then he doesn't have the desire to travel. My wife and I are pretty much homebodies as well, and have only been out of the country twice in the past 18 years. But indeed, you're not really going to get the full experience from YouTube.

The food thing kinda depends on where you are, though. If you're in a big city, sure, you can probably experience a good variety of authentic food from other cultures. But if you live in a place like ohhhhh, Sandusky, Ohio, for instance, you're not going to get a lot of variety.

 

[Ryuelli]

Traveling is the best. I think there's a difference between it and vacationing, which I would say is going somewhere just to hang out in a resort or hotel or be dragged around on a tour. Traveling is probably going to be uncomfortable at points, but I personally attribute it to helping me break out of my shell and grow as a person.

The fact that traveling isn't exactly advisable at the moment seriously has me down, I've made it a personal goal to travel to at least 1 country I've never been to each year and it's what keeps me going.

I also legitimately love planes and airports.

 

[Chairmanchuck (另一个我)]

Is he as well off as you? Could be a way of deflecting. If someone told me about travelling to far off places twice a year, I'd roll my eyes at them personally, even before the pandemic.

Some people don't have the means to do what they want, and will instead speak as if they are choosing not to do those things rather that they cannot do those things.

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He is a smoker, so most of his money goes into smoking (around 100€ each month).

I get that people dont wanna travel or cant, but like some other poster said: A youtube video and a restaurant arent the same as actually being there.

 

[teruterubozu]

LoL at people analyzing the YouTube comment. Dude probably said that just to try to end the conversation, like I got youtube, leave me alone.

 

[Jonnax]

I've travelled to 15 countries.
It's fun and enriching.

But it's expensive and I'm very aware how lucky I am to be able to travel.

 

[Kingpin Rogers]

I wouldn't call it harmless or remotely true. It's equivalent to someone saying they don't need real social interactions because they can just watch people on Youtube

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If they were happy with that I wouldn't see an issue with that statement either. It being true or not doesn't matter.

 

[HeySeuss]

Let him live his life if he's happy doing it his way, it's not really weird.

Be thankful that you can afford traveling twice a year because that's a privilege not everyone has so you should recognize that it may have skewed your perception

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I agree with him. Never cared about travelling, I honestly even dislike travelling. Hell, nowadays I'm barely interested in leaving my apartment besides going to work and picking up groceries. I just want to be left alone with my books, movies, games and, yes, damn true crime vids on YouTube.

 

[qaopjlll]

He's just not interested in travelling. It's fine, dude.

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If he wasn't interested in traveling then why does he watch travel videos on youtube and delude himself into thinking that's the same thing as actually traveling?

 

[JoeInky]

I understand the sentiment, I don't really give a shit about experiencing new places because it doesn't really do anything for me.

Seeing things when I used to go on holiday and seeing a picture someone shows me of something both work out the same for me ("oh ok, that's a thing that exists"), maybe it's something to do with me having aphantasia so I have no visual memory of anything anyway

 

[Fallout-NL]

If he wasn't interested in traveling then why does he watch travel videos on youtube and delude himself into thinking that's the same thing as actually traveling?

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Why does it matter? It's pretty harmless.* Especially when you compare that attitude to the very real and totally disproportionate environmental damage caused by air travel.

* though streaming is apparently also incredibly resource intensive so....

 

[Munti]

Watching YouTube and going to local restaurants are definitely not comparable with travelling, by an extremely huge margin. The experience that you can gain by travelling is often underestimated by non-travellers.

That said, as others have mentioned, travelling is a fairly new concept and is not a necessity to have a lucky and fulfilling life. In some extreme cases, there are travelers that have not travelled their own country and have no idea what their own country offers and can't appreciate what their own surroundings have. Or that they travelled to multiple countries in a very short time and pretend that they "experienced" the culture there.

I myself travel rarely. But when I do, I admit it has a great positive effect to me, creates unforgatable rich memories and let me see things in a different light.
If everyone would start to travel though, it would be catastrophic to the enviromnent.

So I have no problems with non-travellers and see no wrong in it, except if they stuck close-minded.

 

[Soap]

I like travelling. But its work. hard work. Research, getting the funding side done (so you will have to work to get money to reavel, depends on your paycheck I guess), actually doing it... it all is effort and watching youtube may be not the 100% experience but its a 30% experience and you dont have to pay.

Fly Business. Case closed. /s

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For me, it is because I don't live close to any airports that have any decent locations. I usually have to travel via coach for anywhere between 2-5 hours (depending on airport) at obscure hours. Coming back used to be a pain too. I appreciate this isn't he same Clair everyone, but simply flying business isn't going to save me lol

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

If he wasn't interested in traveling then why does he watch travel videos on youtube and delude himself into thinking that's the same thing as actually traveling?

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It sounds like it was just a response to end the argument. He just doesn't like to travel. Although, if he lives in Germany, he's only a couple hours' drive from a neighboring country at most, so to have never left Germany seems *really* homebody-ish. I'm not European though.

 

[Grug]

It's possible that one type of person might gain a decent appreciation for other cultures and places than a different type of person who actually travels to said places and spends the whole time trying to take perfect Instagram photos.

Sounds like your friend is content. Leave him be.

 

[EJS]

I don't really agree with his statements. Traveling isn't for everyone, totally get that, but a lot of time, it's about soaking in the atmosphere and you naturally can't get that through a screen. But if he's satisfied, that's all that matters.

 

[Deleted member 9241]

If I was single with no wife/kids I would travel the world. With a wife and kids the price gets to a point where we have to plan and save. For example, a weekend in Chicago can easily hit $1200 and 10 days at Disney World was $8.5k. The kind of things I could do solo on that kind of cash is crazy.

 

[Wrexis]

There's a guy I went to college with who hasn't left his home county in 20 years. He hasn't travelled more than 100km.
Travelling isn't for everyone, but jesus go somewhere.

 

[Croc Man]

I get those not wanting to travel long distance, not having the money, hate flying etc but in this case he's in Germany!

It can't take long to get to the nearest neighbouring country by train or road.

 

[ParanormalFupa]

I'm somebody who enjoys the little things and I think there is a lot more to explore and experience around where you live than most vacation orientated people will recognize. I live in the city tho...