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“The wish to travel seems to me characteristically human: the desire to move, to satisfy your curiosity or ease your fears, to change the circumstances of your life, to be a stranger, to make a friend, to experience an exotic landscape, to risk the unknown, the bear witness to the consequences, tragic or comic, of people possessed by the narcissism of minor differences. Chekhov said, “If you’re afraid of loneliness, don’t marry.” I would say, if you’re afraid of loneliness, don’t travel. The literature of travel shows the effects of solitude, sometimes mournful, more often enriching, now and then unexpectedly spiritual.”
–Paul Theroux, The Tao of Travel
“Sun, sea and snow have each become a commodity. This turns travelers by default into consumers of climates and landscapes where they can disport themselves on tame terrain, chattering the while with their mates back home on mobile phones. Horace famously put his finger on the hidden dynamic here: Coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt. Different landscape but the same dreary habits of thought.”
–James Hamilton-Paterson, “The End of Travel,” Granta #94 (2006)
U.S. passports. Photo: J. Aaron Farr / Flickr
The academic schedule is like a shell game. For all of our school years, we get used to having summers off. Then once we start working, those glorious three months get cut down to two weeks. For those of us who live in the United States, that is.
Every once in a while, the media will tackle this question. The latest entry was this CNN report: Why is America the ‘no vacation nation’? Despite what Americans might believe, having only two weeks off is not the norm in other developed countries. For example, the famously hardworking Japanese typically get four weeks off. Europeans are known get anywhere from four to six weeks of paid vacation.
While the article says that the lack of regulation is the problem, I think the issue goes deeper than that. Would more Americans actually go abroad if employers were required to give them more time off?
In my time overseas, the Americans I’ve met have been far outnumbered by the British, Australian, Canadian, and European vagabonders on the road. Some make the argument that America is geographically isolated, so people are less inclined to travel. Australia seems to demolish that idea, since it’s even more isolated than the United States.
Some say it’s rooted in the Protestant work ethic of America’s founders. Hard work is a virtue, while leisure is branded as a sin. Does America’s status as a superpower lead to arrogance in a portion of its citizens? As in, “other countries learn from us, not the other way around.”
The media plays a role as well. I can’t remember the last time I watched a TV news report that encouraged people to go abroad. Seems like 99 percent of coverage advises against it. Governments also seem to discourage venturing out. Easy to see why, as people inevitably make comparisons of the countries they visit with their home nations. For example, nearly every American I know who’s been to Japan wishes that the United States had high-speed rail too. Travel would lead to more citizens returning home and complaining, “Why don’t we have bullet trains, universal health care, subsidized college tuition?!”
America has less of a social safety net, compared to other rich nations. Education, housing, health care and other necessities consume more of our paychecks. This leaves less discretionary income for travel. Many would-be travelers in my age group are shackled by student loans they took out to go to university. These usually require you to start paying them back within a few months of graduating. In contrast, I’ve heard that in Great Britain, graduates only have to start repaying their loans after their salaries exceed a certain threshold. Like if they start making more than 15,000 pounds a year. Such awesome flexibility.
What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Vagabonders can be masters of packing methods, as well as knowing which items are absolutely necessary and which can be left behind. Recently, a Lifehacker article (Unusual Items Worth Packing on your Next Vacation) suggests some additional things to consider stashing in your bag before your next big trip.
Some of the items are somewhat old-hat, such as keeping a color copy of your passport in your bag, as well as duct tape. Others, like split key rings to use as locking devices, and baby powder to help get unwanted sand off your feet (see also: shower), may make you think about other uses for common items that are worth adding them to your packing list.
Do you have a tried-and-true unusual item that you always bring along? What is it, and how does it enhance your travel experience?
Perusing the Lonely Planet website recently, I was drawn to this April article of Top 10 Cities for Artistic Inspiration. Travel can inspire us on a multitude of levels. It can inspire us to move somewhere new, embark on a new career or educational path, to write a novel or memoir, or even to produce other creative works. Great vagabonding voices like Jack Kerouac created some of their most beautiful works from the inspiration found while traveling new areas.
