It's about this time of year that I have a strange urge to drop everything and run away. I'm not talking about running away from home, but rather going anywhere, doing anything. Sunshine has a strange effect on me, especially when it filters through ferns or trees in my backyard, and when the wind blows through the leaves. It's not that spring coming to the North Shore isn't beautiful--it is-- rather, I would give anything to pack up my bags and get on a plane to someplace far away.
I started traveling when I was very young. I went to Paris, Nice, Avignon and Monaco at the age of six, when my kindergartner peers were first venturing out of state. I am the youngest of four, with three older brothers. My grandparents on my Mom's side traveled the globe--they went to Russia a few months after it was opened to Americans, Iran and Iraq before a hint of war, Indonesia where my great-aunt worked for the American Government as a member of the State Department. They were the sort of couple whose passports were renewed every few years--not because of expiration, but because they were filled up too quickly with stamps from foreign countries.
It seems that I have inherited this from them, even though genetics are out of the question (my mom was adopted). When I think about the two of them, I think of photographs of them on the Navajo reservation, standing at the Four Corners, or sitting cross legged on a pillow in Eastern Asia. It seems that the aged widower who looks at photographs of a younger man with his wife exists more solidly in photographs--perhaps another thing I have inherited from them, a visual memory like albums of photographs stacked to infinity.
Achieving the title of World Traveler is not easily done, and it certainly requires a strong financial security. But almost more importantly, to me, at least, is an open mindedness that begins at a young age. My memory includes German castles practically hidden by neglect, with rain soaked greenery. When I think of Italy, I think of driving through vineyards in Verona and enlisting a waiter to describe the dessert menu through interpretive dance.
Though I may have been too young to truly understand what I was seeing (Vienna without knowing a thing about World War 1, or Rome before knowing of the Ancient Romans), it has provided a backdrop for me of who I am, a treasure-trove of memories, and a beginner's knowledge of how the world works, and a mind left wide open when seeing things for the first time. But perhaps more importantly, my experiences have made me want to explore every inch of the Earth, and to revisit my memories of Central American rainforests and Italian piazzas.
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Your comment about how traveling can encourage open mindedness is very true. I've always wanted to travel to another continent. I've been out of the country twice; once to toronto, and once to vancouver, and I know that many people haven't been that far. However, I think the people who take advantage of their financial security and take the choice to learn about other histories and cultures are not only fun to talk to but show a far more developed understanding of our surroundings.
ReplyDeleteAmazing post. (I wish blogger comments had bold and italics.)
ReplyDeleteI've started getting those same feelings of just wanting to leave the house recently. One of the first things I want to do when I graduate high school is just go backpacking. I love just leaving the house and going anywhere, although it's hard to do during the school year. I guess that at home I spend a lot of time waiting for others, or trying to get things organized, etc., and just picking a few things up and leaving the house offers a lot of freedom in many respects (but it does require financial security).
I think your connection of traveling to open-mindedness is also very interesting. Traveling does help people see things a very different way, even if it's just leaving their neighborhood. I have a friend who's become more and more of an agoraphobe over time (hasn't left their house for anything but school since last year at least) and as great of a person that they are in some respects, they are definitely not that good at understanding other peoples' perspectives in the most simple of ways, and display a very warped and rigid view of reality. Simple issues like kids smoking cigarettes make them imagine the entire world as a scary place where people are killing themselves slowly-- it's startling, and very sad. Clearly this is a very extreme example, and there are other factors at work aside from this person not 'getting out' more (ex. being sheltered), but I think it's interesting that lack of physically going anywhere in order to obtain a more 'realistic/colorful visual' of other things comes with it. This relates somewhat to some of Fallows' ideas about people isolating themselves from others due to media options, even.
Thanks for your comments, Molly and Michelle. I sort of meant this to be a post about how traveling when I was younger has had an affect on me, but I digressed. Michelle you made an interesting link to Fallows' ideas about isolation. I feel like it can be applied to traveling, but in a different way. With contemporary media, there are so many outlets that you tend to stick with just one (CNN, FOX, NPR, etc), and when you go abroad, its easy to go to the McDonalds on the Arbat in St. Petersburg, or the Hard Rock Cafe instead of a local restaurant. Everything is globalized, or at least America is, and it's easy to stay in that bubble.
ReplyDeleteAnna, A nice, personal post here -- and one that elicited an interesting discussion. It'd be nice to offer a few more specifics -- snapshot memories and how they have changed your world view. (Great Seuss title!)
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