Put Down the Lonely Planet
Over only five months of traveling, I have seen an excessive amount of dependence on the lonely planet guide book.
When I started my trip in Southeast Asia, I did carry around a Lonely planet guide book and after about 3 months-it was given away to a fellow traveler.
"Are you sure you don't want it?"
"It's just not something I need
The lonely planet encourages tourists to “clique” together with fellow tourists in hostels, hotels, guesthouses, and restaurants instead of getting to know with locals. Tourists feel comfortable with tourists. I am not saying that all lonely planet recommendations are inauthentic. There are many local establishments and guesthouses run by locals, which gives a local experience. But when traveling it feels like lonely planet is running the world or based off my experience-Southeast Asia and India.
Many restaurants, hotels, and shops have signs up saying, “Lonely planet recommended.” One would think that the influence would be mild with locals promoting their business through quality or real recommendations, but this is not the case. The lonely planet is giving many local establishments business, but it is chipping away at what real traveling is about.
Real traveling is about exploring what is new to you and following your curiosity and spirituality (if you have this component in your life). Yes, the lonely planet is helpful at midnight when you do not know the area and need a reliable place to stay. Allowing your intuition and interpersonal interaction to be involved is even more important. What if the nice Indian man does his guesthouse name in the lonely planet? Shouldn’t one still give him a chance? If you like him, the place is clean, the price is good, then why not give him a chance? He is a human being with a heart of gold, a family to support, and he needs the business.
It was surprising to see the influence of this guidebook constructed by white travelers (Sorry, but I do not see many of the authors from Asian or African countries). The UK and the US are most prominent in the Authors of the book. What makes Brad from the US qualify to judge a city and where are the best places? He may have traveled to India ten times, but it does not mean he is taking an insider approach on the area. I am not criticizing his writing, experience, or travels, but it just seems like travelers are lacking a real cultural learning.
If you are sleeping with (staying at the same guesthouse) with fellow tourists, dining with them, and doing sightseeing and activities with them-how much are you learning about the culture? I am not an expert traveler by any means and I am just learning like other fellow travelers, but I have witnessed a lot of separatism going on between locals and travelers.
I just encourage travelers to think outside the box when traveling. Take an unknown route, do not plan your next destination based off Lonely planet recommended cities (make a stop at a brand new place), spend quality time with the people and the natural environment (powerful if you are spiritual of course), sit and eat in a restaurant with not one tourist, visit a temple or museum off your normal radar, and immerse yourself in the culture.
Word to travelers: There is an existence without the lonely planet guidebook. You will survive your traveling and you may enjoy and love your experience even more-I promise.
Never Alone When Traveling
Many people ask, ponder, or wonder how do you get by traveling alone? Don’t you get lonely and need a friend?
My answer is simple: I am never alone when traveling.
Traveling alone is something that I just love and actually have more difficulty traveling with others because my interests are so diverse from the average traveler. Most people traveling with me would not want to go through villages and spend time with locals rather they would want to go to the beach or go drink-not my interest. The only one person I can truly travel with and miss traveling with is my wife, Tanya. She is amazing and we have the best time together, but she has a family and commitments so my life goes on with or without her.
When I make the statement I am never alone. I am never alone because I have my higher power by my side-this may sound cliché to some, but this is real. I am constantly meeting people (his spirit attracts other to mine)-all day and everyday whether it is a shop owner, a street vendor, on a bus, at a park, in a temple, at a tourist site, at a guesthouse, in a café, or anytime-anywhere. I actually meet more people than I would if I traveled with another person, which brings me to my theory on the beauty of being alone.
The beauty of being alone is that one has potential to meet more people than when being with another friend or group. It is important to note that the person has to be open minded and have a desire to interact with others. One can go through traveling not speaking to a soul and with their head dug deep inside their books, music, or hobbies. The energy you give to the universe comes back to you full circle in life. The energy you send out to people around you may increase/ decrease your chances of having a positive interaction.