The article covers inspiring cities in North and South America, Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia. Reading through, I found myself nodding along with the author’s evaluation of those cities on the list that I had been to, epic cities like San Francisco and London that seem to be epicenters of the art world. However, creative inspiration can be something that is very specifically tailored to an individuals tastes. Some may find endless inspiration in the chaotic crowds of Khao San Road, while others find illumination in the quiet streets of Brugge. Some cities and countries can offer rich traditions in painting or music, but perhaps you are moved more deeply by dance or architecture. Keeping in mind, it’s not always the most beautiful places that are the most personally inspiring.
In which countries or cities have you found your greatest inspiration? In which ways did it inspire you?
http://aronymariana.blogspot.com
Age: 33
Hometown: Mexico City
Quote: “Life is short. Go! Now! Our only regret is not having done this sooner.”
(more…)
Chiang Khong, Thailand
It was seven years ago this week that a Honda dealership in Mae Sai, the northernmost town in Thailand, begrudgingly rented me a motorbike for the day. “We don’t want to do this,” the woman at the counter said, since it wasn’t profitable for them, but she also said that thanks to some tourism-friendly law they were required to do so. Apologizing to her for the inconvenience but taking full advantage of the law, I spent the better part of the next ten hours on that bike, tilting into back roads and main roads and exploring the famous Golden Triangle.
In the town of Chiang Khong, half way into the day’s journey, I parked in front of a sign that said “Welcome to Bamboo Guest House and Restaurant”. It was a backpacker sort of place, and the restaurant overlooked the Mekong River, on the opposite side of which was the Lao town of Huay Xai. I entered the restaurant, bought a coke, and sat.
I was in love with this seat beside a mighty river, which is why the next day I would return by bus and spend the night here. The chairs at the Bamboo provided a place to slow down and reflect, to watch water that had traveled from the mountains of China and now, right before my eyes, was rounding a bend on its way to Cambodia and Vietnam, and then the Pacific Ocean. I thought of other rivers I had seen – the Nile in Cairo, the Mississippi in St. Louis, the Danube in Budapest — and felt the power of watery highways, the presence of Pharaohs and Mark Twain and classical music. I also recalled how as a young kid I first became mesmerized by the Mekong — and the region through which it flows — thanks to a Michael Landon movie called “Love is Forever,” based on the real-life story of Australian photojournalist John Everingham, who used scuba gear to get his girlfriend out of Laos.
If you find a seat beside a great river, take it. Often they have shaped entire civilizations. They may also shape the traveler who sits still beside them.
“It may sound naive, but when you enter a cross-cultural situation, you are by definition an ambassador for your culture. Decency and pride dictate that we present ourselves well, with respect and integrity. Think of every such cultural encounter as a reciprocal obligation. If you make a promise to return to a village, to send a photograph, keep it. Always leave behind more than you bring away, give more than you take. Whether we travel as tourists, journalists, or academic anthropologists, it is our comparative wealth that allows us to be in these places, to have these life-affirming interactions. This is always a privilege but never a right. The goal of travel is to return transformed. And that’s the gift of engagement with another cultural reality.”
–Wade Davis, “On Native Ground,” Condé Nast Traveler, December 2008
Some travelers may pick a destination from a list, plan a week-long trip there, and move on to the next spot. The planning for such a vacation can be done quickly, including any last-minute prep you might feel like doing on the plane. Long-term travelers, on the other hand, tend to take longer to plan out their trips – these are, after all, epic journeys of several months to several years, so it only makes sense to take longer than a day to figure out the details.
The trouble with such drawn-out planning is that it’s easy to get sidetracked by something else and put off the next steps in your RTW trip planning process for another day or week. Regular reminders of your travel goals are helpful, especially if they’re also providing planning tips. This is only one of the reasons we’re so excited about a new series on BootsnAll dedicated to RTW travel – it’s Round the World Wednesday.
