Rolf Potts's Blog, page 35

The death of the Mile High Club

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

I want to take this opportunity to declare that the Mile-High Club is, for all practical purposes, defunct. Much like the practice of phrenology or the fad for goldfish swallowing, the notion of having sex on commercial airplanes is no longer worthy of serious consideration.

Before I get inundated with angry e-mails accusing me of being a prude, let me be clear about one thing: This is not about sex. For die-hard Mile-High Club practitioners, I’m sure there’s still nothing more arousing than the heady scent of disinfectant and sewage as you wedge yourself against a paper towel dispenser to consummate your passion with the person you love (or as many Mile-High Club tales seem to imply, with the person you met at the boarding gate).

In reality, the death of the Mile-High Club is tied to the decline of the commercial air travel experience in general. Back in the late ‘60s, when the advent of the Boeing 737 began to make jet travel affordable for the masses, I’m sure everything about the experience of flight was somewhat of a thrill. Nearly four decades later, however, a couple generations of travelers have known nothing but air travel for long journeys. We’re still flying in those same 737s (and comparable aircraft), yet the level of comfort and service has actually declined: Security lines are longer, seating schemes are more cramped, in-flight snack services are disappearing, and—in a startling development—some aircraft manufacturers have reportedly considered maximizing passenger capacity by installing standing-room seating, wherein you are strapped, like a mental patient, to a padded backboard during takeoff.

In short, commercial air travel has become hopelessly mundane and unpleasant—and aspiring to have sex on a commercial flight is now as tacky and pointless as aspiring to have sex in a Wal-Mart. 

Mile-High Club purists might argue, with some indignation, that the increasing discomfort and impersonality of air travel only heightens the allure of airborne sexual dalliance. This is an interesting argument, but it also happens to be delusional: Just as ogling gourmet hot dog-toasters and solar-powered paddleboats in your in-flight mail-order magazine doesn’t really count as shopping, squeezing into an economy-class lavatory for close-quarter coitus doesn’t truly count as an erotic encounter.

Indeed, regardless of how you try to sugarcoat the flight experience, planes have functionally become flying buses—and the only people who would consider having sex on public buses are invariably on their way home from serving 18-to-24-month prison sentences for crystal-meth possession. In such a setting, it’s far more dignified to just bide your time and disembark before you get your freak on.

Sex aside, the question at the heart of this issue is why, nearly 40 years after it revolutionized transportation, commercial jet travel has become not one iota more convenient or enjoyable.

The answer, quite simply, is that this is my fault.

Odds are, it’s your fault too, if you’re a budget traveler. Like me, you’d rather pay $200 than $800 for a New York-to-Los Angeles flight, regardless of whether or not the snack is free. Like me, you’d rather suffer eight hours of compromised legroom on a Paris flight than suffer an extra $500 on your Visa bill. Like me, you consider air travel a necessary evil required to reach a destination, and you’re not willing to pay extra for what is invariably the least memorable part of your travels.

For this reason, the commercial air travel experience will continue to be somewhat miserable, and the Mile-High Club will languish as a relic of an era when buses traveled only on the ground.

Originally published by World Hum, July 27, 2007

Original article can be found here: The death of the Mile High Club

Vagabonding Case Study: Luke McGuire Armstrong

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Luke Maguire Armstrong

LukeSpartacus.com

Age: 28

Hometown: Kalispel, Montana

Quote: Hundreds of years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove… But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that my ruins become a tourist attraction. - Demotivators

How did you find out about Vagabonding, and how did you find it useful 

before and during the trip?

In 2011 I did a book review of “Marco Polo Didn’t Go There” and interviewed Rolf Potts (http://www.theexpeditioner.com/2011/04/11/qa-rolf-potts-went-there/)

During my research for the piece, I found out about Vagabonding. I found it informative not of a specific trip, but a certain lifestyle. The word vagabond, is often used negative. For many people it sits on the same linguistic shelf as “hobo” or “homeless.” Vagabonding instilled in me the realization that extended overseas travel was not just possible as a lifestyle, but that if I was honest with myself, this was a lifestyle that I could adopt. At the time I had traveled a bit, and was living abroad. T this helped me in a decision I made in 2012 to become a full-time location independent professional, AKA, a vagabond.