If open minded and willing to learn about others, the potential for learning and meeting new friends is endless. As an American, I never realized how many people are interested in getting to know me. I think of Americans as boring and have little interest in talking with them when traveling unless they are first class Americans.
A first class American is someone who is open minded to new cultural experiences, immerses themselves into other cultures, travels, and believes that America is not the best and only country in the world. There are many of them that I come across on couchsurfing and these kinds of people are the ones I truly appreciate.
Back to people’s interest in getting to know me, I did not realize until this recent trip how many Indians and Southeast Asians are interested in me just being an American who speaks English. English has incredible value worldwide and growing up you just take it for granted. I am amazed with people’s interest in getting to know my culture. From my experience, these locals abroad have such an interest in getting to know us so we should have equal interest in getting to know them right?
Unfortunately, most Americans do not have this interest in cultural learning because real travel is not encouraged, which leads to ignorance, discrimination, and stereotyping. For instance, the Middle East is perceived in US media as this awful place, but in reality it is not. I cannot speak of the Middle East based off personal experience, but just based off people I have met and shared travel experiences. We are encouraged to think negatively based off limited real experiences and built up negativity.
My points are getting jumbled together, but back to my main point that there is true beauty in traveling alone. What you can see, do, think, and experience-the sky is the limit. Since you are alone, you get bored so you spark up conversions with random strangers who might end up being lifelong friends.
The true social networking starts with TRAVELING not FACEBOOK. Many Americans fear traveling and worry about leaving their socially constructed life, but the opportunity abroad is amazing. This statement depends on a variety of factors of course, but if you are a person who is extroverted and meet people easily-this statement is true. When you are traveling you are building connections and sometimes you never know who people really are and who
Helping vs. hurting?
In Cambodia, you have groups of white tourists coming into tourist areas like Angkor Wat, the Floating village, the markets, and the local kids flock to them. They see them and try to sell bracelets, books, and postcards. Tourists buy from the children and they visit orphanages taking pictures with the children. In one of the billboards, it actually said “Children are not tourist attractions.” This whole idea of helping them by buying from them and spending a few minutes with them taking pictures. Is this helping or harming children?
I will give an example of the young girl about 10 years old selling bracelets. Yuskay and I were at dinner and she came to our table trying to sell us a bracelet. Yuskay and I were astounded with the way she spoke, her mannerisms, and behavior. This girl spoke like she was 20 years old and after all her talking, I was persuaded to buy a bracelet from her. She is selling on the pub street with many tourists so with those strategic, persuasive selling tactics definitely make her money.
If she is making good money on the streets, what will motivate her to go and get an education? She has built up street experience (alternative education) and I will argue that this is real life experience and learning. She will just keep selling on the street leading to potentially other money making careers like prostitution.
This girl is like many street children who continue to engage in the street life rather than pursuing an education. Tourists who are coming in thinking they are helping kids purchasing from them are actually harming them. At the temple, I saw an American couple buy a few things from the girls and then they took a picture with them. I agree with the billboard that children are not tourist attractions and we should think about our helping when we buy something off the street or when we are coming in as volunteers.
Volunteering is another issue where as Americans we come in wanting to help and implement our own ideas, goal, and plan instead of listening and learning about the needs of the community. Who are we to come in and try to create change and make a difference when maybe we do not really know how?
People living in these villages know how to survive and live without excess wants and focusing on their real needs. What do we even know about how a community exists? Do we know how to live off basic needs without electricity and technology? Would we be able to survive?
Sosune and many other people I talk to speak about their own experience with such doubt and they speak of Americans so highly as if we are superior. This is not the case as children develop a work ethic at a younger age, they are nurturing, help with domestic tasks, and can do many things that Americans cannot. Sosune said she wishes she knew how to type faster and learned more about history. I told her that she could do 10 things as a child that many Americans could not do. What about skills, trades, and manuel labor? That is not an American specialty. An American may know how to work an iPhone, but a Southeast Asian knows how to stay warm, cook, clean, or take care of their sibling. (This was a very general statement, but it is just to demonstrate the natural abilities of human beings that are utilized).
