If you want to travel the world, pick up a broom.
Tips for meaningful travel, part 2 of 2
Option A.
You can book the ticket, take nice pictures to show your friends, visit the places guidebooks suggest, and rank all of the must-sees online. You can eat food that has been prepared specifically for you and stay in the best hotels before returning home “relaxed.”
Option B.
You can fall in love with a land’s people, learn their struggles, share their heartaches, laugh with them (and at yourself), eat their food, and adopt their lifestyle — realizing you’re only experiencing a small sample of their world, that you can and will return home…but when you do, you’ll return changed.
I’m not saying one or the other is right, or that they are mutually exclusive, but I have experienced the relationships that come from discarding your own agendas and focusing on the people, learning about their way of life and sharing their traditions.
Yes! Eat the food.
In cultures around the world, food is associated with care and love. Even if you don’t like it, you should probably eat it, maybe even make a big deal about it. Someone is going out of their way to feed you and try to make you feel comfortable and welcome. And when you’re in someone’s house, you pay respect. This includes appreciating what they offer you.
Adhere to a strict gluten-free, low fat, raw food diet at home? I’m not telling you to put your health at risk, but terms like organic and free range aren’t tossed around quite as frequently overseas as in the U.S., where carbohydrates and fat have become Satan’s relatives.
I don’t think I’ve eaten so much fried food or rice in my life as I did while in Nepal, but the Nepalis do it and are living well past 100.
It’s fine to sit in a room and understand nothing.
Often, I would find myself in situations and not be entirely sure what was going on. Not everything needs to be expressed in words, but there’s only so much you can glean from body language. I couldn’t participate in the conversation, so I’d have to sit there; sometimes smiling, sometimes pretending I understood, sometimes just taking up space. Learning a language isn’t easy, but I sure as hell tried, embarrassing myself often.
There were days I’d be bored or frustrated because shops were closed, strikes were shutting down streets, people were lazy, and nothing got finished on time. Then I realized this is my own shit, and I needed a major readjustment. Self-awareness is one of those things that you should not leave at home.
As the Nepalis say, “Don’t worry.” Chinta nargarnus.
Bollywood films are long. Really long.
I’m sitting in what resembles a pitch black high school auditorium with people smoking, throwing things and screaming when either a buxom woman or hunky man appears on screen. I wish I could say I knew the latest songs and stars before arriving in Nepal. In fact, I had no idea the influence India has on the country’s culture.
I attended not one, but two, cinema hall film showings. I think they are four hours long. I didn’t understand a word, except for the occasional “Oh my god!” and random expletive. No, there weren’t subtitles.
But the chance to sit alongside friends and show interest in something that interested them was worth every moment of confusion.
I even surprised myself by renting Ghajini when I returned home.
Want to have a unique and meaningful experience? Get over yourself.
You’re given a beautiful gift when you enter someone’s life and can see the world from their eyes. To me, this is the best part of traveling: the ability to see beauty in places you’d not expect.
Sweeping floors, sleeping on floors, eating with my hands, learning pop songs and dancing with neighbors — I sang in public (this caused extreme anxiety, but I did it anyway) and tripped over stones in early morning darkness as I stumbled to knead dough for momos (they look better than they taste). I ladled dal for lunch lines, scalding my hands and sometimes the fingers of the recipient. I visited the local market daily for no particular reason other than to sit and drink tea with shop owners. I’d run to each stall asking for orders before settling into a seat behind a table of roots and greens.
I was brought to different houses and paraded around like a show-and-tell-object. I got pelted in the face with a soccer ball while I was doing pushups in the grass. But every Sunday the monks would play, and I was there, dutifully watching (sort of).
Whether at home or overseas, risk looking foolish and look for ways to help.
This is when you develop real connections with people. The memories of the places you visit may fade, but the people’s stories will forever be with you. Unpredictable, catching you off guard, triggered by a sigh, sense, feeling, or smell. You’ll see the world differently because of them.
For more traveling tips, check out I’ve worn the same jeans for six months [1/2].
