I do think though, that it is worth considering that one can do much the same thing without ever leaving the house. Recently I pulled out some rope, and started tying knots, something that has interested me over the years. I invented some new, ones to add to others I have created over the years. Then I came up with an exercise machine that I had tried to invent, but was thinking more along a welded frame lines. But I came up with a much cheaper design using rope.

I think it is an element of our consumer society to sell us on the idea that only by consuming can we have small "s" spiritual growth or fulfilment. Travel is another form of consumerism. I love it, and agree with all the less overwrought lessons in the article. Butt there is always something new to be had by simply being open to it.

The most extreme example I can think of is Jordan Pettersen's claim that potentially Solzhenitsyn caused the soviet union to collapse through mental exercises he undertook while in the gullag. Something similar has been suggested, and seemingly more broadly accepted, for Mandela.

The flip side of that is Spalding Gray's suggestion in the excellent Swimming to Cambodia that no vacation is complete until one has achieved a perfect moment, as though this could not be had through simple mental discipline.