Pause to explore the most basic rewards of international travel
What happens to us when we travel internationally? Apart from viewing famous monuments and museums, how do we change, what do we really learn and how is our mind affected by the experience? I’ve recently had occasion to ask myself those questions and more, and here are my observances.
1. We are all alike. On an African safari, in the dung hut of a local woman, I am told through an interpreter that she hopes to learn to read. Why? So she can master a manual she has been given on how to better bring up her children.
2. We all think ourselves superior. In Amsterdam, a young Dutchman tells me how Holland oversubscribed a recent charity drive. Only in the Netherlands, he tells me, could this happen.
3. We all are responsible for one another. On a street in Belgrade, Serbia, I watch people from different areas and religions marching — happily and peaceably — in a folk-dance parade. Later, I feel almost physically sick to learn that they were now at each other’s throats. Travel makes it impossible to avoid feeling the suffering of others.
4. We grow when we confront our political or religious opposites overseas. I attend a foreign gathering of a minority religion. Though it is at odds with what I have experienced, I enjoy the service.
5. More than a single answer exists for human problems. An overseas acquaintance tells me of a totally different set of laws. Though his recitation amazes me, I understand that his policies often succeed.
6. All people should be “minorities” at some point in their lives. I walk the great cities of China, overwhelmed by a different people, and feel somewhat odd. It’s an object lesson for life back at home, where I’m a “majority.”
Travel, for some, is a mere recreation. For international travellers, it’s the best kind of education.
Arthur Frommer is the pioneering founder of the Frommer’s Travel Guide book series. He co-hosts the radio program, The Travel Show, with his travel correspondent daughter Pauline Frommer. Find more destinations online and read Arthur Frommer’s blog at frommers.com.