We are dependent on electronics and technology as those in Cambodia spend time outside talking, socializing, interacting with tourists, working outdoors, and having skilled trades, which is diminishing more and more overtime in America.
If 80 percent of our behavior is learned through interpersonal action who is really doing the learning? Americans sitting in cubicles, watching television, and movies. Sosune said she can only watch a maximum of 15 minutes of television per day. I had lazy days where I would watch TV for hours and that is such a lazy behavior. It can all be debated, but it is interesting to think about and I just like to remember that we are all equal and although some may think it-Americans are not superior to everyone else.
Take your travel Vow
Back in my Loyola days, I remember all my friends were going to study abroad and being a college student I also wanted to share the experience at Loyola University in Rome. I applied for my first passport and bought a new pink suitcase with black trim. My finances were not great as I would have liked and I had to take out an additional student loan to assist with the plane ticket. Regardless of the finances, I decided to go and make it work.
After my decision, I then experience travelers DOUBTA-the initial excitement about your decision mixed with doubt and desire to seek approval from others (PRIS). Therefore, I consulted my mother who immediately advised me against going abroad. I also consulted two of my close friends who also said it was bad idea and too expensive. It was a constant, downhill response from my environment and others around me.
As one could imagine, this lead me down one path “No.” Something I was so excited about doing and my adventurous spirit wanting to go abroad and my being and decision was held back by the environment. It is important to note the crowd can be your friends, parents, co-workers, or classmates-anyone in your immediate circle or environment. These people in the crowd are not necessarily the most knowledgeable people about new experiences, money, finance, or world travels yet you are taking your advice from them.
This is a consistent problem I notice among travelers. When you are taking advice from Barbara who has never left the country except on an Alaskan cruise or Terry who visits Las Vegas and says she travels far or Janet who travels to Cancun staying in the All-inclusive. Houston we have a problem-a big problem.
Within the American culture, it is normal to have its own Americanized version of travel.
A person may believe they are traveling, but there is a fine line between vacation and travel. It comes from not only the definition, but the ultimate interpretation of the overall experience (PRIS). A person may have their yearly family vacation where they spend all their time with the family and have no interaction with culture. Another person may travel to India by themselves hike up mountains, eat different kinds of food, stay in villages, and make friends with numerous locals. These are not the same thing and this may lead to someone in your environment steering you in the wrong direction. The only person you can listen to is yourself.
After my experience with the missed venture to Rome, I made a vow to be the only person who controls my travel. I will not be influenced by those who have an American mindset to travel, which is built inside a certain standard and expectation for travel. To sum it up, most Americans are afraid of real travel and they stay inside their comfort zones. This is engrained in the culture and it is normal for people to respond in this manner or it is normal to respond with: fear. People are afraid of truly exploring themselves, being vulnerable to a new culture, going off track, going the distance, getting rid of the electronics, staying in a place other than a hotel. The idea of real adventure travel is foreign to many people and the idea of going away for such long periods of time is also foreign
Who’s going to take care of my cat?
What is my job going to say?
How am I going to afford a long trip and pay my bills?
What if instead of answering to society or someone else. We just answered to ourselves? What about YOU?
Do you seek knowledge about yourself on a deeper level?
Do you want to learn about different philosophies and religions, but you never have the time.
Do you crave something new, different, adventurous, and spontaneous?
Do you want to learn real geography without a world map or google maps?
Do you need to complete your sense of self utilizing the world’s tools for discovery?
It is not always about being responsible to others, but it is about being responsible to you. By being aware to the importance of your own self over the importance of your job- you can take charge of your being and life. You may not be floating in a world of materialism, but having a grasp of your identity and who you truly are and what your want out of life is more important that any pay check can provide.
