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Ko Phangan, Thailand
Not many years ago (in the grand scheme of things), most of us were in diapers, not yet knowing what country we were from or even what a country. We didn’t yet know we were Christian, Muslim, Skeptical, or whatever. We didn’t know we were Republican or Democrat, male or female, or that we needed to fear and maybe hate one another, or that this might lead us one day to kill or be killed. As babies we looked out at the world with wide eyes, reaching out for anything we could grab, wanting to feel and understand it. We were open to learning and we trusted, even when it wasn’t wise to trust. And then — well, we became adults.
The paragraph and photo above are pulled from my book 30 Reasons to Travel: Photographs and Reflections from Southeast Asia. Others more famous than me have mentioned babies as well. Carl Sandburg, for example, wrote that “a baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.” And this from Vincent van Gogh: “If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.”
So what does all this have to do with travel?
First, babies model some of the traits a good traveler might wish to cultivate, particular wonder and an openness toward learning. To prepare for your trip, read a guidebook but also consider sitting down in front of a baby for a few minutes and seeing how they relate to the world. I love the image of a baby grasping for the moon because he or she has not yet mastered the concept of distance.
Second, if you’re traveling alone for an extended period and find yourself feeling down (as I sometimes do), having a local family put their baby in your arms, even for a second, will do more for your spirits that any bottle of beer. Every now and then, at least in the developing world, a family will ask me to hold their baby so they can take a picture of him or her in the arms of a Westerner. I never say no.
We travelers usually don’t wear diapers, but may we have something of the spirit of those babies who do (and those babies who don’t!).
As I noted in last week’s column, I am now on the ground, quite literally, in Jacmel, Haiti. Here I lie in my REI tent that I purchased off of craigslist last week, in a field next to the United Nations outpost, across from the small airport where large white helicopters emblazoned with the letters ‘UN’ arrive and depart daily. I share this field with the two Canadian founders of Shelters International Disaster Relief and about a dozen Haitian volunteers who bust their ass for $5 and 3 meals a day, removing rubble from one crumbling site after another. Breakfast consists of corn flakes with diluted condensed milk, lunch is rice and beans with chicken and sauce, and dinner is spaghetti. The weekdays consist of waking up before 7am to dress, eat, and load a pickup truck with wheelbarrows, shovels, and pickaxes, in order to be onsite by 8am. Work ends between 3 and 4pm, with an hour for lunch, and water breaks.
Today we started a new project – clearing a large grade school, L’Ecole Trinitie, where many children died during the earthquake on January 12th. While we’ve been told that all the bodies have been removed, we may still come across more. The work is back-breaking, first using pickaxes to break up the rubble, then shovels to load the wheelbarrows, and then pushing them into the street.
In just a few days I’ve become accustomed to the sight of destruction such that it seems normal. Rubble is everywhere, many second floors are now the first, and tents line the streets. But what I find heartening is that everyone I see is carrying on, running their shops from the street, smiling, laughing, playing music, washing laundry, and zipping up and down roads on the motorcycles that outnumber all other vehicles, honking their horns in a complex form of conversation. Even as the effects of the tragedy are everywhere, the Haitian spirit seems to shine above the debris, giving everyone a sense that life continues on.
Initiation ceremony — it conjures images of torchlight processions, Masonic robes, fratboys with paddle bruises, Navy SEALs hoisting logs. Initiation ceremonies mark a transition from one place to another, and it’s often more of a psychological step than a physical one.
While settling into what I’ll call “India mode” over the past two weeks, I’ve been trying to observe the initiation rites of travel — the tiny events that accumulate into a feeling of comfort in a foreign country.
Some are things that happen to us — things beyond our control. The choices the bus driver makes. The buffalo that blocks our path. The power outage in the internet cafe. The midnight buzzsaw beneath the hotel window. The stares.
Some we bring upon ourselves. The trip to the barber. What we accidentally step in. The foray into public transportation. The first bite of street food. The first dance.
Fellow travelers also have been noting their progress — they make announcements like, “This is my first hot kathi roll in 3 years!” or, “I thought I forgot how to squat.”
What initiation rituals help you immerse yourself in a journey?
Photo “Sara likes bugs” by Michael Sarver via Flickr.
