Disclosure: I’ve traveled and I’ve lived abroad in two different countries and been dozens of places outside of my ‘home’.
But I don’t get this obsession people have with travel being the uber alles thing you can do and how if you don’t do it all the time or as much as possible you are a ignorant incurious person. I don’t see my travel as being this amazing thing… it was just a nice thing that I did and frankly I don’t remember very much about it and what I do remember I don’t think is a more important memory than lots of other things I did in life.
I don’t think I am superior or ‘worldly’ because of it compared to someone who has never traveled abroad. But it is an extremely common belief/attitude I encounter on a regular basis and it confuses the hell out of me. I’ve met plenty of people that just go on the attack when you don’t want to ‘exchange amazing travel stories’ with them or daydream with them about all the places you’d like to go. There are some places I’d like to go, but again, it’s not a big deal to me that I see it as some big important part of my life and I certain do not condescend towards people who aren’t as ‘well traveled’ as I am like it’s some contest or achievement.
I don’t think it needs to be the biggest or best, but there is something to be said for “hey, this is mundane and local, if it impresses you you ought to go out and see more.” If you’ve spent your whole life in the plains you don’t necessarily need to see the redwoods or the Himalayas or some pristine tropical beaches, but it would be good for you to hit up some beaches, some mountains, and a forest and see how the world is different there. Hell a desert may do you some good as well.
As an American I highly recommend others in the country just hit up a different national park every few years if you can and visit a nearby city to it. If you’ve spent your whole life in a town an hour from Des Moines, seeing the Olympic peninsula and Seattle or whatever strikes your fancy near Santa Fe and Albuquerque, or the Cuyahoga Valley and Cleveland will help you better understand how much there is out there and how beautiful it all is. It’s not just the grand canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone though I hear they’re all amazing. I actually recommend picking ones you haven’t heard about before