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Comment by ilaksh | Hacker News Reader

Most people don't travel because they can't. Traveling is a type of large-scale consumption that re-affirms self-worth through wealth display.

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I agree with the principle of your comments but not with the wealth aspect. My experiences have told me that the world of traveling is restricted to those with the right passports, i.e., North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and a few other countries considered privileged. If your passport is from the wrong country, like mine, throughout your travels, you'll come across incredible barriers irrespective of how much money you have. You'll constantly be reminded that you don't "belong" in the club of travelers.

If you have travelled to enough different countries, (60 for me and counting), you will have several instances of being detained by immigration, yelled at by consular officers, beaten up by border guards, have your passport flung at your face by police, and several such adventures. The fact that you went to great lengths to get the right visa papers (which could involve filling lengthy forms divulging every aspect of your finances and your life till date and wait months for a decision granting you permission to visit a country for a week) doesn't count. The fact that you have a PhD from a US university doesn't count. The fact that you have a great job at a fortune 5 firm in silicon valley doesn't count. The fact that you make a high income and have a lot of savings doesn't count.

In fact these could count against you, because immigration / consular officers will think someone with your passport is obviously making it up. That you are just trying to sneak into the country to get an under the table job washing dishes. This happens even when the country you are trying to enter gets a massive amount of financial aid from your own country.

So it's not a rich vs poor aspect. Traveling is a type of large-scale consumption that re-affirms self-worth through having the right passport.

I keep seeing this attitude any time travel comes up on HN and I still have no idea where it comes from. The idea that travel is nothing more than banal consumption for the purpose of puffing up your Instagram account is absurd on the face of it.

Don't be silly. Hop a flight some day and you'll find no shortage of Plumber's Mates dirtbagging along on a few hundred bucks a month, picking up hostel desk & bartending jobs every few months to squirrel away some extra savings. Head down to Peru and you'll run in to gap year kids from Uraguay who are traveling around on their own savings. Uraguayan highschool job savings, which I hope we can stipulate doesn't fall in to the category of "wealth display"

You're thinking of "vacations", which are in fact expensive. Traveling in the fun parts of the developing world is really quite cheap.

What about people who travel cheaply. I went on a 3 week holiday last year (I work full time) and it cost me 1200 pounds. OK, I might have spent a couple hundred more to buy things like a backpack and boots since it was the first time in my life I went on a holiday (not counting holidays with my parents when I was a teenager) but I'm getting a lot of use out of them and plan to get even more.

What percentage of the earth's population can afford to stop working or doing anything constructive for 3 weeks and pay 1200 pounds?

In the UK, where I live, pretty much everyone (you get at least 20 days holiday each year, usually more + bank holidays). Who else am I supposed to exercise this "wealth display" over? Where does the earth's population come into this. They are not my peers. Also I can't leave Europe because I have no passport so even if you took the population of the country being visited into account it would still impress no one. They can't know how long my holiday is, all they see is a guy with a backpack, hitch-hiking or using public transport. That would impress no one. Your idea of wealth is somewhat skewed.

That's not entirely true. Travel can be done on the cheap, many people don't even explore their own city. People who don't travel find a million excuses, but it usually boils down to fear of the unknown.

"On the cheap" like the 1200 pounds the other guy said he spent?

That's minimum monthly wage where I live. You need context for figures like that.

That's almost triple the monthly minimum wage where I grew. All things considered, he's making a good point.

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