Sullivan McLeod and surfboard
One of the gifts of aiming big is that sometimes, you actually reach your goals. It’s all too easy to fall into the idea that if you’ve never done something before, well, then, you probably can’t do it at all, or at least not right away. You’ve never lived abroad? Best not to jump into it; maybe start with living in a different state. Can’t run? Stay out of triathlons.
Or, you could throw caution to the winds, and aim for the sky. Sullivan McLeod, an author, traveler, and sometime bookstore worker in the small Australian town of Margaret River (which is where I met him), is going on a rodeo tour in the southern US…despite never actually having ridden a horse until recently, and never having been trained in rodeo at all.
Similarly, the participants in the North Pole Marathon do include some longtime runners…but also include a 14-year old girl (and her dad) and a Romanian who wants to become the first to play drums at the North Pole. Some of them just woke up one morning and decided: I want to do this. And they did.
There’s that old platitude that says: If you believe you can, or you believe you can’t, you’re right. What might YOU do, if it didn’t seem impossible?
Safe sex while traveling
A recent Swiss study of 59,000 respondents found that women and men travelers are prone to different diseases while on the road. The study found that female travelers are more prone to gastrointestinal ailments, particularly traveler’s diarrhea (bring your rehydration kits, ladies!), colds, and reactions to medications taken for traveling, such as anti-malarials. Women are also more prone to urinary tract infections, as is actually true in the greater, non-traveling population as well.
Male voyagers are at higher risk of fevers — that’s what comes from not taking your anti-malarials, guys! — and STDs, as well as altitude sickness and frostbite. Obviously it’s difficult to tell if the sex differences indicate that men and women actually SUFFER from different diseases, or just that they are more likely to seek treatment for these diseases. In the case of STDs, 1% of male travelers in the study sought treatment for an STD at a clinic, and past research has shown that men are more likely to have sex with someone they meet overseas than women are.
To this end, consider this your public safety announcement: ladies and men, bring and wear condoms! The study says, “Safe sex advice is a missing component in most pretravel practices and our study suggests that male travelers, in particular, would benefit from greater preventive efforts.” You might have remembered your Imodium and iodine and Larium and azithromycin, but all you need to protect your personal bits and potentially save your life is two condoms in an easy-to-carry container.
Also, guys: take it easy with altitude adjustments. And women: watch what you eat.
Sometimes travelers feel like they can only be instrumental while on the road, or that their services as a volunteer only fall within the spontaneity of their on-the-road lifestyle. Don’t let yourself fall into this trap. If you have experience in service related volunteer work, you know just how instrumental one person can be. If you’re wondering if it’s really worth it, chances are the answer is a resounding yes.
What will we bring back from our time on the road? Of course we will be filled with new insights to other cultures and even ourselves, but what kind of service can we bring back? How can we take some of the skills that we have learned along the road and make them valuable enough that others benefit from them once we return home?
Why not turn your flare for teaching ESL around, and offer to volunteer teaching a foreign language at your local area grade school, kindergarten, or summer camp while you’re in the States? Sure, teaching at any level in America comes with a list of required credentials and background checks. However, upon learning about my interest in foreign languages and my history of teaching ESL, I have been invited to teach master classes in French at local grade schools and speak about travel and language learning opportunities at local high schools in my hometown.
Even if they only invite you to teach once a month, or even once a semester, it’s novel experiences such as these that will stay with a child right up until they are ready to choose a major in college – or decide to go vagabonding for a year before beginning their studies.
Friends that I have made on the road have brought their skills back home and started volunteering in local dive shops. One friend trekked the Appalachian Trail and came home to volunteer with local Boy Scout groups and shared the tips he’d learned on wilderness survival and edible plants in the wild. I’ve met people who were endeared to the economic struggle of certain destitute regions they’ve traveled. One friend returned home such a place and got involved with local organizations and now does talks in high schools to spread awareness.
As we travel we are constantly assaulted with new sensations, new ways of life, new philosophies or religions. Why not volunteer and share your experiences and the information you have learned? Teach a cooking class after you return home from those years teaching in Korea? Start a Flamenco class at your local community center when you get back from Chile. What can you bring home from the road?
(Photo credit: bbc.co.uk)
“Travel writing isn’t really an exploration of where you’ve been, so much as an explanation of where you’ve come from. All journeys end up at the same address. Back home. Travelers don’t write for the people they visit, but for the people they’ve left behind.”