Every week, we’ll feature a new article in the Round the World Wednesday series designed to help long-term travelers. Some articles will de-mystify an aspect of RTW travel, such as how you really can afford to travel long-term. Some articles will let readers in on little secrets to help them get more out of their trips, like the “stopover secret.” Some articles will cover topics that are common to every RTW traveler’s planning process, like how to decide where to go on a RTW trip.
We hope you’ll tune in every Wednesday to find out what’s new in the Round the World Wednesday series, and that it’ll serve as a weekly reminder of your travel aspirations. For even more RTW travel tips, don’t forget to sign up for BootsnAll’s RTW Travel Newsletter, delivered monthly via email.
A tangled web of gadgets. Photo: Peter Kaminski / Flickr
In my last couple of blog posts, I waxed poetic about the life of a digital nomad. As a counterpoint, here’s a fine article that appeared in the Orange-County Register: Digital detox for a trip to Italy. Gary Warner, the newspaper’s travel editor, decided to cut off the electronic umbilical cord for an entire vacation. With today’s gadgets and social networks, many of us have become used to (addicted to?) instant feedback from our friends. Going cold turkey can be tough.
Warner is no Luddite and tech-basher. He does acknowledge how technology can enrich travel and make it more convenient. However, he does point out a big danger: technology can bring home on the trip with you, with all its attendant baggage and stress. In his words:
I found the computer and phone gave me an agitated feeling. My body might be on the road, but my head was at my desk thousands of miles away. Even GPS had stripped away the serendipity of getting wonderfully lost. Did I really need–did I really want–the “least time” route from Skye to Inverness?
Warner’s observations are similar to the ethos our own Rolf Potts trumpeted in his book Vagabonding. An over-reliance on things like the Internet might blind us to the exotic locale we came all this long way to discover.
Here are some things I do to moderate my dose of technology:
–Leave your devices at home. This is the most drastic step–but also the most effective. It’s easy to resist temptation when it’s “out of sight, out of mind.” I’ve done all my trips without carrying a laptop. Internet cafes are everywhere, even in some of the least developed countries I’ve been, like Burma. You can get online when you need to.
–Get online early in the morning. People are asleep, businesses are closed, so you’re not missing out on anything. If you check e-mail sometime later in the day or evening, you risk losing your chance to meet cool new people or have an unforgettable experience.
–Batch your Internet time. Compress all your activity into one hour or two, and then log off once your time is up. When you start racking your brain for websites to look up, it means you’ve finished your necessary business and should get offline.
–Read, but don’t reply. I’ve easily wasted hours by writing blow-by-blow accounts in e-mails to friends. Unless it’s really urgent, it’s better to postpone replying to every message you get.
–Don’t get caught up in documenting every aspect of your trip. With blogging and social networks, it’s easy to get sidetracked by “recording” your travels with photos, video, and text updates. Rather than living our travels. This is why I always write posts on my travel blog after I’ve returned from a place, not while I’m there. While I do keep a travel journal, I strictly write bullet-point lists of key events and details, not full-length stories. I save that heavy-duty writing for my blog (Marcus Goes Global). Your record-keeping style may vary, though.
Have you ever been cut off from the Internet for an extended length of time? Were you excited to get online and see all the messages from your friends? But have you ever been disappointed by what was in your inbox? Warner sure was:
Of course, I re-toxed as soon as I got home. Though it was past midnight when we finally came in the door from the airport, I pulled my devices from the drawer and fired them up. More than 1,200 emails, more than 1,000 tweets from feeds . . . When I scrolled and clicked through it all, I found I had missed absolutely nothing that mattered.
In a way, this reinforces that we can live without technology. Warner’s home life didn’t collapse while he was unplugged. For more, please check out Rolf Potts’ interview with Gary Warner.
Have you met people who couldn’t seem to get offline? How do you keep from over-using technology? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
