Broaden Your Mind - Travel
by Roncardo Spielie
http://www.rqtravel.com
TV offers us the world from the safety of our homes. But
there really is no substitute for travel itself. In the
words of one of our greatest writers, Mark Twain
travelling is 'fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-
mindedness'. Travel alters the way we see the world.
Travel doesn't have to be about exotic, far-flung
islands and unexplored territory. Think for a moment
about a place that you travelled to after having heard
about it or seen it in a brochure. There's nothing like
actually being there, meeting the people, the sounds and
smells - they all make it so much more than what you had
imagined.
There is something very different about being there that
you simply can't conjure up out of your imagination. We
notice the strangest things in real life that no-one
bothers to put in the guidebooks. It these little things
that makes a travel destination come alive for us.
Make your way to Rome and you may be surprised to locate
the world famous Coliseum smack in the middle of a busy
intersection. They tend to skip that on the travel
shows.
But it's the people that are most fascinating when you
travel. We humans love to stereotype people.. but have
you ever wondered if the British really do drink tea all
day long (quite a lot do, actually!). Or are all
Parisians really rude (of course they're not!). What
about people in Moscow or Dakar or Tokyo?
There are monuments in the world that need to be seen to
truly appreciate. At Giza, Egypt, there are the Pyramids
- the only member of the list of Ancient Wonders that
you can see intact. Or there's the Acropolis, still
partly standing looking over Athens. These are things
anyone would love the chance to visit.
Little differences in the habits of people can be really
interesting too. In the People's Republic of China
public lavatories are just holes in the floor - it is
said this is a better position for bowel health... In
some part of the world even wealthy families eat meals
just one or two times daily.
You don't have to stay in hotels with 5 stars to travel,
somethings it's more interesting if you don't. This
doesn't mean you have to share your room with
cockroaches, but you always get more of a sense of the
place if you avoid the large multinational hotels. You
will often find the smaller hotels owned by people who
are native to the area and will be only to pleased to
recommend the places that best represent their home
town.
Think of travel as a mind altering experience like Twain
did. One of the great things in life is variety and the
world offers more variety than most of us can take in.
So where do you want to go on your next trip. You've
always been curious about trying snake, deep-fried?
Well, as it happens there's a restaurant I've been to in
China, it's in Canton province...
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