How long were you on the road?

While I have my “bases” in New York, Guatemala and Kenya, I have been on the road for the last two years.

Where did you go?

Cuba, Canada, Kenya, Uganda, Morocco, All across the USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras Chile, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, France, England, Czech, The Netherlands, Iceland, Spain,

What was your job or source of travel funding for this journey?

Over these last two years, it has been playing music and writing–travel writing, publishing books of poetry, publishing a travel anthology, and doing freelance marketing. I also spent 5 months teaching at an NGO afterschool program in the Bronx, NYC.

Did you work or volunteer on the road? 

I spent my last semester abroad in Chile in 2007. After that I ditched my flight home and started hitchhiking Chile in to Alaska. I volunteered in several NGOs along the way. In one of these organization in Guatemala, Nuestros Ahijados, I was offered a director position when the program director abruptly quit. I accepted and stayed for four years managing 100s of employees and volunteers, and supporting a thousand dependents. The highlight of this work came when I opened a malnourished infant center in 2008, which was later featured on ABC 20/20 (http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/tortillas-coffee-baby-food-12428162

Of all the places you visited, which was your favorite?

Cuba

Was there a place that was your least favorite, or most disappointing, or most challenging?

Though this seems contradictory, this was also Cuba. I went to Cuba for closure. My grandmother was a poet like myself, and a very important person in my life. She opened the world of literature to me when on my 13th birthday she gave me a copy of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. This caused me to have both an interest in Hemingway and Cuba, just as Hemingway had had an interest and love for Cuba.

In December I had a plane ticket to visit my grandmother. She was not doing well. She past away a few days before my plane departed. I showed up in time for her funeral. Her funeral gave me no closure. So I loaded up a bag of her poetry books, and departed for Cuba. She was a world traveler herself and had already wanted to go. In Havana I did the opposite of shoplifting: I smuggled my grandmother’s poetry books onto their shelves. In each I wrote, “To Cuba with love, from Patricia Mees Armstrong, via her grandson.” 

Which travel gear proved to be most useful?

A ScotteVest

Least useful?

Nothing comes to mind.

What are the rewards of the vagabonding lifestyle?

Instead of living in a specific place in the world, you simply live in the world. Everywhere is your home and everyone is your neighbor.

What are the challenges and sacrifices of the vagabonding lifestyle?

There are of course, financial concerns, since writing and music are struggles to earn a living from at this stage in my career.

When you are always arriving somewhere new, you are also always leaving a place. You are constantly saying goodbye to people and places that you love.

How did your personal definition of “vagabonding” develop over the course of the trip?

Being able to call myself a vagabond and feel that it had a positive, not a negative connotation.  

Any advice or tips for someone hoping to embark on a similar adventure? 

If you are wondering if you should do it, you have already answered that question: you should. If you are wondering how you will pay for it, trust that openess mixed with the tenacity of not giving up will lead you to find your balance.

When and where do you think you’ll take your next long-term adventure?

I am going to Guatemala on March, 17th. This is one of my bases, so I will be staying for two months. Then I will be traveling to every country in Central America again. This fall I will be traveling to Asia.

Read more about Luke on his blog, Travel, Write, Sing, or follow him on Facebook and Twitter

Website: Travel, Write, Sing
Twitter: @lukesparticus

Are you a Vagabonding reader planning, in the middle of, or returning from a journey? Would you like your travel blog or website to be featured on Vagabonding Case Studies? If so, drop us a line at casestudies@vagabonding.net and tell us a little about yourself.

