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Comment by LearnerHerzog | Hacker News Reader

Is travel not still for (almost exclusively) the wealthy? I haven't left my home state in over 10 years, due completely to lack of money.

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No. I think Vagabonding by Rolf Potts is a good book for people who think this, unless your idea of travel is only to go to Paris and stay in a 5-star resort the whole time.

https://vagabonding.net/book/excerpt/

> For some reason, we see long-term travel to faraway lands as a recurring dream or an exotic temptation, but not something that applies to the here and now. Instead — out of our insane duty to fear, fashion, and monthly payments on things we don’t really need — we quarantine our travels to short, frenzied bursts. In this way, as we throw our wealth at an abstract notion called “lifestyle,” travel becomes just another accessory — a smooth-edged, encapsulated experience that we purchase the same way we buy clothing and furniture.

That's just my favorite part of the excerpt, not supporting evidence for my first sentence though. :)

Quibble: there are no 5-star "resorts" in Paris, for the same reason there are no resorts in London or New York.

There are hotels, though.

It was supposed to be an obnoxious idea. A resort being a compound you don't even have to leave at all, its own amusement park.

Holy mother of god, man. Get a grip.

Thanks, I'll check that book out... I've never been out of the country.

A lot of Europeans take some months (up to a year or more) to backpack across various regions and get service jobs in various countries for a month or 6 weeks while living at youth hostels. Lonely Planet press has books about this for various regions of the world.

When I (a USian) went backpacking across Tibet (being held up in Chengdu trying to even get to Tibet) and then Nepal with a friend of mine (also a USian) about 20 years ago, I met Tibetans (of course), Chinese (of course), a couple of Japanese, Australians and Canadians. But mostly British and continental Europeans. Call it 100~200 foreigners over about 6 weeks. Not. A. Single. American. Not one. [Yeah - I know: anecdote is not the singular of data]

Comparatively - Americans don't seem to get out much. In terms of global travel, I mean...

> Comparatively - Americans don't seem to get out much. In terms of global travel, I mean...

Probably has something to do with the generic distaste the rest of the world has for the US (going back more presidents than I've been alive for).

Of course, the US has a lot to offer me; before I plop down the cold hard cash to travel abroad. If I want to be frugal, or take my time, my own personal car will take me to the continual 48 (+1, technically with passport). I'll get to see more cultures than I'd like to admit, and even more varying landscape/climate. Plus all of my money works all over. It's ideal (to me).

That makes sense. Interests vary across individuals - and certainly some people have both less a taste for the exotic and less comfort visiting places where English might not be spoken than others.

And, traveling the US is great!

If I had to wager a guess, it would be due to international travel being a bit more difficult for Americans, what with large oceans between us and most the rest of the world.

That, and the fact that the continental US itself is larger than Europe. I feel like a lot of Europeans don't really realize how vast the USA really is.

> I feel like a lot of Europeans don't really realize how vast the USA really is.

That's true! And conversely - we (Americans) don't really "get" how compact all of Western Europe is.

A few years ago, I had a friend fly from Zurich to La Guardia (maybe JFK?), and when he landed he called me in Austin, Texas. He said: "I'll get a rental car now - and see you in several hours". I said: "No you won't."

Very true. I was amazed at the lack of undeveloped land in western Europe, being from the Midwestern USA where most of the land is open.

I think that at least part of the problem is that, no matter how big the country is, you print the map on the same sized piece of paper. You make the GIF for the website the same size. This blows peoples' intuitive understanding of the magnitude of the size differences between countries.

I hadn't thought of that. I have noticed the Mercator projection leading people to think that Canada is larger than Africa, though...

Depends on your definition of wealthy, and your location. In the UK and Europe there are a number of low cost airlines, and you can easily get flights to other European countries for under £100. Obviously it's a luxury and probably not something you could afford if you're on minimum wage and struggling to pay the rent, but easily affordable with an average income and a bit of planning.

Of course, things are different in the USA where travelling to any other country (aside from Canada or Mexico if you live near the borders) is going to cost hundreds of dollars for a flight. And I guess even leaving your state even has considerable costs in car fuel or coach/train journeys.

> And I guess even leaving your state even has considerable costs in car fuel or coach/train journeys.

This is slightly exaggerated. Most states aren't that big and this generic mentality only really applies to multiple state travel (like a road trip).

Hell, I live in a bordered city. It's shared between two states. Every day I drive between them. Work in one, live in another. This isn't an uncommon occurrence across the US. The only inconvenience of it is when tax time rolls around.

Not sure about 'wealthy' but, yes, the costs of travel are often understated.

From the UK perspective, plenty of people travel but it's relatively short distances compared to the US.

There's also a lot of cheap-skating going too; like travelling as a couple and refusing to pay for designated seating but expecting other people to move so you can sit together; extending luggage restrictions as far as can be possible (what we call in the UK, taking the p*ss) and so on...

So, in other words, folks travelling on a limited budget for the privilege of being able to bore all their friends and family afterwards with their tales of exciting adventure to places like Barcelona, and such.

I think the costs of travel are overstated. Most people I've met assume travel is out of reach unless they're wealthy.

Even the author suggests that Prague and Barcelona are the same, but one has a fraction of the cost of living a fraction of the other. For example, you'd save money flying to Prague and living there for a year.

Travel is expensive when people expect the same exact creature comforts and familiarities they have back home because that's what gives rise to the amusement park cities the article talks about.

But that's criticism of some travelers and marketing, not of travel in general. And that's where the article drops the ball hard.

I think we need more articles that fight against travel marketing, not articles that try to discourage travel at all. Most people already don't travel yet hold world views as if they do.

'For example, you'd save money flying to Prague and living there for a year.'

OK, sure, maybe I could but most people aren't able to work remotely so it would be out of the question.

It isn't now and has never been exclusively for the wealthy, of course having money will give you a lot more options to travel and it will make it easier. But if it was exclusively for the wealthy how would you explain gypsies traveling in my country (Mexico) and all around Latin America, how would you explain other groups like the anticapitalist hippies going from city to city, or just random young folks from all around the world who look for small jobs in every country. I'm giving you extreme examples, but I can give you my example too, I come from a developing country and I'm not wealthy at all, I have backpacked Europe with little money, CouchSurfing, getting cheap hostels and sometimes great airbnb deals, taking buses or trains at night (so I can travel and have a place to sleep at the same time), getting cheap tickets from kayak.com and other pages, etc, of course money helps a lot, but now that I think about it, not having a lot of money was part of the awesome experience.

Having had to work to help support my family since I was a teenager, I personally consider the ability to backpack across Europe with no money a Luxury in and of itself. I'd love to do that someday when my family are back on their feet.

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