Backtracking: Traveling versus Reading

I still cannot understand why reading can provide a more vivid experience than traveling or simply checking stuff out. Books have description, and they force you to utilize your imagination, but if you get the chance to experience new places then how do they not supply the experience-ee with more descriptive information?

For example, I lived for six months in a foreign country. Moscow, Russia provided me more of a culture shock and enlightening experience. Not only was I forced to understand a new lifestyle, I was forced to adapt to challenges that a different culture offered to me. It was a challenge, and using my imagination and improvisation skills to get by everyday was essential. There was a barrier which I had to eclipse.

Books provide many of the elements that traveling does, and they force you to expand your mind. I suppose the main difference is the experience of the matter and challenge of it. It's something that I prefer, but you cannot deem one to be objectively better than the other.