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Whenever you travel to somewhere new, do you often catch yourself saying: “It’s like so and so”?
I know I certainly do and it’s understandable to make comparisons to past experiences and destinations you’ve visited, if only to give yourself some sort of frame of reference by which to evaluate a new place.
The trouble is that doing this can leave you with a less-than-open mind and biased eyes through which to experience your new location. Instead of seeing a place for what it is, you view it against the relative merits of other places you’ve been to.
The longer my husband and I remain permanent travellers, it seems the less we notice the physical differences in actual geography, environment and surroundings and the more we notice the differences in people, cultures, behaviours and lifestyles.
It’s hard when one travels to appreciate a place for itself and I catch myself saying all too frequently “Oh this is so like blah blah”.
Does this mean I don’t appreciate a place for what it is? I’m not sure but I frequently wish I’d stop doing it.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Sometimes comparing to another destination, or even home, is a way to feel comfortable. Travel means breaking ourselves from the routine, which can be scaring sometimes, and comparing to something we known can be a kind of “safety net”.
But, speaking for myself, I always try to empty my mind when going away.