Take charge of YOU and the rest will fall in place PRIS
Over only five months of traveling, I have seen an excessive amount of dependence on the lonely planet guide book.
When I started my trip in Southeast Asia, I did carry around a Lonely planet guide book and after about 3 months-it was given away to a fellow traveler.
"Are you sure you don't want it?"
"It's just not something I need
The lonely planet encourages tourists to “clique” together with fellow tourists in hostels, hotels, guesthouses, and restaurants instead of getting to know with locals. Tourists feel comfortable with tourists. I am not saying that all lonely planet recommendations are inauthentic. There are many local establishments and guesthouses run by locals, which gives a local experience. But when traveling it feels like lonely planet is running the world or based off my experience-Southeast Asia and India.
Many restaurants, hotels, and shops have signs up saying, “Lonely planet recommended.” One would think that the influence would be mild with locals promoting their business through quality or real recommendations, but this is not the case. The lonely planet is giving many local establishments business, but it is chipping away at what real traveling is about.
Real traveling is about exploring what is new to you and following your curiosity and spirituality (if you have this component in your life). Yes, the lonely planet is helpful at midnight when you do not know the area and need a reliable place to stay. Allowing your intuition and interpersonal interaction to be involved is even more important. What if the nice Indian man does his guesthouse name in the lonely planet? Shouldn’t one still give him a chance? If you like him, the place is clean, the price is good, then why not give him a chance? He is a human being with a heart of gold, a family to support, and he needs the business.
It was surprising to see the influence of this guidebook constructed by white travelers (Sorry, but I do not see many of the authors from Asian or African countries). The UK and the US are most prominent in the Authors of the book. What makes Brad from the US qualify to judge a city and where are the best places? He may have traveled to India ten times, but it does not mean he is taking an insider approach on the area. I am not criticizing his writing, experience, or travels, but it just seems like travelers are lacking a real cultural learning.
If you are sleeping with (staying at the same guesthouse) with fellow tourists, dining with them, and doing sightseeing and activities with them-how much are you learning about the culture? I am not an expert traveler by any means and I am just learning like other fellow travelers, but I have witnessed a lot of separatism going on between locals and travelers.
I just encourage travelers to think outside the box when traveling. Take an unknown route, do not plan your next destination based off Lonely planet recommended cities (make a stop at a brand new place), spend quality time with the people and the natural environment (powerful if you are spiritual of course), sit and eat in a restaurant with not one tourist, visit a temple or museum off your normal radar, and immerse yourself in the culture.
Word to travelers: There is an existence without the lonely planet guidebook. You will survive your traveling and you may enjoy and love your experience even more-I promise.
Never Alone When Traveling
Many people ask, ponder, or wonder how do you get by traveling alone? Don’t you get lonely and need a friend?
My answer is simple: I am never alone when traveling.
Traveling alone is something that I just love and actually have more difficulty traveling with others because my interests are so diverse from the average traveler. Most people traveling with me would not want to go through villages and spend time with locals rather they would want to go to the beach or go drink-not my interest. The only one person I can truly travel with and miss traveling with is my wife, Tanya. She is amazing and we have the best time together, but she has a family and commitments so my life goes on with or without her.
When I make the statement I am never alone. I am never alone because I have my higher power by my side-this may sound cliché to some, but this is real. I am constantly meeting people (his spirit attracts other to mine)-all day and everyday whether it is a shop owner, a street vendor, on a bus, at a park, in a temple, at a tourist site, at a guesthouse, in a café, or anytime-anywhere. I actually meet more people than I would if I traveled with another person, which brings me to my theory on the beauty of being alone.
The beauty of being alone is that one has potential to meet more people than when being with another friend or group. It is important to note that the person has to be open minded and have a desire to interact with others. One can go through traveling not speaking to a soul and with their head dug deep inside their books, music, or hobbies. The energy you give to the universe comes back to you full circle in life. The energy you send out to people around you may increase/ decrease your chances of having a positive interaction.
