Double Meh. Traveling is definitely overrated. Nonconformity != Traveling. The perks of travelling just to "see" new places is novel, but gets old fast. If you've travelled a lot, you get to see the hoards of backpackers and tourists that swarm to the usual (and usual unusual) destinations, and it starts to get lame, fast.

And I'd agree mtts that you don't "learn" much about just visiting a country. Sure, you may "see" what a town or city is like, but you're just reading the cover, not the book.

I moved to New Zealand just for the heck of it with my family, and lived there for almost 3 years. Everyone that visits there gives the same 'ol schpiel... "Oh, it's so beautiful there. It's where the Lord of the Rings was filmed! It's the greenest place I've ever been, and is so environmentally friendly". Everytime I heard that, I could only let out a hugh sigh. They visited and didn't "learn" anything. New Zealand dust crops their entire countryside with poison (1080, which is illegal in the US) quite often, and is "not" very environmentally progressive. Their marketing department, however, is quite progressive!