The biggest travel ceremony

The biggest travel ceremony

The greatest myth when traveling is that everyone should do it; that if you don't do this, you are somehow less interesting and less cultivated than the mass

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

He has a job that sends him around the world, a beautiful house in Richmond and a beautiful woman and a child. It is a successful product of modern western society in every respect.

Then there is Anna, also 32. Anna is a freelance writer and author who wrote for all big Broadsheets. She is beautiful, good -natured and, like Farhan, clever, funny and confident.

You are two of my most interesting friends, which is why I was so surprised when they both told me independently of each other that they don't like traveling. In my opinion, the interest of seeing the world was only a natural subset of being an intelligent and cultivated person. How could you not want it?

and this is the greatest myth of travel: that everyone should do it; that, if you don't do this, they are somehow less interesting, less cultivated than the teeming masses, which dutifully struggle up the Incapfad every year or push around a place in the Sistine chapel.

In truth, travel is not for everyone. If you like your comfort like Farhan, it is not a shame not to squeeze yourself into a train in Mumbai, the temperatures of which are unsure for the transport of cattle, or spend a night on a ship that is teeming with cockroaches. If you don't like the hustle and bustle of travel like Anna, it is not a shame to stay at home with a good book. It does not make them uninteresting person.

And of course the downside is even true: a tendency to travel does not make it an interesting person by nature. Like Mark, whom I presented in 5 things that travel authors do not tell you, travelers can be some of the most boring and unbearable people they will ever meet.

You are keen to delight you with your oh so unique experiences while traveling back through Asia, and are made from this wonderful eco-lodge in the mountains or this hidden village that you simply have to reach-all of this is usually in the travel guide anyway.

Personally, I will always praise the advantages of traveling: it is fun, it opens my eyes and it offers perspectives, but I will also try to remember that I enjoy it, opens my eyes and offers me a perspective.

Travel is in a certain way how children have. For some it is an essential part of a happy and fulfilling life, while others prefer to use their time, energy and income for something that they are more fun.

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