When I was a girl, I used to wish that I had the kind of family that played musical instruments and recited poetry at parties, that would sit around talking about books they'd read and travel all over the world. I imagined animals in the house. A dog running excitedly after children, barking with delight, birds twittering in a cage and a cat slinking around a chair. Eclectic people would drop by for enlightening conversation; professors and travelers, visitors from other countries. We'd have a library full of books and all kinds of instruments sitting around like telescopes. I can see it so clearly, even now. It was probably from a movie I saw.
What I didn't realize then is that I actually had a pretty eclectic family, compared to most people I knew. We grew our own food and eschewed traditional medicine. We went for long hikes and bike rides together and to museums and historical sites. We drove cross country twice. My parents took us to Europe several times. I climbed the Eiffel Tower and stayed in a French country house. We toured Neuschwanstein Castle and picnicked in the Black Forest. We drove all over England and Wales and my brother and I danced all night at The Hacienda in Manchester. At home, we didn't watch TV, instead our favorites were The Marx Brothers and Alfred Hitchcock movies. I knew movies from the sixties better than any from the eighties. Exchange students from Japan, Germany and Sweden stayed at our house for a year at a time and my best friends in school were usually from other countries.
Instead of artists or professors, though, my parents were engineers and didn't care much for the arts. My dad was strict and controlling, not the kind sympathetic father that Gidget had. My friends didn't like being at my house (no TV, no junk food!) and I wasn't allowed to stay at anyone else's house. We rarely had animals and spent years sneaking cats into the house before my dad gave up protesting. Even though my parents had friends, they rarely came over and most of them weren't the kind that belonged in my bohemian household. The elements missing were art, chaos and wacky but genuine love and affection. I still dream of that household even though I'm unmarried, have no pets and keep a pretty tidy house.
In recent weeks, however, I've noticed myself frequently commenting (to myself, of course) that I have so many cool friends! The kind of friends that I imagined dropping by my dream family's house. Max was on Charlie Rose talking about his book, Adam is making a feature and writes a biting political blog, Annmarie is educating people on native nutrition and making all of her own food from scratch, Ross' first feature premieres next month, Steve is putting investor's packages together for a soon-to-be Broadway musical and Addi plays a balloon bass in Unpopable, now available on iTunes. They have a fantastic video that really sums up that wackiness that feels like home to me. I guess it's not surprising that I've become the bohemian I always wanted to be.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
I miss my India
I've been thinking a lot about India lately. Staying with my friend in San Mateo, I have eaten at an Indian restaurant here no fewer than five times in a week. It is possibly the best Indian food I've ever had and only a few blocks away. My friend and her daughter, new to it, refer to my favorite dish Saag Paneer as "the goosh." They can't get enough of it. Strangely, the first time I ate Indian food was in San Francisco, in college, visiting a friend in the city. The restaurant offered a tour of their kitchen and the Tandoori oven and I, of course, took them up on it. And strangely, while I've overplayed my music during the 40-minute commute, the only songs I don't tire of are those from the Bend it Like Beckham soundtrack.
This December will be the ten-year anniversary of my two-month trip to India. I was recently looking up a town that I visited and discovered that all the names of the towns and cities have been changed since I was there. They were starting it when I was there - Bombay was already Mumbai and Madras was already Chennai - but all the names of the little towns (I visited over twenty) have been changed. When I returned to the U.S. I remember someone asking me if I would go back. I think my answer then was that there were so many other places I wanted to go, I couldn't see myself going back to a place I'd already been. But despite the wear and tear on my body from eating the food, the minute the plane left the ground, tears streamed down my cheeks and I cried "I miss my India!"
Ten years later, I still don't miss an opportunity to talk about my travels and many memories are as fresh as the day they happened. There's something about the country, the culture, the people, that get in you. I left India but it never left me and when I read or hear things about it, it's like hearing about a place I used to live or a person I used to love. There has been a lot about India in the news lately. There was a slew of polls in Time magazine and one said that people in India were two-three times more optimistic about their future than Americans. The commentary was that people are happier in a society that's in the process of improving than in one where things are already good. The author surmised that it was a feeling if things are good, they can only get worse.
