is it better to travel to places or read about them

Is it better to travel to places or read about them?

When I first read this question, I thought there could only be one answer. Of course it is better to visit a place in person than just read about it. Surely the experiences I’ve had in the places I have visited would not have been as vivid if had only read about them.

I probably would have visited Mexico last year without ever reading about it, but I don’t think the experience would have been as memorable if I had not read about it before I left. I know I wouldn’t have taken a side trip to Xcaret if I hadn’t read about it being a great example of the Mayan civilization. I would hate to never have had the experience of summer trips to my family’s cabin. Reading about picking huckleberries on a mountains so steep you had to hold onto the bushes to be able to stand up while keeping a watch out for bears who feel the mountain and its huckleberries belong exclusively to them would not be the same as actually being there. However, part of the charm of the cabin is knowing its history, looking at pictures of long gone relatives, and reading what they wrote about their experiences building the cabin almost 100 years ago. Reading about places gives a person the ability to visit anywhere your imagination takes you. If I had to give up traveling or reading about, travel, I would have to give up traveling. I agree with Dr. Seuss who said, “The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more place you’ll go.