I do think that each country has beauty and other fascinating draws to offer, so I’m not about to name a specific nation or region. I can also see doing so later causing me to eat my words anyway.
Like most tourists, however, I’m not interested in visiting squalid and dangerous areas. I don’t mind rustic or off-grid adventures. I just don’t want to experience urban slums. I have an idea it’s probably the same anywhere, so I don’t need to go somewhere else for exposure. I can probably find such an area not twenty miles away from the comfort of my own home.
Theoretically, I love to travel. That was one of my main goals as a kid: to make travel a regular occurrence in my life. I can say that I have somewhat fulfilled that wish. Before having myself entrenched in the life I have now, I was able to see and enjoy other continents.
These days, while I’d still love to see and experience other places, there are certain considerations that sort of temper down my wanderlust. First, I have children on the spectrum, who are less inclined to tolerate the rigors and discomfort of long-distance travel.
Their safety is also a concern in strange places, especially since one of them is a very accomplished eloper. Many tales support that modifier. 😀 I understand that I can entrust them to a caregiver for a short period. As a matter of fact, now that they’re bigger, my husband and I do feel freer to travel by ourselves (I think I might have to do it a few times before the guilt would go away, though). It’s just our luck that this global oil crisis coincided with our travel intentions for this year.
The second consideration actually has to do with my age and general well-being, but that could just be an excuse, of course. Now that I’m much older, I have body pains that would flare up even at the mere idea of having my behind parked in an economy seat for hours on end.
There was a time when I would be okay spending the night on a bench (with friends, of course!) if the city was overbooked. Now, I like my creature comforts, and, again, my body would protest at the idea of such tribulation. 😀
So, maybe travel isn’t an easy and ready option these days, but I’m still curious about other places and cultures. Taking that into account, what can I do as the next best thing? There are several possibilities.
- Restaurants and actual communities. Taste is a wonderful sense, and ambience can be replicated. If I’m curious about a certain place, I could research the nearby dining establishment that serves the most authentic cuisine. There may also be sections of the city that have the most concentration of certain ethnicities, so it would be a good idea to pick a restaurant in that neighborhood for a pretty genuine vibe.
- Lessons. It could be cooking, dance, crafts, martial arts, etc. Longing to visit the Levant? Learn to make dishes from the area. Dreaming of Hawai’i? Take a hula dance class. And remember that you’re not limited to whatever’s available in your town or city. Online classes also work.
- Language. This could actually also fall under the second item on the list, but language is on a different level. It’s a real cultural experience, and it’s best learned through immersion. That’s why it really helps to hang out with native speakers. Again, online also works.
- Holiday traditions. It’s an experience even if it may not be altogether authentic. How about Jólabókaflóð at Christmas for Iceland? Thanksgiving for the US? The four-month Christmas season for the Philippines? It’s a fun way to get an idea of how a certain holiday would be celebrated in another country. 😀
- Music. What a mood setter this is! If you want a specific atmosphere, you gotta have the right sound. When I was teaching languages to middle and upper schoolers, I often had Parisian jazz or Spanish pop as muzak in my classroom.
- Books. I actually started with books, reading about far-off places incredibly different from the world I knew. When I want to do a spot traveling without leaving the confines of my cocoon, I still resort to books.
- Movies. Books allow you to imagine scenery, but film actually shows it to you. These days, you can see actors hamming it up in the actual setting of their movie (or another place very similar in appearance), unlike before, when you could tell that the actors were just in the studio with props and painted backgrounds. I remember watching “An Affair to Remember,” “Funny Face,” etc. and totally being sold, cultivating a yearning to see places like the French Riviera and Paris myself. I was a kid very much willing to be convinced, though, so you can excuse the gullibility.
- Super combo of all of the above. For a really solid pseudo-travel experience, I suggest doing all of the above until heaven smiles upon you and you can actually go to your desired destination.
Do you have other suggestions for those of us who love the idea of travel, but don’t really get much opportunity to do so? Please share! Have a great one!
This Small Life 