zlacker

>>wallfl+(OP)
I personally despise travel, almost every aspect of it. Planning, making reservations, trying to figure out airline tickets, packing, parking, waiting, being groped by the pre-flight fondlers, cramming myself into a seat, sitting there for hours, the mystifyingly slow process of disembarking, getting to the hotel, registration, lugging luggage, the cautious exploration of the room, the scan for bedbugs, arraying the hopefully adequate creature comforts imported to the destination on some tatty drawer, all of it is terrible. But then people say, "Oh, but the thing you came for!" And whatever it is leaves me unmoved. I could have been shown a photo of it for all that it matters. Or conferences were nothing was conveyed. Then you get to do all of it in reverse, perhaps with a careful notebook of receipts tucked away.

Even hearing about it. And what is beyond the pale is that if word gets out you don't like travel, the Travel People simply won't have it. They're like a cult.

In my black little heart, I wonder if people would on the whole travel less if they weren't permitted to speak about it, because lord knows some bore bringing up their time in Nepal yet again at the merest whiff of conversational relevance makes my cortical folds smooth out.

>>at_a_r+hda
You don't have to do most of those things though. Ever tried just traveling somewhere (driving, flying) without any preparation at all?

Also, notebook of receipts? Man, this is bleak.

>>dshpal+dFa
So, let me get this clear, I just ... get in my car and go in a direction. No medication, no change of clothes, no toothbrush. I stop at some random location for the ... view? I ... sleep in the car? Help me out here, because none of this sounds like a good idea.

Well if I am being made to go to a conference, I kinda need my money back, you know? Bleak or not, they want receipts.

>>at_a_r+eNa
A long time ago I was headed to a photo shoot with the owner of a Ford GT40. As we cruised along he commented that it was the perfect road trip vehicle. Being young and a chronic over-packer and over-preparer, I asked how that was possible, as its total storage consisted of a glovebox and a cupholder. He said "all you need is a pair of sunglasses and a credit card!"

Which in retrospect was a bit of guy-who-can-afford-a-GT40 privilege, but it also changed my philosophy of travel. The stuff you need to survive can be obtained cheaply and easily. The joy of travel comes from what you leave behind.

>>closet+l4b
Aside from my medicine, I suppose, which I have to arrange in advance. If I want to blow that cash on more clothes and such. Staying in a random hotel.

I just get nothing out of travel. I go there, I stand there looking at $thing. It's a $thing. Hoo-ray.

If the joy of travel comes from what you leave behind, well, most people spend more time not-traveling than traveling, and it would probably behoove them to increase their joy by ridding themselves of whatever it was they typically leave behind.

>>at_a_r+zeb
> it would probably behoove them to increase their joy by ridding themselves of whatever it was they typically leave behind

That's some wisdom right there.