I somehow manage to have a comfortable career & good money while having never stepped foot in the US (and no intentions to do so). It’s not impossible or even that difficult.
”In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.”
Excluding conferences^ and events there's nothing special about the HN audience (other than affluence) that makes them particularly likely—relative to people in a hundred other industries—to need to travel to the USA.
^ ...which are mostly money-making scams anyway, targeting fat corporate and university budgets in return for limited benefit. Rarely do you learn anything that you couldn't otherwise learn from published materials a few days later.
re:conferences: That's not quite right. In conferences you also meet people, some of whom you knew before and some that you didn't. You get to talk, and ask questions. The ROI of this may be questionable, but it does have value.