But progress always has its price and a while back I saw an article about the giant boulders in India - across the Deccan plateau - that are being blown up with dynamite to make way for new construction. Yes, they're that big. One of my favorite places there was a town called Hampi (it's not on the map anymore, they changed the name!), just a little ways from Bangalore - then called the Silicon Valley of India. I can't help but wonder now if there are more Indians in the tech industry in the U.S. than in India. I read that the software industry is so booming in India that engineers from the U.S. can go home to India and take their jobs with them. But I digress, the article was about a society formed to "save the boulders!" of Hyderabad. It even describes one guy who built his house around a boulder, something that should have a been the subject of a Dr. Suess story. I don't usually post professionally published photos but this was just too beautiful and I don't have any of my India photos scanned (they were taken pre-digital!)
I spent time in Hyderabad and I don't remember the giant boulders there, but I do remember them in Hampi. Out in the middle of a huge plain, along a river, hundreds of giant boulders are stacked and sitting in piles, miles away from the nearest mountains. The first question you ask is where did they come from? The second is why are they here? When you focus your eyes you notice the buildings that have been carved out of stone by a civilization thousands of years ago and realize that the "buildings" are the size of a thimble compared to an orange. The boulders are way bigger than they look initially.
Protest is now part of the familiar modern tale of development vs. nature, but nature is starting to be more valuable I think. I also heard on NPR that Indians are protesting the arrival of WalMart that is threatening to replace the "mom and pop shop" with jobs, robbing Indians of their independence and freedom sell what they want, and only benefitting a few. We're starting to realize, as the article says, that once certain things are destroyed, they can't be brought back. Which is why, ten years later, I find myself thinking about India and wanting to go back to that which someday will be no longer.
This December will be the ten-year anniversary of my two-month trip to India. I was recently looking up a town that I visited and discovered that all the names of the towns and cities have been changed since I was there. They were starting it when I was there - Bombay was already Mumbai and Madras was already Chennai - but all the names of the little towns (I visited over twenty) have been changed. When I returned to the U.S. I remember someone asking me if I would go back. I think my answer then was that there were so many other places I wanted to go, I couldn't see myself going back to a place I'd already been. But despite the wear and tear on my body from eating the food, the minute the plane left the ground, tears streamed down my cheeks and I cried "I miss my India!"
Ten years later, I still don't miss an opportunity to talk about my travels and many memories are as fresh as the day they happened. There's something about the country, the culture, the people, that get in you. I left India but it never left me and when I read or hear things about it, it's like hearing about a place I used to live or a person I used to love. There has been a lot about India in the news lately. There was a slew of polls in Time magazine and one said that people in India were two-three times more optimistic about their future than Americans. The commentary was that people are happier in a society that's in the process of improving than in one where things are already good. The author surmised that it was a feeling if things are good, they can only get worse.
But progress always has its price and a while back I saw an article about the giant boulders in India - across the Deccan plateau - that are being blown up with dynamite to make way for new construction. Yes, they're that big. One of my favorite places there was a town called Hampi (it's not on the map anymore, they changed the name!), just a little ways from Bangalore - then called the Silicon Valley of India. I can't help but wonder now if there are more Indians in the tech industry in the U.S. than in India. I read that the software industry is so booming in India that engineers from the U.S. can go home to India and take their jobs with them. But I digress, the article was about a society formed to "save the boulders!" of Hyderabad. It even describes one guy who built his house around a boulder, something that should have a been the subject of a Dr. Suess story. I don't usually post professionally published photos but this was just too beautiful and I don't have any of my India photos scanned (they were taken pre-digital!)
I spent time in Hyderabad and I don't remember the giant boulders there, but I do remember them in Hampi. Out in the middle of a huge plain, along a river, hundreds of giant boulders are stacked and sitting in piles, miles away from the nearest mountains. The first question you ask is where did they come from? The second is why are they here? When you focus your eyes you notice the buildings that have been carved out of stone by a civilization thousands of years ago and realize that the "buildings" are the size of a thimble compared to an orange. The boulders are way bigger than they look initially.