If open minded and willing to learn about others, the potential for learning and meeting new friends is endless. As an American, I never realized how many people are interested in getting to know me. I think of Americans as boring and have little interest in talking with them when traveling unless they are first class Americans.
A first class American is someone who is open minded to new cultural experiences, immerses themselves into other cultures, travels, and believes that America is not the best and only country in the world. There are many of them that I come across on couchsurfing and these kinds of people are the ones I truly appreciate.
Back to people’s interest in getting to know me, I did not realize until this recent trip how many Indians and Southeast Asians are interested in me just being an American who speaks English. English has incredible value worldwide and growing up you just take it for granted. I am amazed with people’s interest in getting to know my culture. From my experience, these locals abroad have such an interest in getting to know us so we should have equal interest in getting to know them right?
Unfortunately, most Americans do not have this interest in cultural learning because real travel is not encouraged, which leads to ignorance, discrimination, and stereotyping. For instance, the Middle East is perceived in US media as this awful place, but in reality it is not. I cannot speak of the Middle East based off personal experience, but just based off people I have met and shared travel experiences. We are encouraged to think negatively based off limited real experiences and built up negativity.
My points are getting jumbled together, but back to my main point that there is true beauty in traveling alone. What you can see, do, think, and experience-the sky is the limit. Since you are alone, you get bored so you spark up conversions with random strangers who might end up being lifelong friends.
The true social networking starts with TRAVELING not FACEBOOK. Many Americans fear traveling and worry about leaving their socially constructed life, but the opportunity abroad is amazing. This statement depends on a variety of factors of course, but if you are a person who is extroverted and meet people easily-this statement is true. When you are traveling you are building connections and sometimes you never know who people really are and who
Helping vs. hurting?
In Cambodia, you have groups of white tourists coming into tourist areas like Angkor Wat, the Floating village, the markets, and the local kids flock to them. They see them and try to sell bracelets, books, and postcards. Tourists buy from the children and they visit orphanages taking pictures with the children. In one of the billboards, it actually said “Children are not tourist attractions.” This whole idea of helping them by buying from them and spending a few minutes with them taking pictures. Is this helping or harming children?
I will give an example of the young girl about 10 years old selling bracelets. Yuskay and I were at dinner and she came to our table trying to sell us a bracelet. Yuskay and I were astounded with the way she spoke, her mannerisms, and behavior. This girl spoke like she was 20 years old and after all her talking, I was persuaded to buy a bracelet from her. She is selling on the pub street with many tourists so with those strategic, persuasive selling tactics definitely make her money.
If she is making good money on the streets, what will motivate her to go and get an education? She has built up street experience (alternative education) and I will argue that this is real life experience and learning. She will just keep selling on the street leading to potentially other money making careers like prostitution.
This girl is like many street children who continue to engage in the street life rather than pursuing an education. Tourists who are coming in thinking they are helping kids purchasing from them are actually harming them. At the temple, I saw an American couple buy a few things from the girls and then they took a picture with them. I agree with the billboard that children are not tourist attractions and we should think about our helping when we buy something off the street or when we are coming in as volunteers.
Volunteering is another issue where as Americans we come in wanting to help and implement our own ideas, goal, and plan instead of listening and learning about the needs of the community. Who are we to come in and try to create change and make a difference when maybe we do not really know how?
People living in these villages know how to survive and live without excess wants and focusing on their real needs. What do we even know about how a community exists? Do we know how to live off basic needs without electricity and technology? Would we be able to survive?
Sosune and many other people I talk to speak about their own experience with such doubt and they speak of Americans so highly as if we are superior. This is not the case as children develop a work ethic at a younger age, they are nurturing, help with domestic tasks, and can do many things that Americans cannot. Sosune said she wishes she knew how to type faster and learned more about history. I told her that she could do 10 things as a child that many Americans could not do. What about skills, trades, and manuel labor? That is not an American specialty. An American may know how to work an iPhone, but a Southeast Asian knows how to stay warm, cook, clean, or take care of their sibling. (This was a very general statement, but it is just to demonstrate the natural abilities of human beings that are utilized).