Original article can be found here: Vagabonding Case Study: Luke McGuire Armstrong

Vagabonding Case Study: Leyla Giray Alyanak

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Leyla Giray Alyanak

 
women-on-the-road.com






 
Age: 61
 
Hometown: Born in Paris, grew up in Madrid, studied in Montreal, now live near Geneva, Switzerland
 
Quote: “To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” (Freya Stark)
 
How did you find out about Vagabonding, and how did you find it useful before and during the trip? I read the book a few years after returning from my trip – and wished it had existed before I left!
 
How long were you on the road? 3.5 years in my mid-forties was the longest – but I’ve traveled for up to a year at a time on other occasions.
 
Where did you go? Up the Eastern spine of Africa, through Southeast Asia, the Baltics, and Cuba
 
What was your job or source of travel funding for this journey? Initially my savings; then a smattering of freelance assignments; and then I was  finally appointment as a newspaper foreign correspondent.
 
Did you work or volunteer on the road? I worked often – usually writing but occasionally teaching or doing communications work along the way.
 
Of all the places you visited, which was your favorite? Eritrea. I arrived just after three decades of civil war. Hope was in the air, everyone was optimistic, even those who had lost family or limbs in the brutal conflict. Gender equality was proclaimed, Eritreans started coming home to rebuild their country. And then the regime hardened into a repressive one, and I know if I returned I would no longer be able to feel so positive about it.
 
Was there a place that was your least favorite, or most disappointing, or most challenging? I think Nigeria was the most challenging country I’ve ever visited. Not only is it huge, but few tourists go there so it doesn’t have the tourism infrastructure. Of course Nigerians travel extensively in their own country so where they go I could go, but it wasn’t as straightforward as, say, Kenya or South Africa.
 
Which travel gear proved most useful?  Least useful? My sarong, bought for a song in Thailand, is probably the most useful thing I have with me. I can wear it around my room, sleep in it, use it as a towel in a pinch, headscarf, protection against wind and sand.  A close second is my trusty rubber doorstop. Just slip it under the door at night and sleep like a charm. Least useful is anything I can easily buy abroad.
 
What are the rewards of the vagabonding lifestyle? My biggest reward has been to travel slowly and get to meet incredible people along the way, many of whom have become lifelong friends. By taking my time, at least a month in each country, I was able to begin to understand it, not entirely, but certainly more than if I’d drifted through for a day or two.
 
What are the challenges and sacrifices of the vagabonding lifestyle? My biggest sacrifice was distance from my loved ones, no contest. I traveled well before social media and Skype brought the world closer together. When I was on the road full-time, I was limited to the occasional international phone call and at times, I missed my family terribly. I also missed having a home base, as I got rid of everything before starting to travel. For a number of years, I felt like a tourist in my own life.
 
What lessons did you learn on the road? I learned so much… to rely more on myself, to be more confident, that I needed far fewer ‘things’ than I thought, that I could make friends anywhere… and that people were basically helpful and kind, with exceptions, but that’s what they were – exceptions.
 
How did your personal definition of “vagabonding” develop over the course of the trip? Initially I thought travel was about time and distance. Eventually it became about depth and breadth. I began to care more about understanding than seeing, which meant spending a lot more time in a place than I’d ever planned.
 
If there was one thing you could have told yourself before the trip, what would it be? Stop worrying.
 
Any advice or tips for someone hoping to embark on a similar adventure? Do your homework, make your plans – and be ready to throw them out the window when an opportunity arises.
 
When and where do you think you’ll take your next long-term journey? It will be in 2015… Either across the USA – I’ve always wanted to visit it in-depth – or perhaps through Scandinavia. I’d love to spend a month or two in Madagascar or Mexico…
 

Read more about Leyla on her blog, Women On The Road, or follow her on Facebook and Twitter

Website: Women On The Road
Twitter: @womenontheroad

Are you a Vagabonding reader planning, in the middle of, or returning from a journey? Would you like your travel blog or website to be featured on Vagabonding Case Studies? If so, drop us a line at casestudies@vagabonding.net and tell us a little about yourself.