Protest is now part of the familiar modern tale of development vs. nature, but nature is starting to be more valuable I think. I also heard on NPR that Indians are protesting the arrival of WalMart that is threatening to replace the "mom and pop shop" with jobs, robbing Indians of their independence and freedom sell what they want, and only benefitting a few. We're starting to realize, as the article says, that once certain things are destroyed, they can't be brought back. Which is why, ten years later, I find myself thinking about India and wanting to go back to that which someday will be no longer.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
One step behind the terrorists
My mom just got back from a business trip and almost missed her flight home. The airlines changed the gate and no one told her. She sat for an hour and a half at the wrong gate in a terminal with no food. Hungry and wanting coffee, and they'd be boarding soon. When it was time to board, nothing happened. Puzzled, she asked about the flight and was then told she was at the wrong gate. She and several other people made a mad dash to catch their flight in another terminal halfway across the airport. Along the way she passed Peet's Coffee, Wolfgang Puck's, California Pizza Kitchen, damn! They barely made it and some people probably didn't.
A friend of mine told me almost the identical story a few weeks ago, and this happened to me about a month ago. Seems to be a trend. A co-worker of my mom theorized, "The airlines are overbooking every flight, this is their way of trimming off the extra." Those people will miss their flight, get on the next one and there's always a wait list to make sure every flight is full. My friend asked, "Isn't it a security issue to have luggage on the plane without a passenger?" Interesting point.
Why is it, my mom asks, that there's so much security at the airport anyway? Many situations present possible danger for far greater numbers of people. "There are probably more people shopping at the grocery store than sitting on that flight," she says, "and no security there, why not?" I told her it was because since 9-11, we've learned that airplanes can be used as a weapon and kill far more than who is on the plane.
That naturally segued into strategies for better flying. Pack light, bring only a small carry on, wear slip on shoes, forget the jacket and the belt. She tells another story about being scolded for leaving a water bottle in her bag. "What's the water thing all about anyway?" "Well," I said, "we're always very cleverly one step behind the terrorists." We didn't have to take off our shoes until there was the shoe bomber. Then someone supposedly had liquid explosives and now we can't bring water to drink on the plane. Who ever heard of anyone being protected by being one step behind the criminal mind? I don't feel any safer. Especially since I know 100% of the gaps in security are user error.
Last time I was at the airport a woman set off the metal detector when she went through. "Oh," she said, and pointed at her heavy bracelet. "Okay," the guy nods and lets her go. Uh, what? They're supposed to make you take off the metal, put it in the bin and make you go through again. Even I know that! That's the oldest trick in the book. Set off the metal detector, point to a bracelet? Meanwhile, she's got a pistol in an ankle holster. Anyone who's watched a movie knows that one.
I don't know what's behind the last minute switching of the gates but it seems to be going around. Maybe it's some clever ploy to fool the terrorists. Maybe the last terrorist plot was by some guy who talked on the phone and missed his plane when they switched the gate and the geniuses in charge decided to keep that gag running. All I know is this. When you get to the gate, go to the counter and ask a person if it's the gate for your flight to your destination at your time. And don't settle for anything other than yes, yes and yes. Do that and then relax and enjoy the flight!
A friend of mine told me almost the identical story a few weeks ago, and this happened to me about a month ago. Seems to be a trend. A co-worker of my mom theorized, "The airlines are overbooking every flight, this is their way of trimming off the extra." Those people will miss their flight, get on the next one and there's always a wait list to make sure every flight is full. My friend asked, "Isn't it a security issue to have luggage on the plane without a passenger?" Interesting point.
Why is it, my mom asks, that there's so much security at the airport anyway? Many situations present possible danger for far greater numbers of people. "There are probably more people shopping at the grocery store than sitting on that flight," she says, "and no security there, why not?" I told her it was because since 9-11, we've learned that airplanes can be used as a weapon and kill far more than who is on the plane.
That naturally segued into strategies for better flying. Pack light, bring only a small carry on, wear slip on shoes, forget the jacket and the belt. She tells another story about being scolded for leaving a water bottle in her bag. "What's the water thing all about anyway?" "Well," I said, "we're always very cleverly one step behind the terrorists." We didn't have to take off our shoes until there was the shoe bomber. Then someone supposedly had liquid explosives and now we can't bring water to drink on the plane. Who ever heard of anyone being protected by being one step behind the criminal mind? I don't feel any safer. Especially since I know 100% of the gaps in security are user error.