We are dependent on electronics and technology as those in Cambodia spend time outside talking, socializing, interacting with tourists, working outdoors, and having skilled trades, which is diminishing more and more overtime in America.
If 80 percent of our behavior is learned through interpersonal action who is really doing the learning? Americans sitting in cubicles, watching television, and movies. Sosune said she can only watch a maximum of 15 minutes of television per day. I had lazy days where I would watch TV for hours and that is such a lazy behavior. It can all be debated, but it is interesting to think about and I just like to remember that we are all equal and although some may think it-Americans are not superior to everyone else.
Take your travel Vow
Back in my Loyola days, I remember all my friends were going to study abroad and being a college student I also wanted to share the experience at Loyola University in Rome. I applied for my first passport and bought a new pink suitcase with black trim. My finances were not great as I would have liked and I had to take out an additional student loan to assist with the plane ticket. Regardless of the finances, I decided to go and make it work.
After my decision, I then experience travelers DOUBTA-the initial excitement about your decision mixed with doubt and desire to seek approval from others (PRIS). Therefore, I consulted my mother who immediately advised me against going abroad. I also consulted two of my close friends who also said it was bad idea and too expensive. It was a constant, downhill response from my environment and others around me.
As one could imagine, this lead me down one path “No.” Something I was so excited about doing and my adventurous spirit wanting to go abroad and my being and decision was held back by the environment. It is important to note the crowd can be your friends, parents, co-workers, or classmates-anyone in your immediate circle or environment. These people in the crowd are not necessarily the most knowledgeable people about new experiences, money, finance, or world travels yet you are taking your advice from them.
This is a consistent problem I notice among travelers. When you are taking advice from Barbara who has never left the country except on an Alaskan cruise or Terry who visits Las Vegas and says she travels far or Janet who travels to Cancun staying in the All-inclusive. Houston we have a problem-a big problem.
Within the American culture, it is normal to have its own Americanized version of travel.
A person may believe they are traveling, but there is a fine line between vacation and travel. It comes from not only the definition, but the ultimate interpretation of the overall experience (PRIS). A person may have their yearly family vacation where they spend all their time with the family and have no interaction with culture. Another person may travel to India by themselves hike up mountains, eat different kinds of food, stay in villages, and make friends with numerous locals. These are not the same thing and this may lead to someone in your environment steering you in the wrong direction. The only person you can listen to is yourself.
After my experience with the missed venture to Rome, I made a vow to be the only person who controls my travel. I will not be influenced by those who have an American mindset to travel, which is built inside a certain standard and expectation for travel. To sum it up, most Americans are afraid of real travel and they stay inside their comfort zones. This is engrained in the culture and it is normal for people to respond in this manner or it is normal to respond with: fear. People are afraid of truly exploring themselves, being vulnerable to a new culture, going off track, going the distance, getting rid of the electronics, staying in a place other than a hotel. The idea of real adventure travel is foreign to many people and the idea of going away for such long periods of time is also foreign
Who’s going to take care of my cat?
What is my job going to say?
How am I going to afford a long trip and pay my bills?
What if instead of answering to society or someone else. We just answered to ourselves? What about YOU?
Do you seek knowledge about yourself on a deeper level?
Do you want to learn about different philosophies and religions, but you never have the time.
Do you crave something new, different, adventurous, and spontaneous?
Do you want to learn real geography without a world map or google maps?
Do you need to complete your sense of self utilizing the world’s tools for discovery?
It is not always about being responsible to others, but it is about being responsible to you. By being aware to the importance of your own self over the importance of your job- you can take charge of your being and life. You may not be floating in a world of materialism, but having a grasp of your identity and who you truly are and what your want out of life is more important that any pay check can provide.
Take charge of YOU and the rest will fall in place PRIS