Original article can be found here: Vagabonding Case Study: Leyla Giray Alyanak

Vagabonding Field Report: UNESCO World Heritage Site, Luang Prabang, Laos

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Cost/day:

$30/day per person

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?

A stroll through the Luang Prabang morning market brought something different to my senses every time. One morning, I saw a woman with a pile of chickens on the ground for sale. I thought the chickens were dead, but one of them started to get up and the woman shushed it like a dog and it laid back down. A little further down, a large tub of massive frogs awaited purchase next to huge cuts of fish and pig faces staring back at me. Most of the food lay on the ground on tarps.

Describe a typical day:

After breakfast, homeschool and work are completed in the morning, we head out to do things like swim in the Mekong, visit the unexploded ordinances center, take a hands-on class in traditional weaving and natural dyeing or rice farming. We did a lot of wandering around the beautiful, quiet town just getting lost and finding little gems as well as riding a motorbike on the outskirts of town.

 

Describe an interesting conversation you had with a local:

It was interesting talking with our guide from the rice farming course. He graduated from college, spoke English very well and told us he could have chosen to work in an office. In fact, for a time he had worked in an office. But he grew up near the farm and the idea of being able to work outside everyday was more appealing to him than sitting in an office, even if it meant he would be paid less. 

What do you like about where you are? Dislike?

There really is a lot to like about the town. It’s one of the very few places in Laos where the old French colonial architecture survived the war. Its position at the confluence of two rivers, one of which is the mighty Mekong, provides stunning scenery. It is a great size for my tastes, meaning it is large enough that there are good markets and a lot of restaurants but not so large that it is too busy, loud or polluted. The high concentration of monasteries in a small area makes Luang Prabang teeming with orange-robed monks. We enjoyed hearing the morning and evening drumming at the temples, and watching the novice monks playfully pushing each other from the cliffs into the rivers. Creaky bamboo foot-bridges will lead you across the rivers to simpler villages nearby. Also, if your Southeast Asian travels leave you hankering for croissants, French cheese, or a good glass of wine, this is the place to find it.

I disliked that it was touristy. This is what happens with all UNESCO world heritage sites, so it is to be expected. Coming from other, less touristy parts of Laos, it just took a little getting used to.

Describe a challenge you faced:

I truly cannot think of a single thing that I found challenging about Luang Prabang. Everything is located within walking or biking distance, and the tourist infrastructure is so well put together that I barely had to plan anything. I guess if I had to pick anything it was dealing with the threat of having our motorbike stolen. Luang Prabang has a significant problem with motorbike thefts, so always having to find an appropriate way to lock up the bike and also worrying about it while away from it, was really the only thing that could even be considered a challenge.

What new lesson did you learn?

A lesson I had reaffirmed is just how everyone’s sense of place is different and in reality cannot be trusted. Not to say people when describing a place will be dishonest; rather, that their take on a place can be determined by so many factors that may not apply to you. We had a lot of people tell us not to go to Laos, that there wasn’t much to see that couldn’t be found elsewhere, that the infrastructure was poor, that our time would be better spent going to this or that country. Of course there were others who told us it was wonderful.

After a month in Laos, though, we fell in love with the place, and will no doubt return again to see the many places we missed on this trip. In fact, it was probably my favorite country in Southeast Asia. The only way to tell if you’re going to like a country  is to go there and experience it yourself.

Where next?

Siem Reap, Cambodia

 

Original article can be found here: Vagabonding Field Report: UNESCO World Heritage Site, Luang Prabang, Laos

Vagabonding book club: Chapter 9: Be creative

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

“In retrospect I see that my stress wasn’t the product of indecision; the conflict arose from my impossible desire to be in all those places at once. in knowing that so many destinations were cheaply accessible at that very moment, I suddenly feared that I would never again get the chance to see them. Travel, I was coming to realize, was a metaphor not only for the countless options life offers but also for the fact that choosing one option reduces you to the parameters of that choice. thus in knowing my possibilities, I also knew my limitations.”

