[Msurrow]

I don't care that this is a late and buried reply and most likely only you will read it. I even created an account just to reply to you. I did this because I was you about a year ago and your post is exactly something I could hear myself say or think. I had a good friend that had lived part of their life out in the big world and I was talking to her about it, explaining how I felt, which is just about what you write in your post. It ended up changing my perspective a bit and I actually finally just did it: I quit my very nice job, girlfriend quit her nice job, we sold the car and left to travel the world. We are still travelling, and are going to continue doing so for at least another couple of month.

Reread your first paragraph, then reread your second paragraph. To paraphrase them both a bit: "You would like to experience some real adventure, but getting stuck in the mud doesn't really appeal to you". Hmm?

The only way you will experience something that is really fulfilling to you in this way, is if you go do something that you are not really all that comfortable with. Go do it and feel how you are not only a better version of yourself, because you know that you can now "do this too", but it also changed your view on the world just a little bit. It broadened you character and your perspectives a bit and THAT is fulfilling.

It doesn't have to be mud in Africa, but it does have to be one of those things where some part of it doesn't really appeal to you. The only fulfilling adventures are the ones that change you, and an experience can't change you if it is designed to only give you what you already know and like.

You don't have to do that one big thing. You can do a series of smaller things instead. As long as they challenge you it will be fulfilling overcoming that challenge.

[nickthemagicman]

Westerners version of traveling treats the world like Disneyland.

Rich westerners save a bunch of money then go see the sights then come back and tell their friends!

These experiences are purchased, the equivalent of visiting China world at Epcot.

It treats travel, people, culture like an amusement park or even worse a status symbol...have YOU been to Africa?

The OP wants something more meaningful I think.

[Msurrow]

Yes, I have. About two month in South Africa. Amongst other things spending 21 days volunteering and another 16 days-ish driving around the country.

[ambientdark]

Congrats, that sounds very exciting and it sounds like you helped people as well. I'm not sure you need it, but just in case, I would like to validate you and your decision to go off the beaten track. Ultimately it's important to do what makes you happy and fulfilled and traveling seems to make you happy and fulfilled, which is great to hear.

[oliv__]

I don't think the question was meant for you to answer. That was kind of the point.

[totalZero]

Seems the point of the reply was to reject the negativity and stereotyping in the rhetorical question and the rest of that comment.

[weerd]

Wow, way to miss the point. It was a rhetorical question. Sheesh....

[kyberias]

Wow. Must have been fulfilling.

[ferentchak]

If you travel the food alone will be fulfilling.

Food in a foreign place is always different than what you can find at home

[ChuckMcM]

There is deep truth in this comment, doing something you are not sure you can do will challenge you. And in overcoming that challenge you will be hugely rewarded.

[Bulkington]

As others have said, the struggle is what will be meaningful, long term. But don't feel compelled to get in over your head, just because you want a cooler tall tale when all's said and done. On the other hand--and I only discovered this after that unplanned sojourn in Turkish prison--there are challenges and adventures to be had in Anytown, USA. You just have to know where to look, or learn to see differently.

"First, I'm going to deliver this case to Marcellus, then I'm just going to walk the earth."

https://youtu.be/Yh-QWKGbm2Q