Feeling At Home on the Road


 

Randy's Travel Tips
On Relaxing and Enjoying Your Trip


Copyright © 1992-2009 Randy R. Johnson, all rights reserved.

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 The First Few Weeks  Understanding  Cultural Experiences  Cultural Awareness  Philosophy  Local Customs  Photography  Ramadan  Blending In  Living With Inconveniences  Avoiding Hassles  Preparation  Behavior and Appearance  Anticipation  The Big One  Handling the Bad Times  Dealing with Hassles  Culture Shock  Humility  Getting to Know Yourself  Depression  Appreciation  Learn Something!
Footloose and Fancy-Free Table of Contents
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   Footloose and Fancy-Free

I was sitting on the verandah of the cafe at my hotel in Manila one day, reading a book or maybe just thinking about my plan for the afternoon. A traveling couple walked by and stopped to ask me for directions. They began with "Excuse me, do you live here?" I was flattered, because I apparently gave the impression (just sitting there) that I was somehow "at home" in this strange place. Gee, I must be living right! Because that's just how I like to feel on the Road.

You don't feel at home when you take a business trip to a strange city, and you won't feel at home darting around the world on an escorted tour. Really feeling comfortable -- feeling like you belong and are in control of your life -- can certainly be difficult to attain, even at home. Travel -- leisurely independent travel -- is a great opportunity to pursue that ideal, because you do have more control -- perhaps for the first time in your life -- over your own time and plans; and because being able to feel at home will immeasurably improve your appreciation of the people and cultures you visit.

One of my goals in sharing all my travel notes is to help you feel more comfortable in your travels, so that you can better enjoy and benefit from them. Every section gives you information that will hopefully bring you more comfort, convenience, and confidence in getting the most out of your travel environment, and in avoiding or dealing with the pitfalls.

For those of you who just dropped in, my Travel Tips focus mainly on long-term travel in the Third World. But you will find a few notes here to help you in planning for and surviving any trip.

This section discusses a few specific attitudes and techniques that can help you feel more relaxed and comfortable in your life On the Road -- perhaps even more comfortable than you have ever been at home, where responsibilities tend to tug at you from all directions. They include cultural awareness and sensitivity, avoiding and dealing with problems, and ways to make your daily travel life richer and more satisfying and rewarding.

Like golf or ice-skating, the more skillful your are at travel, the more you can enjoy the total experience. Of course, some people will have fun no matter how badly they play, and others can never really relax and enjoy themselves, no matter how expert they become. Our old familiar habits are hard to break, and we can all feel some sense of insecurity just being outside of our home environment. The longer you travel, the easier it will be to let go of that fixed image of yourself -- who you are at home and how you live -- and learn to accept and become a living part of the new environments around you, yes all over the world.

Once you get over the initial period of uncertainty you should begin to feel more and more confident as you develop the kinds of attitudes (relaxed), skills, and behavior that best help you to understand and be accepted by the people in the communities you visit. This often involves the humbling experience of accepting that there are many situations you cannot understand, and have very little control over, no matter how unpleasant or unjust.

Sometimes you have to remind yourself to appreciate the marvelous nature of your life style, and coax yourself into a more care-free state of mind. You may come to feel so at home on the Road that your life of adventure comes to seem mundane!

The First Few Weeks

No matter how much preparation you have made, don't expect to feel or act like an old veteran as soon as your feet hit the ground. I have to start out fresh on each new trip, and it still takes me several weeks to get rid of feelings of insecurity and inadequacy in the travelers' world. Take it slowly. Realize that you don't yet have the instincts to protect yourself from the various pitfalls of traveling. Give yourself time to develop them.

Arrive at your first destination in the daytime. You may have to take a more expensive flight, but arriving in a strange airport in the middle of the night, with no public transportation, and no hotels available is difficult and hazardous at any time during your trip. After a 24-hour flight from the security of home, it can be both intimidating and inviting of rip-offs.

Don't underestimate the impacts of culture shock. Check into a hotel you can be comfortable in. It may be more expensive than what you will later become accustomed to, but it is a good investment. Stay in one place (probably your arrival point) for several days or even a week, getting used to all the local standards -- prices, food, pace -- as well as to acclimate to your new life as a vagabond. I try to do this for every new country, and preferably in a smaller town where it is cheaper and easier. That is another good reason to travel overland when possible, instead of flying everywhere.

As soon as you can, find the local travelers' hangouts, and join their community; other travelers are often your best source of information. Get out and walk around. Don't just go sightseeing, wander through the local shops and marketplaces, becoming familiar with the local lifestyle and getting used to your role as a part of that scene. This is your new home, you belong here.

Understanding

Naturally, you won't be able to understand everything that is going on around you, especially when you first arrive. But don't be surprised when there are many situations that you still cannot understand, even after long experience and earnest inquiry. Some situations are shrouded in language and culture, but others are just plain mysterious! Not everything has a reason -- not one that you will ever learn.

You don't need to feel uncomfortable about this; accept your lack of understanding and live with it. We westerners are so accustomed to having an answer and an explanation for everything. Something in us demands to know "Why?" You must learn to quiet that something, in order to be more content with your life in the Third World. Many locals don't have the slightest idea where electricity comes from (or how), who their government officials are, or why they must stand in line and pay bribes to get what they want. They just accept these things as a part of life.

Whenever I show my photos at home, someone always asks me questions I can't answer. "What is that man doing?" "How did they get the grain up there?" "What is she wearing around her waist?" "Is that a religious custom?" "What do the stripes mean on his face?" "Why do they do that?"

To all of these questions, I just answer, "I don't know," and pretty soon someone may exclaim, "My God, didn't you understand anything that was going on around you?" More likely, they just begin to ask, "Well, couldn't you find out?" In many cases, the answer to that question is "no". I never felt that I had to know what all the explanations were, partly because I knew I was unlikely to find out. The other part is a feeling that understanding is not necessary to enjoyment. Probably half the people in those photos didn't know how the grain got up there either, or if it was a religious custom or not; they didn't bother, so why should I? After a while, you get so used to not understanding, that you may stop trying altogether, and that is a bad habit. There are certainly many things you can learn about a culture, especially if you can make yourself understood, but sometimes you just have to let go of your intellectual curiosity and enjoy.

Check out Inscrutable under Glimpses of the Road, back on Randy's Travel Page.


Similarly, it is not necessary to understand Italian to appreciate the opera, nor Japanese to appreciate Kabuki, or Mandarin for the Beijing Opera. In Tokyo you can hire headphones to hear an English explanation of the Kabuki plays. I am so used to not understanding everything, that I never use them. Kabuki is wild, colorful, and thrilling. I can see it, I can hear it, I can feel it, and I don't want someone talking in my ear in English throughout the entire experience. In Thailand I went to the kick-boxing matches just to hear the incredible music and feel the crowd; I didn't care to watch too much of the action in the ring.


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