Did I mention I love my house? LOLOL
buying, moving into, and doing extensive landscaping and other fixing up of my wonderful dream house!
To me, this is discretionary because I could have stayed where I was and I would have been absolutely fine. But I wanted to move, just as much as somebody else might want a Ferrari or a summer in Rome.
I was thinking about this thread this morning as I sit here enjoying my wonderful home. Surrounded by artwork and video gaming, sitting in my supremely comfy maroon leather easy chair, gazing at my lovely maintenance free back yard through my French doors. And the quiet - - If I tried, I think I could hear my heart beat, it's so quiet here. I just love it. I pour myself another cup of my favorite coffee and admire the lovely hardwood floors. I am in a heaven of my own design and creation.
I thought briefly of my insanely extensive past travels, and TBH none of those memories are at all vivid or very memorable. Sure, I remember the British museum, the peaceful shrine and other sights at Nikko, watching my teenaged brother getting extremely drunk on Kava in Fiji (or Samoa?) way back when, the wildlife in Australia, the squalor in parts of Cairo, and how disgusting Brazilian chewing gum was back in the mid 1950's
. These are great memories, but as time passes they fall more and more into the "so what" category. I have the photos to remind me, but still memories are fleeting and fade with time. They don't do much for me at all compared with the tangible, day after day "meat life" experience right in front of my eyes every morning when I awaken to enjoy yet another wonderful, idyllic day living in and thoroughly enjoying my perfect-for-me Dream Home.
I know that for many here, "experiences not things" is the mantra, and I get that, I truly do. But for others of us, a mantra that works better is the old expression "what do you have to show for it?".
I'm not arguing for one viewpoint versus the other, but just pointing out that different, equally valid viewpoints exist. Some of the big benefits from travel are supposed to be the broadening one's mind, and the opening of one's eyes to different ways of looking at things. I'm sure that those of our traveling members who have truly benefited from their travels in these ways, have already realized that quite different and yet equally valid viewpoints on travel itself do exist among those who have traveled extensively.