Of course I could play it as some others do and still eventually finish the game and have done and seen everything I want after two years, but to me that progresses the story too slowly. I want to move on with the story at some point and get further into the game and as such I take the shortcuts that are offered to me. I am not in it for the trees and the bunnies, I want to get to the mighty ruins where the powerful daedric artefact rests and experience adventure, not the same thing I could experience by taking a walk with a dog.
Stupid exaggerations are often stupid.
But fast traveling is fine in my belief, however there are many down cuts that this game has made that makes it much less of an RPG as it used to be.