I was raised by vagabonds. My parents hitchhiked continents and hopped freighters in between before I was born. When I was 8 they rolled my brother and I into the back of a 1964 Ford Econoline van that my Dad named “vagabunda” and drove us into the deep south for the winter. They did it again when I was 13. Who needs third or eighth grades? We talked a lot in my childhood, and even now, about this very point that Rolf elucidates: That to choose one life, one path, one moment, is to actively NOT choose a myriad of others.

It is a thought that has stuck with me as I’ve built my own life, followed my own passions and traveled with my own family. It’s not that any one path is inherently better than another, it’s just that they lead in very different directions and one must have the presence of mind to think long term enough to see past the first bend in the road. The necessity of commitment to a path, of releasing the ties other paths might have on one’s heart, the ties that lead to indecision, questioning, and regretful “what ifs.” On the flip side of that coin, the necessity of flexibility, the willingness to trust a path to the fates and follow where they leave, and the willingness to change your mind, change your path and create a new one if needs be. Ultimately, there is much to be said for being able to come to grips with the choices you’ve made, the parameters you’ve set for yourself, the limitations of the current set of choices, and live within the moment. Accepting what is. Changing what you can as it suits you. Moving forward with purpose. Exercising creativity to keep passions fresh and alive.

How do you choose a path and then keep it interesting as you go?

Original article can be found here: Vagabonding book club: Chapter 9: Be creative

Two ways to live

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

-Einstein

Original article can be found here: Two ways to live

Three things long term travel is not

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

I awoke, this morning, thinking about our journey and the excitement of being home for a few months. I opened my eyes to messages of love and daily life from people around the world, fellow travelers, as well as those who never leave home and I realized, again, just how thankful I am for the diversity in our circles. There are so many beautiful lives I get to live vicariously through the people we connect with. Long term travel is just one of an endless number of choices we could have made for this lifetime. Truth be told, it’s really only one tiny chapter of the greater book of our lives. There was a time when we lived other sorts of lives, and there will be a time in the future when we do something else entirely.

Long term travel is a lot of things, but this morning I awoke thinking about a few of the things it is not. 

A contest

It doesn’t matter who’s been on the road the longest. It doesn’t matter how many countries you’ve been to. It doesn’t matter what your blog following is. It doesn’t matter how many kids you’ve had in weird corners of the world. It doesn’t matter if your kid is tri-lingual. It’s not a race to check World Heritage sites off the list. It’s not about bigger, better, or faster. International is not better than domestic. No one cares how many Four Seasons hotels you’ve stayed at. There are no extra points for maintaining the smallest (or the largest) budget for years on end. Anytime it becomes about who does what bigger, better or faster, I’m opting out of the conversation and I hope you will too. Travel is not a contest; it’s an enrichment activity.

An extended vacation

For the record, we have not been on vacation for the past five and a half years. In some ways, traveling full time is a lot harder than living in one place. It’s not a long string of beach postcards and holiday style outings. We’re juggling kids and laundry, sicknesses and work schedules, schooling and dentist appointments, just like everyone else. It’s worth it to us. We love living this way for this phase of life. Longterm travel isn’t an extended vacation, it’s a lifestyle choice.

Inherently better

Occasionally people have felt the need to justify their lifestyle choice to me, “Well, it’s not like what you are doing, we’re just…” fill in the blank. Folks, there is no “just.” What we’re doing, traveling for years on end, is not inherently better than life in the suburbs. In fact, I’ve gotten my share of hate mail from people who would argue that it’s much worse. One of the things I love most about life is the many ways that there are to live it. My way need not be your way. Your dream is beautiful because it’s your dream. We all get to do our thing and together we make the world go round.

It bugs me, more than just a little, when I hear travelers smugly slapping one another on the back and quietly (or not so quietly) deriding all of “those people” who aren’t as “cool as we are” because they happen to hold stationary jobs, live in the ‘burbs, send their kids to school, or in some other way conform to the “norm.”Ladies and gentlemen who travel, hear this: you are not special, you are not fabulous, you’re just doing your thing. I celebrate that: do your thing. I love travelers, they are my people; but so are moms of ten kids neck deep in diapers and sippy cups for decades, and so are farmers whose dreams are dug deep in local soil, and so are folks who’ve hung up their wanderlust to do other worthwhile things for a while. Longterm travel is just one way to live a life, not the best way.