Last time I was at the airport a woman set off the metal detector when she went through. "Oh," she said, and pointed at her heavy bracelet. "Okay," the guy nods and lets her go. Uh, what? They're supposed to make you take off the metal, put it in the bin and make you go through again. Even I know that! That's the oldest trick in the book. Set off the metal detector, point to a bracelet? Meanwhile, she's got a pistol in an ankle holster. Anyone who's watched a movie knows that one.
I don't know what's behind the last minute switching of the gates but it seems to be going around. Maybe it's some clever ploy to fool the terrorists. Maybe the last terrorist plot was by some guy who talked on the phone and missed his plane when they switched the gate and the geniuses in charge decided to keep that gag running. All I know is this. When you get to the gate, go to the counter and ask a person if it's the gate for your flight to your destination at your time. And don't settle for anything other than yes, yes and yes. Do that and then relax and enjoy the flight!
Monday, June 11, 2007
The culture mash
My mother was telling me that the last time she was in England, her cousins took her to a supermall that had been built near them. It's so huge, there's an actual ski slope inside. They were especially excited to show her the "American section" of the mall which boasts a replica of New Orleans' Jackson Square, a real Texas BBQ and cowboy shops, a fifties diner and the pièce de résistance, a bowling alley! When my mom did not express the unique kind of joy they were expecting, her cousin said "but I thought all Americans were bowling mad!" Apparently not.
"Ridiculous," my mom continued, "why do they think I would be excited about that? If they came to the states, I wouldn't take them to have English tea." I thought about it for a moment. "Well, we took Chiemi to Benihana," I said, reminding her of the ensemble of exchange students we hosted in my high school years. Chiemi was from Japan. "Oh yeah, we did!" she giggled.
"And I'm pretty sure we took Jenny (from Sweden) to Solvang (the replica of a Danish town)." My mom is suddenly mock-embarrassed. "Oh yeah, we took her to the smorgasbord restaurant for Swedish meatballs!" She howled with laughter. We too, succumbed to the urge to show someone's culture to them in a foreign land. I think this impulse is one of peace-making. It's a way to say "our country values your culture." The risk, of course, is that it's more likely that our country has perverted, diminished and commercialized their culture, but it's the gesture that counts.
What I think is a more powerful expression of appreciation is a merging of the two cultures. One of the biggest attractions in Los Angeles is a restaurant that on weekend nights hosts an Elvis impersonator. It's not the entertainment of someone karaoking to Elvis that's made "Thai Elvis" a cult-figure (you need only Google "Thai Elvis" to find the restaurant), it's the tangible culture mash that's so appealing.
On my walk today, someone was practicing the bagpipes looking over the ocean as the sun set. It sounded very good and he was getting quite a bit of attention. As I got closer, I could see that the bagpiper was African-American. How fantastic! This is the merging of culture that makes Los Angeles the special place that it is.
"Ridiculous," my mom continued, "why do they think I would be excited about that? If they came to the states, I wouldn't take them to have English tea." I thought about it for a moment. "Well, we took Chiemi to Benihana," I said, reminding her of the ensemble of exchange students we hosted in my high school years. Chiemi was from Japan. "Oh yeah, we did!" she giggled.
"And I'm pretty sure we took Jenny (from Sweden) to Solvang (the replica of a Danish town)." My mom is suddenly mock-embarrassed. "Oh yeah, we took her to the smorgasbord restaurant for Swedish meatballs!" She howled with laughter. We too, succumbed to the urge to show someone's culture to them in a foreign land. I think this impulse is one of peace-making. It's a way to say "our country values your culture." The risk, of course, is that it's more likely that our country has perverted, diminished and commercialized their culture, but it's the gesture that counts.
What I think is a more powerful expression of appreciation is a merging of the two cultures. One of the biggest attractions in Los Angeles is a restaurant that on weekend nights hosts an Elvis impersonator. It's not the entertainment of someone karaoking to Elvis that's made "Thai Elvis" a cult-figure (you need only Google "Thai Elvis" to find the restaurant), it's the tangible culture mash that's so appealing.
