Donating your travel expertise
The Travelers Aid desk at Kennedy Airport. Volunteers helping the lost, the stranded and the desperate. Photo: Yana Paskova for The New York Times
Us vagabonders are quite privileged to know our way around different lands. Have you ever “donated” your travel expertise to newbies? Matt Gross, writer of the New York Times Frugal Traveler blog, did just that. He started doing time at JFK airport at a help desk staffed by volunteers. Here is his article: Frugal, but with plenty to give.
Reading the article brought back memories. I’ve done long stretches living in hostels in Taiwan, while I was looking for jobs. Many times, I’ve been “that guy.” The one-man information desk for newly arrived travelers with lots of questions about where to go, what to do, etc. I’m happy to report many of my “students” later settled into happy lives in Taiwan.
Help can be virtual as well. If friends of friends hear about your travels, you may get e-mails asking for advice. I’ve enthusiastically written mega-long e-mails about topics ranging from clubbing in Bangkok to how to change money in Myanmar (Burma).
If you have a travel blog, you could include your hot tips on where to stay and how to do things cheaply. I often find it’s better to put these at the end of a blog post, after your main narrative. Whenever I’ve tried to insert too many travel tips into a story, it becomes unreadable. People will appreciate advice from a trusted source like a good friend over any guidebook.
The satisfaction of helping someone to make the leap to vagabonding is incalculable. Travel is life-changing, and it’s not often we get the chance to make such a positive impact on someone’s life. This quote, commonly attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, sums it up nicely: “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” You can find the full text of that here: “Success” passage.
Ever shared your Jedi-Master-like knowledge of traveling with others? Please share your stories in the comments.
January 8th, 2010 at 2:37 am
I think, pretty soon, online travel community will completly change the way people will travel. Personally, I am done with guide books ( Lonely Planet, Rough Guides…), state tourism web sites, and “professional outfitters”. First-hand info from people who “been there, done that ” is more appreciated than biassed “tips” ( “stay at this $200 hotel, it’s great ! ) from “third party”.
P.S : If you are ever in Seattle, besides staying at several hostels , you can find a cheap motel for $ 29 a night near Sea-Tac airport.
January 8th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Great post! I shared my travel expertise while waiting for my flight to Phoenix, AZ at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland, OH. An elderly woman sat next to me as I waited for the plane to arrive. I could tell she was nervous. She told me it was her first time at Hopkins. I gave her information about Hopkins and Sky Harbor in Phoenix, AZ. I also gave her some travel information about Phoenix, AZ. I found out this was the first time she’s traveled in 20 years! She’s traveling to Copenhagen this year so I gave her “international” travel tips as well.
When it was time for us to board, I repeated the rows because she could not hear or understand (who can) the woman when she announced the rows to board. The elderly woman thanked me for my time and was grateful for the help I gave her. It felt good to help out. I enjoy sharing my travel expertise with others.
January 8th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
I wouldn’t consider myself a travel expert by any means or have “travel expertise”. But I’m amazed at how much more I know than the average person. I love helping people out who have no clue when it comes to travel. Having even just a little travel knowledge can save someone hundreds and hundreds of dollars and frustrations. That’s why I appreciate blogs so much. Like Paul says above, nothing’s better than first hand recommendations.
January 11th, 2010 at 1:48 am
Helping travelers is my type of volunteering. In two ways: the first, and so far the most rewarding one, is hosting people at my home through the network of Couchsurfing. Those guys and girls make my life so rich, that sometimes it feels that I am the one on the receiving end.Sometimes it’s hard to see them leave. And it’s great too to show them the Montreal that a montrealer knows and loves.
Recently, inspired by some postings of mine on Facebook, a friend decided to go to Colombia as well. It felt good to have inspired someone’s life, and as you said, potentially even changing it. But I also felt so responsible! It mattered so much to me that he had the best possible experience.
Luckily he did!
Hopefully my travel blog will help and inspire many more.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Your blog is awesome