There are two more things long term travel is not; read about the original post on Edventure Project

Original article can be found here: Three things long term travel is not

You’re Doing What?

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

We’d been dating long distance for over three years. We got engaged in Australia in January of 2009 when I was still in New York and he in Melbourne. We’d traveled overseas together on every holiday break we could and loved it. We knew we wanted to share the same space for more than a few weeks together and thought long and hard about how to do it in perhaps a non-traditional way. We decided to take a ten-month honeymoon after we got married and travel around the world. A couple of years later, we did it again for a few months. We looked forward to the job hiatus, an apartment on hold, the joy of not knowing where we’d be or what we’d do on any given day, nothing pulling us in a specific direction and constant adventure ahead. The scariest part was that at some point, we had to tell people what we were doing. Of course, some responses were positive, ‘that’s awesome, take the opportunity and enjoy’ from those who were happy for us. But, let’s just say that the traditional path was not the one on which we traveled.

There were many interesting questions that came from the thoughts of others, but mostly we got…’you’re doing what?’

Here are some of the questions we got when we ditched the traditional path for a while.

Why would you do that?

What about health insurance?

What about your jobs?

What about your career?

What about your apartment?

What will you do for money?

Do you have a trust fund I don’t know about?

How can you do that?

Where will you live?

Did you get an apartment already?

Do you know where you’re staying?

You’re planning on traveling WHERE?

Don’t you know there are diseases and crazy dangers there?

Why would you want to go THERE?

What will you do with all of your STUFF?

Are you insane?

Are you ever coming back?

What about your family?

Can I come too?

You’re doing what?

How did people react when you shared your travel plans?

What’s the most memorable question you heard when you headed off on your journey?

To read more of Stacey’s travels check out her blog at thegiftoftravel.wordpress.com

 

Original article can be found here: You’re Doing What?

Enjoy the ride

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

 

(Riding past the Guadalupe Mountains)

I was planning to write about learning to throw axes during my last trip to Toronto. About how it reminded me to get out of my head and flow in the moment. That the moment I started laughing, that’s exactly what would happen and my throws became more accurate. I’ll write about it another time, though, because today I learned that my grandfather has passed away.

He had an incredible impact on my life and is a large part of why I’ve become the man I am. Though he was a great man, I’m not going to write about him either. First – it’s much to fresh and I don’t have perspective yet. Second – this blog is about us, learning about how travel has made our lives better.

Instead, I’m going to write about why I’m grateful that I’m able to ride my motorcycle alone, across three thousand miles of this beautiful country. Right now – I can’t imagine anything better than cruising through the incredible landscapes of the Southwestern United States, then up the Pacific Coast Highway.

I don’t know about you – but for some reason, I’ve always found driving and riding to be almost meditative. After a few hours on the road, it always seems that the gates to my subconscious pry open and I’m flooded with thoughts, ideas… emotions. All those things that we seem to seem to suppress during our minor-crisis and Facebook filled days.

How about you? When do you find that moment? I know some people who find it when running; others when meditating; and more than a few after a judicious portion of psychedelic drugs.

I occurs to me that this is one of the reasons that I love traveling. I mean, aside from meeting interesting people and seeing/smelling/hearing/feeling a new place. The act of traveling – of being on the road, brings me a sense of contentment. Of course, even that has its limits. After 14 hours in a car, I’m usually beat and need to pull over for a nap. On a bike, anything over 7 hours makes my butt ache – a lot.

Again – how about you? Do you seek the destination or the journey? Both? Think back on your last few trips – which memories burn the brightest? Were they from the destination — or from somewhere along the way?

All I know is that I’m grateful that I get to spend the next couple of weeks in the saddle, flying across long stretches of highway. Right now it’s about the journey.