On my walk today, someone was practicing the bagpipes looking over the ocean as the sun set. It sounded very good and he was getting quite a bit of attention. As I got closer, I could see that the bagpiper was African-American. How fantastic! This is the merging of culture that makes Los Angeles the special place that it is.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Why Americans don't travel
Last week I went on a date with an Israeli and since we'd both spent time in India we talked about traveling. He made a reference to "his country" and I remarked that I had noticed when foreigners in the U.S. refer to their homeland, they always say "my country." When I've traveled I say, of my homeland, "in the United States." I theorized that it was a way to distance myself the United States: instead of claiming it as "my country," I just refer to it by name. I told him that many Americans are happy to be mistaken for some other nationality. My date asked our waiter where he was from, thinking he was foreign-born, and he replied "Pennsylvania." His response to being mistaken as foreign was "thank you, I'll take that as a compliment."
At some point in the conversation, my date commented that "Americans don't travel" and to my surprise, I delivered a swift and thorough argument in our defense. I don't like being lumped into a category and I don't like whole nations being summed up in simple statements, but that isn't what got me going. What bothers me is the implication that Americans are ignorant and unsophisticated because we don't travel.
I actually happen to agree that we suffer from not seeing outside of our country more often. We are an insulated, nationalist country that spends too much time working and not enough time traveling. We don't talk about politics enough and are constantly told that this country is better than all others. In fact, according to a comment posted by a reader on my blog we should work harder, complain less and appreciate what we have more.
Yet Europeans, who by many accounts have it WAY better than we do, with their mandatory six-eight weeks vacation, cheap to free schooling, unionized wages, better health care, looser regulations on medicine and stricter laws on guns, never stop complaining! They talk and argue and debate issues over bottles of wine into the wee hours of the night and no one would ever think to tell them to shut up and sit down.
There are three VERY GOOD reasons why Americans don't travel more: Time, money and distance. But first, let's clarify that this statement refers to international travel, more specifically, travel ABROAD. Americans travel quite a bit within our own country and travel to Mexico and Canada requires only a driver's license. The statement should be "Americans don't travel to as many countries and with the same frequency as other industrialized nations."
The reality is, Americans only get a fraction of the vacation time other industrialized nations receive and a third of us, don't even take it. A regular salaried job gets me two weeks vacation in the first year, and usually doesn't increase for at least three years after that. If I stay in a job long enough (and I haven't yet), I may get more than two weeks but it will be a long time before I have six weeks.
This year, instead of saving my two weeks, I'm using it throughout the year to visit my good friend three time zones away in New York, another friend in North Carolina who's getting married, my brother and nephews in Oregon. It's not uncommon for Americans to go years without seeing some of their closest friends and relatives because of the distance, time and cost between us. Each of my trips will cost me $350-$500 in airfare and including gifts, expenses and a hotel, will run me about $1,000 each. The east coast trips will take me 5-9 hours flying time, each way, depending on the layover.
In order for me to spend more than two weeks out of the country, I have to quit my job and save quite a bit of money. My vacation will be without pay but I'll still have to pay rent on my apartment and all of my other bills. I met a German guy while traveling around India who thought it was hysterical that I had saved for a whole year and quit my job to take the trip. He boasted that the German government was paying him to take his six weeks vacation even though he was collecting unemployment.
His flight to India took eight hours, mine took thirty-one hours and included an eight-hour layover in the Seoul airport. There and back, with time changes, I'm traveling almost a week before I spend any time in my destination. From the west coast, I can be in Europe in 12-14 hours but everything in the UK costs me twice as much as it does here. By comparison, Europeans can fly anywhere in Europe in a couple of hours and for $50-100 one way.
Yes, we are isolated and there is a certain amount of inertia to overcome, although I'm sure it's quite common for people who live in the country to travel less than city-dwellers, and not just because of the inertia. In this country, people not living in Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York, are likely to earn half as much for the same work. Lower cost of living, lower wages. Which is fine if you stay put, but try traveling abroad with a family and a yearly income of $35,000 or $40,000 when the Euro is 1.3 to the dollar. Still, thirteen million Americans visited Europe last year and not just London and Paris but Dubrovnik and Budapest!
Not that it should matter WHERE we've traveled. I don't believe for a minute that the majority of Europeans are visiting other countries for the cultural experience. They go for the mountains and the beaches: skiing, surfing, scuba diving and shopping that they can't do in their own countries. In the United States, we already have some of the best spots in the world for vacation activities and some of the most beautiful natural sites on earth. If we're trying to get the best value for our time and money, why not stay in the States? We must have SOMETHING worth coming for because fifty-one million people traveled to the U.S. from other countries last year.
