Intern Jesse here writing to share my experience attending the Smithsonian Associates event “Rick Steves: on Thoughtful Travel: Broadening Your Global Perspective.” While I expected to attend and strictly gather an inside perspective for our blog readers, I left with insight and new inspiration for my own future endeavors. Rick Steves is a travel expert with various television shows and guidebooks to help Americans with all things travel. With a certain focus on Europe, Steves provides tours to Europe through his travel company based in his hometown of Seattle.
In this lecture at Baird Auditorium in the Natural History Museum, Steves gave the audience a deeper look into travel as more than just a vacation. From the typical family cruise ship vacation to the quintessential tourist vacation catching all the go-to sights around Europe, Steves stressed the importance of traveling outside the norms. He urged travelers to meet locals and explore their favorite spots. There were many profound statements spoken by Steves but there were five key points he made that stood out to me above the rest:
Have a good attitude. Allow locals to show off! Go ahead and listen to the story of the years old, mold ridden piece of cheese in your fingertips that the French shop owner is so eager to share. And take a good whiff, because to the people of that country, that could be the edible equivalent to the flowers growing in your garden at home. They are enthusiastic, not show-offs.
Be a part of history. We are in an exciting time in the world. History is being made every day and the chance to be a part of it is too good to pass up. Visit countries on their holidays, visit the places you read about in the headlines. Regardless of what side of the political climate you’re on, there is something to be learned when you are present for historical events, when you see something record breaking. These events and occurrences are happening all over the world, not just in our own country.
Know the history. Be aware of the context of the place you’re visiting, when you are visiting it. Before traveling somewhere, do a little research. The last thing you want to do is return home and see an article about an amazing, maybe even historical, event you were just a few miles away from but missed due to lack of knowledge. Understand how the city you are visiting came to be, who lived there, and who inhabits the area currently. Be engaged and be enlightened. Interact with the world around you and realize who, what, where, when, and why.
We are not the norm. There are all kinds of people in the world with all kinds of cultures and ways of life. By traveling with a particular humanistic awareness, the world becomes smaller and other people are humanized. Seeing how others live is a way to humble ethnocentricity and realize that there is more than one right way. Whether it be habits of work, food, or clothing, what we find normal at home can be seen as totally unordinary in another part of the world, and until you see it first hand, it's easy to have a “my way or the highway" mentality.
Not everyone has the ‘American Dream.’ Different people in different societies aspire to different dreams. People in Norway have their own ‘Norwegian Dream’ just like people in India have their own ‘Indian Dream’ and so on. Realizing that not everyone wishes to leave their home country for the picturesque dream our country prides itself on, helps to broaden the global perspective.
Along with thoughtful provocations, Steves provided images and anecdotes from his own travels, recent and otherwise. The stories and images presented served to motivate my travels even further. I am fortunate enough to say that my 2017 travel list will include Israel, the Caribbean, Spain, and several American states. This presentation gave me inspiration and endless ideas on how to expand my travel beyond a tourist's perspective and push the vacation itineraries outside of my comfort zone. I definitely plan to view the archived episodes and clips from Rick Steves on his website and use his guidebooks in my future travel adventures.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the event:
“Fear is for people who don’t get out much.”
“Tolerate alternative lifestyles or invest in more prisons.”
“If everyone had to travel before they voted, a lot of problems about gerrymandering would be solved.”
thank you for this.
Posted by: maryjane | June 13, 2017 at 04:02 AM
I was more than happy to find this web site. I need to thank you for your moment due to this unbelievable read!! I definitely savored every bit of it and I have you book-marked to see new things in your web site.
Posted by: best essay writing service | June 17, 2017 at 12:47 AM
quite inspiring post
Posted by: fridah kivuli | June 30, 2017 at 06:33 AM