The Privilege of Travelling
When you are staying in Croatia for half a year, it seems to be a pity not to travel and to explore this beautiful region. So that is exactly what I did. I spent dozens of hours on buses and in cars to be rewarded by the wonderful views of Istria, Dalmatia, Zagreb, Slavonia, Boedapest, Bosnia and Montenegro. I came to the Balkans before, but it is safe to say that I fell in love these last couple of months. In the first place with the nature here, but also the people contributed to this.
It is common to say that traveling is an enriching experience and indeed it can be if you want that. You can marvel at foreign architecture, a turquoise sea kissing steep cliffs, admire seemingly endless olive groves, bicycle from one beach to another, watch the sun set on dozens of islands at once or dream about buying a wooden house in an idyllic mountain village after steering your car over what seems to be a mountain bike path.
It is definitely worth it to travel the world and meet the people inhabiting it. It makes your world bigger and it shows you the world as it really is. There is only one limitation and that is yourself. You need to be open to explore, to meet the unexpected (also if that means waiting for 2 hours to cross an imaginary line called a border). Traveling in that way is more like a jam session than a perfectly practiced concert. Of course, you can also fly halfway across the world to visit a gigantic resort that looks like thousands of others and never even speak to a person from the country or see anything else. Or you can visit multiple cities in one day (like a lot of tourists do in Belgium) and then tell yourself you saw the whole country. Of course, it can be your choice to spend your money that way. But to be clear: that is not the kind of traveling I am talking about here.
This last thing brings us to the money issue. You can spend as much money on a holiday as possible, depending on your priorities, and it is definitely possible to travel really cheap. But still, some people save years to be able to make that one trip of their dreams. Other parents have to save an entire year to take their children to the local swimming pool. So let's be honest: it is a privilege to be able to travel. For a Belgian person specifically, because we can go almost anywhere in the world (with the exception of a handful of countries) and live cheaper than we would at home. Let's not forget that this means that we are (on average of course!) richer than most people in the world. We travel the whole world, display our wealth (whether that is your intention or not; you do it simply by being there) and then we are annoyed by merchants trying to sell us shitty souvenirs just so they can at least increase their meager wage a little. Our politicians even have the audacity to organise campaigns in certain countries to dissuade people from coming to Belgium. The arrogance of this does not only show an unwillingness to see the world as it is but also a complete lack of empathy.
And the privilege does not only go for the financial part. For a lot of people traveling is simply not an option, no matter how much money they have, just because of the nationality label on their ID. Unfortunately, this is not the sort of injustice we can easily solve by protesting, signing a petition or donating to an NGO, because it is linked to worldwide inequality. But we can start by being aware of this disparity and act accordingly. So when I do travel, I try to keep an open mind and listen to people's stories. When a merchant offers me some kitchy souvenir, I at least thank him kindly for the offer hoping he would not think all tourists are impolite. I try to eat in small restaurants and tip the people who have the lowest wages - it is my self-imposed tourist tax. Of course this will not change the world and the waitress will not be able to send her son to university because of my tip (it would be next level arrogance to think this). But at least it will send a message of respect and kindness. If everyone would do it, it would certainly make a difference. And that is how we change the world together, isn't it?
It is common to say that traveling is an enriching experience and indeed it can be if you want that. You can marvel at foreign architecture, a turquoise sea kissing steep cliffs, admire seemingly endless olive groves, bicycle from one beach to another, watch the sun set on dozens of islands at once or dream about buying a wooden house in an idyllic mountain village after steering your car over what seems to be a mountain bike path.
It is definitely worth it to travel the world and meet the people inhabiting it. It makes your world bigger and it shows you the world as it really is. There is only one limitation and that is yourself. You need to be open to explore, to meet the unexpected (also if that means waiting for 2 hours to cross an imaginary line called a border). Traveling in that way is more like a jam session than a perfectly practiced concert. Of course, you can also fly halfway across the world to visit a gigantic resort that looks like thousands of others and never even speak to a person from the country or see anything else. Or you can visit multiple cities in one day (like a lot of tourists do in Belgium) and then tell yourself you saw the whole country. Of course, it can be your choice to spend your money that way. But to be clear: that is not the kind of traveling I am talking about here.
This last thing brings us to the money issue. You can spend as much money on a holiday as possible, depending on your priorities, and it is definitely possible to travel really cheap. But still, some people save years to be able to make that one trip of their dreams. Other parents have to save an entire year to take their children to the local swimming pool. So let's be honest: it is a privilege to be able to travel. For a Belgian person specifically, because we can go almost anywhere in the world (with the exception of a handful of countries) and live cheaper than we would at home. Let's not forget that this means that we are (on average of course!) richer than most people in the world. We travel the whole world, display our wealth (whether that is your intention or not; you do it simply by being there) and then we are annoyed by merchants trying to sell us shitty souvenirs just so they can at least increase their meager wage a little. Our politicians even have the audacity to organise campaigns in certain countries to dissuade people from coming to Belgium. The arrogance of this does not only show an unwillingness to see the world as it is but also a complete lack of empathy.
And the privilege does not only go for the financial part. For a lot of people traveling is simply not an option, no matter how much money they have, just because of the nationality label on their ID. Unfortunately, this is not the sort of injustice we can easily solve by protesting, signing a petition or donating to an NGO, because it is linked to worldwide inequality. But we can start by being aware of this disparity and act accordingly. So when I do travel, I try to keep an open mind and listen to people's stories. When a merchant offers me some kitchy souvenir, I at least thank him kindly for the offer hoping he would not think all tourists are impolite. I try to eat in small restaurants and tip the people who have the lowest wages - it is my self-imposed tourist tax. Of course this will not change the world and the waitress will not be able to send her son to university because of my tip (it would be next level arrogance to think this). But at least it will send a message of respect and kindness. If everyone would do it, it would certainly make a difference. And that is how we change the world together, isn't it?
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