Original article can be found here: Enjoy the ride

Intentionally creating culture through long term travel

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Have you ever wondered if the culture that surrounds you has more of an influence on your kid than you do? Have you ever muttered the phrase “I guess it’s just what kids do these days” out of frustration? Have you ever encouraged, pushed, or flat out made your kid do something because “someday society will demand this of you”, even though you secretly thought the cultural norm you were pushing was, well, dumb?

People often wonder aloud whether traveling long term with children is “right”. Will they miss their friends? Will they lack “roots”? How will they receive an education? Is it safe? These are valid questions- and believe me, every single one has an answer as unique as the family answering it. Some families travel for educational purposes, some for financial freedom, some to gain more time with their families.

But what about traveling with the (partial) goal of intentionally shaping the culture our children are raised in? How many families see this as their driving goal? In the traveling world, a lot.

It might sound a little crazy at first thought but really, when you think about it, every parent, every adult, every person who interacts with a child, does it everyday- usually without even thinking about it. Culture is what you get when experiences, language, knowledge, beliefs, interactions, expectations, religious views, biases, prejudices, social norms, values, educational ideals, and a whole host of other things accumulate and become internalized within a society. Culture is the symbolic agreement between a group of people for how they would like to be and do. So when we choose our kids’ school, encourage a sport or instrument, or decide whether to join that country club, we are also choosing which parts of our culture we emphasize to our children.

Traveling families want to do this too. Just…. differently.

There are grand symbols of our culture that most people can identify from a mile away. Varied things like McDonald’s and the burka are manifestations of a culture. But there are also more subtle expressions of our culture. The words we use when talking about girls. The clothes we wear to the office, religious gathering, or party. The skin colors of our models. The products we push on our children. The language we use when discussing violence against women. The classes we encourage kids to take in school. The way we talk about foreigners and immigrants.

Every society, large or small, has a culture. There is culture on a grand scale- like American culture- and culture on a more individualized scale- like a family culture.  Some of us don’t want to passively accept the culture we were handed. Some of us what to intentionally choose the culture we participate in- and the culture our children internalize.

We aren’t just talking about choosing one country’s culture over another. We’re talking about looking at how every interaction and choice we make communicates something to our children- whether overt or covert. Travel itself can be key in developing culture. Choosing to travel long term with children might seem scary to some but it communicates a belief in true, personal freedom, an interest in getting to know people who are different from us, and a daily need for creativity to our children. Without us even saying anything, it informs our children that learning can happen anywhere, that you really CAN do absolutely anything if you want it bad enough, and that there are many more ways to go about life than the way we do it in our home neighborhood.

You might be thinking, “this is great for teenagers, but what about a two year old? They won’t even remember.” If you wonder how much of our cultural adaption is unconscious acquisition, talk to anyone who has left their home country for several months or more. Ask them about “re-entry”. Ask them how coming back to the land they grew up in felt; how much they forgot; how much they needed to re-adapt; and how surprised they were by all of this. The next time your two year old repeats a phrase you…ahem… would rather they not, ask yourself if you consciously taught them to use those colorful words with such perfect timing or if they absorbed it without you realizing. And consider this, if nothing matters in a child’s development until they are old enough to remember it, then why do you talk to, play with, and otherwise lay positive groundwork with your baby?

Kids absorb like sponges and, in fact, so do adults. Internalizing culture is no different. We can’t guarantee that a kid absorb exactly what we want them to, no matter where we are! But we can seek to shape the greater culture that we expose them to. A McDonald’s on every corner might be a bit less concerning to a parent if their kid happily eats crickets, curry, and coconut 364 days out of the year.

Us long term travelers know a secret. They know that every minute of every day does actually count when it comes to the acquisition of culture. And we know that by creating space where the very act of doing, of traveling, is working to shape their family culture that we can sweat the small stuff a little less. And that isn’t so crazy, is it?

Original article can be found here: Intentionally creating culture through long term travel