Your passport is only one of the few essential
things you must remember to bring along with you when you travel. Yes, there’s
sunscreen, guidebooks, your camera, and mobile phone. Also there are other
important travel documents that you must have handy if you plan on crossing
several borders on your trip. You don’t want to be the only one of your friends
to have to trudge back home from the airport, not having been admitted entry to
another country because you were missing some identification.
There’s also the first aid. Fun’s no fun if you
have the sniffles plaguing you all throughout. There’s nothing like a fever
that’s coming down on you like a ton of bricks to take the cool factor off of
the trip. It pays to be healthy when you’re tromping along the fields and
gawking around the sights of another country.
But these are the basics. While we don’t forget
our MP3s, our guidebooks, our extra shirts or lucky hat, we forget the most
basic of all: respect.
Sometimes we judge without thinking, comparing
things with how they are back home. They’re supposed to be different. Learn to
deal with the difference. Respect it. Observe the locals’ traditions, their
ways. Watch without passing judgment. Don’t blunder about, thinking what you do
at home is acceptable. See if it is. If it’s not, adjust.
Also, don’t forget to bring along a sense of
humor. There are plenty of surprises that chance could spring on you when
you’re on the road. Having the wit to laugh off even the most awful slip-ups or
mishaps could keep your trip from turning into a disastrous jaunt, keeping it
on a fun and thrilling keel.
So you have respect. And humor. If it’s not too
much of a stretch for you, you could also try for a little kindness.
Most of the tourist-friendly places in the
world aren’t first-world countries. They’re mostly the poor nations, where
good-paying jobs are hard to come by and the majority of people survive on
their wit and skills rather than their wealth or trust funds. Residents of
these countries often work in the tourism industry to earn a few extra bucks
everyday to help out in their families. They offer to drive you around, serve
as your guide, provide you with transportation and basically try to make your
stay a lovely and pleasant one.
When it’s time to go, don’t stiff them. Don’t
pay them through the nose. They’ve worked hard to earn a living. While not all
guides are hard-working or likable or charming, there are really the remarkable
ones, the ones who stand out, who were kind to you, who did try to make your stay
as fun as possible. Hand over an extra dollar or two if you think their service
has been worth it. So long as they’ve earned it.
We’re not saying give them money because they
don’t have a lot of it. We’re saying learn to appreciate the efforts that other
people have put into making your stay a great one, in whatever country you are.
People who made you respect them with their hard work and kindness.
It’s important to pay them back in kind, in
travel and life.
More on Travel Click on http://www.softhinking.org/travel/site/travel/index.php
Abdou Karim and SOFThinking http://www.softhinking.org
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