When I've met foreigners who've traveled to the U.S., they always name three things that surprised them:
1) How beautiful the United States is. It's not all strip malls and Air Force bases.
2) How truly vast the nation is. You can't comprehend the size and richness of the State of California, for example, without driving the 18+ hours along the coast before realizing there's a completely different adventure running parallel, five hours away, along the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
3) How friendly and helpful Americans are.
We aren't as xenophobic as people think. Close friends and family of mine have spent time in China, Japan and throughout Asia, Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe. An ex-boyfriend, after traveling all over the world, moved to Bangkok where he opened two yoga studios. Other friends of mine have lived in Scotland, Sweden, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Germany, Japan and Ecuador. I've been abroad five times and although I've only visited eight countries (not including Mexico and Canada), I've vacationed to over half of the states in the U.S.
When I was in India, making my way around the country staying in small villages, the people there were so excited to spend time with travelers. They asked questions, practicing their English if they didn't know it well (although many do), chatted excitedly about their lives and invited us to their homes. Because most of them will never have the opportunity to leave their country, spending time with foreigners IS their form of travel. Similarly, in the States, we all have friends from other countries to learn from and experience the world through. Of my mom's close friends (in the suburbs), half are born in other countries including Hungary, Scotland, Wales and Czechoslovakia.
When I was in high school, my family hosted exchange students from Germany, Sweden and Japan and throughout school many of my best friends were exchange students, au pair, or immigrants from Poland, Iceland, Spain and Thailand. Growing up, American kids aren't encouraged to learn other languages, our schools teach primarily American history and very little, if any, history of other countries and yes, we are brainwashed to love our country unconditionally. We're told it's dangerous for Americans to travel (we might get kidnapped!) and people don't like Americans (freedom-haters!) and despite all that, we still venture out into the world. I suppose the real reason the statement upsets me is because I wish it were easier for Americans to experience life outside the bubble.
[A few snaps from my trip up the CA coast two summers ago. To really get a sense of what we have to offer, these are the most gorgeous photos of California I've ever seen.]
At some point in the conversation, my date commented that "Americans don't travel" and to my surprise, I delivered a swift and thorough argument in our defense. I don't like being lumped into a category and I don't like whole nations being summed up in simple statements, but that isn't what got me going. What bothers me is the implication that Americans are ignorant and unsophisticated because we don't travel.
I actually happen to agree that we suffer from not seeing outside of our country more often. We are an insulated, nationalist country that spends too much time working and not enough time traveling. We don't talk about politics enough and are constantly told that this country is better than all others. In fact, according to a comment posted by a reader on my blog we should work harder, complain less and appreciate what we have more.
Yet Europeans, who by many accounts have it WAY better than we do, with their mandatory six-eight weeks vacation, cheap to free schooling, unionized wages, better health care, looser regulations on medicine and stricter laws on guns, never stop complaining! They talk and argue and debate issues over bottles of wine into the wee hours of the night and no one would ever think to tell them to shut up and sit down.
There are three VERY GOOD reasons why Americans don't travel more: Time, money and distance. But first, let's clarify that this statement refers to international travel, more specifically, travel ABROAD. Americans travel quite a bit within our own country and travel to Mexico and Canada requires only a driver's license. The statement should be "Americans don't travel to as many countries and with the same frequency as other industrialized nations."
The reality is, Americans only get a fraction of the vacation time other industrialized nations receive and a third of us, don't even take it. A regular salaried job gets me two weeks vacation in the first year, and usually doesn't increase for at least three years after that. If I stay in a job long enough (and I haven't yet), I may get more than two weeks but it will be a long time before I have six weeks.
This year, instead of saving my two weeks, I'm using it throughout the year to visit my good friend three time zones away in New York, another friend in North Carolina who's getting married, my brother and nephews in Oregon. It's not uncommon for Americans to go years without seeing some of their closest friends and relatives because of the distance, time and cost between us. Each of my trips will cost me $350-$500 in airfare and including gifts, expenses and a hotel, will run me about $1,000 each. The east coast trips will take me 5-9 hours flying time, each way, depending on the layover.
In order for me to spend more than two weeks out of the country, I have to quit my job and save quite a bit of money. My vacation will be without pay but I'll still have to pay rent on my apartment and all of my other bills. I met a German guy while traveling around India who thought it was hysterical that I had saved for a whole year and quit my job to take the trip. He boasted that the German government was paying him to take his six weeks vacation even though he was collecting unemployment.
