Traveling is so important because it comes with so many advantages, although it will definitely cost you some things; your money and time. You're actually not wasting your time because you are investing it. The returns of the investment may not come physical, but they are adding different kinds of information into your mind. I have actually heard a lot of people saying that what determines someone's level of exposure is actually how far and wide he has traveled in life.
If you are limiting yourself to your environment and you don't strive to travel to other parts of the world, you are most likely not going to have a real or tangible relationship with other people outside your space, religion, culture, tradition, and so many other areas of life. A lot of people are traveling to other countries for recreational activities. There are some beautiful places that you can only see on your TV, at times you doubt if they actually exist or not, however, traveling to those places will allow you to have firsthand experience with those places.