Angie Schmitt is odd to read because she whipsaws between some truly insightful ideas to just awful, intelligence-deficient takes such as this:

I think traveling is a little bit overrated/overcelebrated, especially in the age of Instagram.

We might be able to learn more by reading a book sometimes than dropping into some unrepresentative tourist spot in some other country that's culturally similar to our own.

— Angie Schmitt 🚶‍♀️🚴‍♀️ 🚌 (@schmangee) December 9, 2019

Traveling is probably the best thing I’ve ever done, whether it was on my own or state-sponsored. I would not trade it for anything. This person said it best:

I can’t possibly disagree with this more. Traveling gives people perspective and appreciation for other cultures. Social media pictures -edited by an “influencer”- can not replace an actual experience.

— Allison Brooks (@AllisonMetro) December 9, 2019

Schmitt’s example just shows that for the vast majority of people, real competence and insight can only be had in the very, very narrow area they study intensely. Outside of that, they are no better than GPT-2, just spewing word salad everywhere. (That said, I think Allison Brooks who replied to her misunderstood Schmitt’s message a bit, too.)