The biggest travel myth

The biggest travel myth

The biggest myth about traveling is that everyone should do it; that if you don't, you are somehow less interesting and less sophisticated than the masses

Farhan is 32. He is smart, funny and confident. He speaks intelligently and entertainingly on a wide range of topics, from South African politics to the Formula 1 championship.

He has a job that sends him all over the world, a beautiful house in Richmond, and a beautiful wife and child. He is in every respect a successful product of modern Western society.

Then there's Anna, also 32. Anna is a freelance writer and author who has written for all the major broadsheets. She is beautiful, good-natured and, like Farhan, smart, funny and confident.

They are two of my most interesting friends, which is why I was so surprised when they both independently told me that they didn't like traveling. In my opinion, an interest in seeing the world was just a natural subset of being an intelligent and cultured person. How could they not want it?

And therein lies the biggest myth of travel: that everyone should do it; that if you don't, you are somehow less interesting, less cultured, than the teeming masses who dutifully trudge up the Inca Trail or jostle for space in the Sistine Chapel every year.

The truth is that traveling isn't for everyone. If, like Farhan, you like your comfort, there's no shame in not wanting to cram onto a train in Mumbai, whose temperatures are unsafe for transporting cattle, or spend a night on a ship infested with cockroaches. If, like Anna, you don't like the hassle and stress of traveling, there's no shame in staying at home with a good book instead. It doesn't make you an inherently uninteresting person.

And of course the flip side is even truer: a penchant for traveling doesn't naturally make you an interesting person. Like Mark, who I featured in 5 Things Travel Writers Don't Tell You, travelers can be some of the most boring and insufferable people you'll ever meet.

Eager to delight you with their oh-so-unique experiences backpacking through Asia, they'll talk about that wonderful eco-lodge up in the mountains or that hidden village that you just have to get to - all of which are usually in the guidebooks anyway.

Personally, I will always extol the benefits of traveling: it's fun, it's eye-opening and it offers perspective, but I'll also try to remember that it's fun, it's eye-opening and it gives me perspective.

In a way, traveling is like having children. For some it is an essential part of a happy and fulfilling life, while others prefer to spend their time, energy and income on something they enjoy more.

People who tell you that you must travel, just like people tell you that you must have children, are blind to the fact that we are individuals who are fulfilled by different things in different ways.

So travel if you want to, stay home if you don't. Just don't let anyone make you feel bad about choosing one.
.