How to travel like a beginner…or maybe not This past week, I attempted to travel like a beginner, a novice unfamiliar with words like bulkhead, elite line or overhead bin. I tried to view air travel as a newbie. I failed. Why it’s hard to travel like a beginner I think I was doomed before I ever threw my carryon into the trunk of my car. While I laud…
Even if you’re a veteran traveler, there are benefits to learning to travel like a beginner. You may even rediscover what you love about travel.
How many hidden worlds lie in your own backyard? More than you may realize. Literally, if you were to pay close attention to all the details of your home or backyard, you’d be amazed by what you find. Xavier de Maistre did just that. Journey around your own room In 1790, de Maistre wrote a book, A Journey Around My Room. According to Alain de Botton in one of…
You travel far off any known tourist map to encounter what you believe will be a unique travel experience. No one there speaks your language or appears to have ever encountered a Westerner before. You learn enough of the local language which, combined with gestures worthy of Marcel Marceau or an Academy Award, get you by. You come home from this seemingly unique travel experience. You post stories…
In Munich, Germany, at the famous Hofbrauhaus brewery, locals hang out at tables assigned specifically for them. They also keep their beer steins locked in racks that only they and other locals can access. This, in part, is what separates the tourists from the locals. And yet even though there’s a clear cultural divider there between insiders and outsiders, everyone is welcome. It’s the same here: You may…
