>I think you have to be insane to not travel. The learning opportunities it presents are unparalleled.

It depends on what you mean by 'travel'. I think spending anything less than a month in a place just makes it more like a visit to a theme park than anything enlightening.

I agree wholeheartedly!

That's why I spent 2 years driving from Alaska to Argentina, learning Spanish as I went, and am now spending two years driving right around Africa, learning French and Swahili as I make my way around!

I have learned more in the last 12 months of my life in West Africa than I did in the 34 years that came before...

If you don't mind me asking, what did you learn?

I am still honestly consolidating it, so here's a random unfiltered list.

I learned the western media is only a fraction of the truth, and often for various degrees of "truth". There are hundreds of millions of people being impacted by how I choose to live in the western world. Those people want the same things I want. Those people are extremely kind, friendly and generous - about a million times more than people in the western world (yes, West Africans make Canadians look unfriendly)

Self-sufficiency is a great thing. People friendly gets you a long way, even with guys with guns. Being polite is the best way to get ahead. The entire world is severely corrupt, many developed countries just have a different word for it, like lobbying. Many international corporations are evil and severely fuing up the planet and millions of people who live in it. A massive number of foreigners in West Africa are making it worse, not better.

I'll write a book about my trip, which will not be random, and I will flesh out many more points in detail.

http://theroadchoseme.com

I would love to know too, though I wouldn't be surprised if the genuine answer is that most of it can't really be put into words.

Ok, but by that definition, virtually no one travels.

Well some people do, but my point was that to truly get the benefits of travel that Mark Twain was referring to, you can't just dabble.

Back when he traveled, this was before airlines and even the Titanic. "Traveling" required spending months to get places far away so you certainly didn't spend just a week in a single place and then return.

Certainly, and I wish I could travel that way. But it's not really an option for many people.

My wife & I do still get a lot out of our backpacking travels, which nominally last two weeks but feel like a month or more.

Obviously you can't immerse yourself, but from spending maybe 6 or 7 days in Gaza over 3 or 4 visits I have a far better idea of the conditions that those people live in. It's far easier to empathise with what you read on the news when you've been there and can picture it.

> The world would be a much better place if every person living in a developed country were forced to spend a year living in a different one

Not unless they also were forced to earnestly interact with the different culture. May also need to force them to be curious as well.

Lots of forcing should do the trick. Everyone's "solution" to every problem...

Forcing exposure onto someone is, physically, the only way one can leverage their own ability to change another's mindset.

Beyond exposure, it's a matter of individual choice. (i.e. consider when one tries foreign foods for the first time)

What's wrong exactly with individual choice? Foster exploration, present opportunities, allow choice, no?

Fostering exploration and presenting opportunity is essentially forcing exposure, however, choice is not suppressed by force.