This is my second stint wandering the world for over a year and I know a few other doing the same, so I thought I'd be reading about a kindred spirit.

But instead I was pretty repulsed. I had assumed that the unhappiness in his life-style and the journey to cultivate relationships would end up in personal growth story, but it sounds like he started out as a really shallow, self-centered, and boorish guy and ends up... mostly unchanged.

Maybe that's being ungenerous, or just how it comes off in the article.

For me, while it's fun to see/meet up with friends in far flung places, my reasons of traveling are more about experiencing the world (it's a big place) and different cultures (and how they are different or the same.

I think my biggest objection to Grinda is aesthetic - the idea of reducing possessions and traveling light is to force yourself to grow in specific ways - to be more flexible, resourceful, mindful, and humble. It seems that Grinda managed the trick of getting rid of his stuff and starting a physical journey, while avoiding much of the personal journey that's meant to precipitate, first by inconveniencing others and then by papering over challenges/inconveniences with money instead.

Everyone's free to live their own lives, and hey, maybe he is happier now, but I think it's missing the point a bit.