in defense of...travel

Here is a photo of what got me thinking about paper cups at athletic races... this is from the New York marathon on Bedford Ave in Brooklyn this past Sunday. We stopped to watch after many, many runners had already passed the water stop. The street was littered with hundreds (thousands?) of paper cups, many of them still containing a slurp or two of Gatorade. This looks like a problem to me.

So, since I took this photo, I guess it is obvious that I spent last weekend in New York City. The weekend before that I was in Los Angeles. Why? Well, mostly to visit friends (and soak up some sun in California). But also because I really believe in the value of traveling. To me, I would rather spend money on a plane ticket to see a friend on the other side of the country- or the other side of the world- than buy a new stereo system. Not everyone would agree with me on this. A stereo system is something you can use every day while a trip will only last a few days. So whats the point? Where is the return on value? Most importantly, how can this help to shape my thesis?