Tag: travel
ABCs of Travel
I don’t do many lists here, nor do I often follow the latest “chain posting” trend, but the travel ABC’s sounded really fun. So here are mine.
Traveling with Books
Post in support of the start of the Passports With Purpose. This year’s goal is raising money to build libraries.
I enjoy the physical object of a book, both the feel of it as well as the smell of paper. They however are bulky and can be heavy, so the desire to travel requires some compromises. Becoming an expat in a non-English speaking country has added to those woes a bit as well. I not willing to give up on either reading or traveling so compromises ensue.
German Stereotypes
Germany is a great place to travel. In the past few years I have taken several organized tours to other parts of Europe. In doing the research I notices how few if any tours there seem to be for English speaking people throughout Germany. It makes me wonder if there are just some wrong preconceptions of what Germany is like. What are the ideas that most people seem to have of Germany?
Don’t Stop Staring
Often when caught staring as a kid, the retort was “Take a picture, it will last longer.” It occurs to me as I travel that this is somehow exactly what happens. Travelers and tourists alike search for the best picture and forget to actually LOOK at what they are taking a picture of. Are pictures somehow more important than looking at a place?
Country of Origin Labels
In the traveler and expat circles we tend to have friends and contacts all over the place. In these situations people often get labeled with their country of origin. “The Spanish girls or the guy from Canada or a bunch of Australians.” Does our “country of origin” define us in some way or is it just a convenient label?
Having Baggage while Traveling
Travel is something that frees us, well at least that is one goal. We hope to be free of responsibility or things that hold us back. Even so we carry a lot of things with us on a trip. Some of them are in our backpacks, others in our head. This emotional baggage can be as weighty as the physical stuff. What happens when you bring more baggage than just your smartly packed carry-on?
What do you eat on travel days?
I make no great secret that when I get hungry I am not as nice a person to be around. Travel days just have this all set up. Early waking up means maybe missing breakfast. Always on the run means eating fast food or whatever looks good at the bakery. Sometimes.. horror.. you even miss meals all together.
Authentic vs Traditional
Sally at Unbravegirl wrote a post this past Sunday about her search for the “authentic” travel experience in Thailand. It is a good article and the comments are just as interesting. This post grows out of a comment I left there; and might make more sense if you read her article first. I come to pretty much the same conclusion as her and most of the commenters, but I was interested to see what would come out of my mind when put to that subject.
