One of my friends often teases me about my love for travel by saying that most likely, as a child, my mom stuck a plane ticket instead of a pacifier in my mouth! This largely is true. Some of my fondest and most transformative memories from childhood happened when my mom took me with her to different cities, towns, and remote villages in Iraq. I learned so much from the way she interacted with people in different languages, as well as the way people shared their thoughts in stories with her. Another moment from childhood that sticks in my head to this day is of an elderly neighbor sipping coffee at our house conversing with my mom about traveling, and she said “Well, the old Arab saying goes ‘only travelers really see places. Tourists only see what they go to see.’” It wasn’t until years after that moment, when I left Iraq and started to explore the world, when I learned the great difference between being a traveler who lets life happen to him; who never knows what and when they may stumble upon some of the most interesting, disturbing, painful, or challenging situations, versus being a tourist whose dream is to see the Eiffel or Pisa towers, Big Ben, or some famous church, mosque, or temple.
Tourists only see what they go to see. In a strange sense, tourists may miss seeing everything except what they go to see. In doing so, many tourists remind me of the insightful words from the English philosopher, John Ruskin, who declares that “modern traveling is not traveling at all; it is merely being sent to a place, and very little different from becoming a parcel.”
There is so much life on the sides, the margins, in dark alleys, in parks, and remote villages that most tourists never get to see, and thus never get to feel and capture the real spirit of the places they visit. And thus, Dear Readers, I ask: can we travel without being tourists? Indeed, can we stop being tourists altogether? Can we begin to master the art of getting lost; the art of finding hidden gems, beauty, or simple experiences after which life is never the same?
Over the years, as I traveled to so many countries across the continents, I have had countless conversations with travelers and tourists alike. I have learned so much from all, and I’m deeply grateful for what I have learned, but I can’t help sharing a pattern I have observed about tourists: they often come across as not only individuals who weren’t profoundly altered by their travel experiences, but also, in many cases, I find them to be more narrow-minded and sticking to their old beliefs and values as if what they already know is and remains the only truth in the universe. Many encounters with tourists have proven to me that, for many, travel is a way to confirm their biases and worldviews rather than challenge, expand, disrupt, and turn their worlds upside down.
It is like people who only watch TV news channels or read books that confirm their prejudices and beliefs of being from the “best, most wonderful, most civilized country in the world,” or such nonsense.
Many tourists I have observed project the boring image of a couple walking hand in hand, dressed up in typical sporty Western clothes and gear that are supposed to make them look simple and humble, but such clothes and gear are not only more expensive than they look, but they also are carefully selected to make them look like they are from wealthier and more “privileged” countries – i.e. typical tourists. You often find them walking from one souvenir store to another buying items made in India and China, regardless of which country they are visiting.
You see such tourists on prearranged tours led by carefully selected tour guides that each country chooses and even monitors to ensure that the version of the knowledge and information they provide about the country’s history, culture, and politics are completely aligned with that of the elites and political leaders of that country.
For example, if the country is Westernized, embraces capitalism, or has a political elite that is supported or appointed by Western countries, one would always hear stories about how in previous times the country suffered from dictators, poverty, and lack of freedoms, and such superficial propaganda, but now everything is wonderful, hence you, the tourists, are able to come here and tour around safely. And, by the way, there is a Starbucks and KFC nearby, if you get hungry. And, of course, western tourists can never visit a place as tourists, unless that country is “liberated”, embraces capitalism and the “free market” model, and is rid of any political leaders that are considered adversaries to western elites. Otherwise, no matter how safe the country is, it would be listed on every western government’s site with “do not travel” warnings highlighted in red, and the reasons are always due to “violence, terrorism, and crime.”
No country is safe for western tourists until it is liberated by western elites, and until it is full of Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFC, and other dominant western brands. This perhaps explains why the perspective and worldview of many tourists not only are not expanded after traveling, but their perspective is arguably narrowed further after touring countries.
A good example that comes to mind is a conversation with an American tourist, who I consider a typical tourist. This gentleman told me that he loves the beaches and the weather in some Central American and Caribbean countries, “despite the fact that many such places are known for violence, theft, and crime.”
He then went on to say, “well, I kinda don’t care about safety as long as I stay in safe and gated areas and hotels.” So, in such an example one might ask: what can this tourist really see and learn about any country he visits with this mindset? What can he really see in gated and heavily fortified apartment complexes and hotels near pristine beaches? It is clear that such tourists not only don’t see anything, but clearly they don’t even want to see, reminding us of the old Persian proverb that goes “A blind person who sees is better than a seeing person who is blind.” Such tourists also remind us of the insightful words from the English poet, Thomas Hood, who wrote “Some minds improve by travel, others; rather, resemble copper wire, or brass, which get narrower by going farther.” Going father is not enough – what matters is the extent to which we master the art of seeing, knowing, and sensing the world as we go farther.
Perhaps only travelers who know how to get lost and even be vulnerable can get close to seeing? Traveling, on the other hand, Dear Friends, is not only the art of getting lost, but true travelers, in a sense, never return home. If
they do return, they never see home the same way they did before leaving. They begin to see the foreignness of home after experiencing being at home in other foreign lands. Over the years, as I wrestled with becoming a better and more adventurous traveler, I was so fortunate to encounter and learn from many travelers who were genuinely interested in exploring places in an anthropological way, which is often about getting to live like locals the best way we can; trying not only to see things the way they are, but to understand how they become the way they are; challenging and disrupting the notion that avoiding strangers, depressing neighborhoods, or sketchy parts of town is not necessary when we visit other places.
I believe it is no coincidence that many great writers and poets around the world did not only master the art of traveling, but also made sure to impart their experiences and insights about what it means to be a good traveler.
Over time, I have collected many insights that, to me, profoundly capture the value of being a traveler and the mindset we need to embrace to master the art of traveling. The first example that comes to mind is Leo Tolstoy’s beautiful words, “All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey, or a stranger comes to town.”
Aldous Huxley reminds us that the more we know other places, the more we are humbled about what we thought about ourselves and our own countries. Huxley writes “to travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”
The Chinese writer, Lin Yutang reminds us that a good traveler is one who doesn’t know where they are going, but the perfect traveler is one who forgets where they came from. The Syrian writer, Ghada al-Samman declares that “vision is more transparent at airport transits covered with gray dawns, drowsiness, exhaustion, and the smoke of departing planes.”
Louis Yako, PhD, is an independent Iraqi-American anthropologist, writer, poet, and journalist.
Source: Counterpunch