The reason to travel: there are inner transitions we can’t properly cement without a change of locations. So many of adult life’s ills can be explained by not having four friends with whom we can gossip and weep living within a two minute radius. We’d probably work a lot less hard if we could be sure of being liked without any worldly achievements to our names. Past the age of 30, it becomes a matter of some surprise if we make a new friend. The most time-consuming arguments are always those sparked by the impatient retort that life is too short to discuss this sort of thing. A decline in a narcissistic desire for self-promotion can easily lead you to be mistaken for boring. http://twitter.com/alaindebotton