–A.A. Gill, AA Gill is Away (2002)
BootsnAll, the company which hosts Vagablogging, has been in business for 12 years and been a regular contributor on this site for many of them. Which is why we’re pleased to have this space in which to spread the word about our latest adventure – the BootsnAll Travel Writers Platform.
This program will give us an opportunity to partner with passionate travel writers who are eager to share what they know about places they love, and it will give those writers a chance to earn a steady income from doing something they love. Writers who are accepted into the program will earn a base amount of up to $500/month and will also get as much as 40% profit-sharing (the percentage is higher the longer the partnership lasts).
There’s definitely going to be work involved with the program, from both the writers involved and BootsnAll. We’re going to be dedicating our knowledge and resources to these sites, and we’re looking to work with writers who are willing to dedicate something to us as well.
If you think this sounds like a dream job, if you think it sounds too good to be true, or if you just want to learn a little bit more about it before you decide what you think, then we encourage you to check out the information about the BootsnAll Travel Writers Platform here. You can also read an article by BootsnAll’s CEO, Sean Keener, about why he’s so excited about this program.
We welcome your feedback about this program, and – if you like it – we hope you’ll help us get the word out to travel writers all over the world.
Generally speaking, questions about how much money someone makes or what they spend on a trip might seem like they’re a tad too personal – but when you let on that you’re planning a RTW trip, for some reason decorum goes out the window. People are so fascinated by the notion of traveling long-term, especially if they’ve even remotely considered it themselves, that they want to know – how do you do it?
So it’s not surprising that questions like “how can you afford such a long trip?” are fairly common ones. But what many people don’t realize is that traveling can sometimes be cheaper than life at home. Depending on where you live and where you’re going, your monthly expenses could potentially be a fraction of what they are right now. If you’re fielding indignant questions about how you could possibly afford to travel for so long, you might want to refer the skeptics to this article about why living on the road is a good option in a down economy, or how you can live quite well in Central America on $25 a day.
Luckily, all of this month’s RTW ticket specials routes you through some of those less-expensive destinations.
Here are the new special deals on multi-stop airline tickets available through BootsnAll – these deals are good through March 31, 2010:
If some of the stops on these itineraries are too rich for your blood, then creae your own itinerary tailored to your specific budget with our RTW trip planner. And if you’re still in the process of padding your savings account for your own trip, check out this great article on 28 ways to save money for travel.
After the 8.8-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck central Chile on the morning of February 27, the country is focusing on cleaning up, getting aid to affected regions and attempting to return to functionality. What do you do if you’re traveling or scheduled to travel in the country?
Citizens of the United States are encouraged by the U.S. State Department to register with its travel registration website to receive updated information on security and travel within Chile. For U.S. citizens in Chile without Internet access, it’s suggested that you contact the U.S. Embassy in Santiago (tel. 56-2-330-3000). Canadians in Chile requiring emergency consular assistance should contact the Canadian Embassy in Santiago at 56-2-652-3800. For contact information of other embassies in Chile, check this list.
If you’re looking for someone in Chile, or if you’re in country and trying to communicate to folks back home, the Google Person Finder is available for this need. Other options are to contact your country’s embassy or state department.
Strong aftershocks following an earthquake of this magnitude may occur for weeks afterward. The American Red Cross recommends that in the event of an aftershock, people who are outdoors should avoid being struck by falling debris by moving to open spaces, away from walls, buildings and other structures that may collapse. If indoors, get under a sturdy desk or table, hold on, and protect your eyes by pressing your face against your arm. If there is not a table or desk nearby, sit on the floor against an interior wall away from windows and tall furniture that may fall on you.
WorldNomads.com has put together an extensive list of advice for travelers currently in Chile, from safety tips to environmental hazards. If you have plans to visit Chile in the next few weeks, check out Wendy Perrin’s region-by-region report on where it’s safe to go according to Chile travel specialist Vanessa Guibert Heitner. And guidebook author Wayne Bernhardson has provided first-hand information from his contacts in Chile in his blog.
As the Santiago airport gets back to normal service, some travel may be a bit easier—especially to those areas that were minimally affected by the earthquake and tsunami. According to The Wall Street Journal, the airport has begun to operate national and international flights with restrictions.
Are you in Chile? Please share your tips and experience about the current situation in the comments section.