His flight to India took eight hours, mine took thirty-one hours and included an eight-hour layover in the Seoul airport. There and back, with time changes, I'm traveling almost a week before I spend any time in my destination. From the west coast, I can be in Europe in 12-14 hours but everything in the UK costs me twice as much as it does here. By comparison, Europeans can fly anywhere in Europe in a couple of hours and for $50-100 one way.
Yes, we are isolated and there is a certain amount of inertia to overcome, although I'm sure it's quite common for people who live in the country to travel less than city-dwellers, and not just because of the inertia. In this country, people not living in Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York, are likely to earn half as much for the same work. Lower cost of living, lower wages. Which is fine if you stay put, but try traveling abroad with a family and a yearly income of $35,000 or $40,000 when the Euro is 1.3 to the dollar. Still, thirteen million Americans visited Europe last year and not just London and Paris but Dubrovnik and Budapest!
Not that it should matter WHERE we've traveled. I don't believe for a minute that the majority of Europeans are visiting other countries for the cultural experience. They go for the mountains and the beaches: skiing, surfing, scuba diving and shopping that they can't do in their own countries. In the United States, we already have some of the best spots in the world for vacation activities and some of the most beautiful natural sites on earth. If we're trying to get the best value for our time and money, why not stay in the States? We must have SOMETHING worth coming for because fifty-one million people traveled to the U.S. from other countries last year.
When I've met foreigners who've traveled to the U.S., they always name three things that surprised them:
1) How beautiful the United States is. It's not all strip malls and Air Force bases.
2) How truly vast the nation is. You can't comprehend the size and richness of the State of California, for example, without driving the 18+ hours along the coast before realizing there's a completely different adventure running parallel, five hours away, along the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
3) How friendly and helpful Americans are.
We aren't as xenophobic as people think. Close friends and family of mine have spent time in China, Japan and throughout Asia, Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe. An ex-boyfriend, after traveling all over the world, moved to Bangkok where he opened two yoga studios. Other friends of mine have lived in Scotland, Sweden, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Germany, Japan and Ecuador. I've been abroad five times and although I've only visited eight countries (not including Mexico and Canada), I've vacationed to over half of the states in the U.S.
When I was in India, making my way around the country staying in small villages, the people there were so excited to spend time with travelers. They asked questions, practicing their English if they didn't know it well (although many do), chatted excitedly about their lives and invited us to their homes. Because most of them will never have the opportunity to leave their country, spending time with foreigners IS their form of travel. Similarly, in the States, we all have friends from other countries to learn from and experience the world through. Of my mom's close friends (in the suburbs), half are born in other countries including Hungary, Scotland, Wales and Czechoslovakia.
When I was in high school, my family hosted exchange students from Germany, Sweden and Japan and throughout school many of my best friends were exchange students, au pair, or immigrants from Poland, Iceland, Spain and Thailand. Growing up, American kids aren't encouraged to learn other languages, our schools teach primarily American history and very little, if any, history of other countries and yes, we are brainwashed to love our country unconditionally. We're told it's dangerous for Americans to travel (we might get kidnapped!) and people don't like Americans (freedom-haters!) and despite all that, we still venture out into the world. I suppose the real reason the statement upsets me is because I wish it were easier for Americans to experience life outside the bubble.
[A few snaps from my trip up the CA coast two summers ago. To really get a sense of what we have to offer, these are the most gorgeous photos of California I've ever seen.]
Monday, April 16, 2007
365 days in Oregon
I clicked on an intriguing banner ad on NYTimes.com and found
this Travel Oregon site with a cool Ajax splash page. It gives you detailed information on all the activities (in a very attractive layout!) and lets you create a travel journal.
My brother lives in Oregon - I'm going to visit next month - and I'm totally excited to find some fun activities to do with the kids. Too bad the pirates arrive after I do, ARRRRR!
this Travel Oregon site with a cool Ajax splash page. It gives you detailed information on all the activities (in a very attractive layout!) and lets you create a travel journal.
My brother lives in Oregon - I'm going to visit next month - and I'm totally excited to find some fun activities to do with the kids. Too bad the pirates arrive after I do, ARRRRR!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)