This is something I really like in the WoW. I don't have level 1 twink, but I have level 9 pala with tons of achievements. Many things are similar for me, especially hearing all the time "What's the point of that, can't even bg". I can confirm, doing explorer is possible without flying, although I remember I had some huge problems in blade egde mountains, hellfire peninsula and storm peaks. But man it feels SO GOOD to get these achievements. Same with doing own research (gear, enchants), I didn't know I can be that fun. On level 9 it's almost the same.
So yeah, playing like this is something fresh, but requires some patience. That's cool to see other people doing it.