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> Travelling is a lot of fun and makes you realize that life is short and that you should make the most of it.

I never got what was so great about travelling. Whenever I tried doing it, I was almost immediately bored and lonely. It proabably works much better for extraverts.

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I think traveling can teach you a lot about various ways of life, especially early on in life, but can also be viewed as eco irresponsible, especially if you're flying around just as a hobby. Maybe consider doing something like English language or CS teaching in non-English country of your choosing and try embed yourself with the society there...

Yep, I learnt nothing internally rather than oh nice view, strange place, different way of [people] doing things. It doesn't change me even a bit. People claim that they become a better person. I think at least 50% of them were bullshiting.

I suspect six months of working in a blue-collar job (say, construction) in an area of the country you're not familiar with would be much more enriching than 6 months of traveling in SE Asia, at least for college-educated young people.

Yeah likely. My city attracts tourists/backpackers too. As local's perspective, I'm glad they enjoy the difference, but I don't think they have changed at all. It's not like bathing holy water of experience, suddenly you come out pure. No!

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