For a few years? Hardly. Actually living in another country is extremely different from traveling for a few months. You don't know much about a country until you live your everyday life there, shop at the grocery stores, participate in cultural events, go to the doctor, pay bills, rent an apartment, go through the immigration process, have a JOB etc. You don't truly know a place by just traveling there.
2. Was there a point to this besides the author bragging how many places he visited?
Call me jaded, but I moved to Europe for a few years and traveled around, is something you can hear from a large portion of US college students.