[The stories in these two KS&Ls are my own. I have been to 30 different countries, my husband to about 37 and there is always a story, always an amazing experience and ever and always great people to meet along the way.]
Did you ever notice that people think that they take vacations to relax? They long for the supposed care free atmosphere of going someplace else and doing something different and feeling a freedom from the day to day grind of their routine. They feel stressed, so they decide that taking a long cruise or going to Europe or going to a really far away place like Egypt or Singapore will give them a relaxing break from their life.
No one relaxes on a vacation unless it is a total spa package in someplace like Tucson, Arizona or Cambria, California or a spiritual retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Mostly, you have to be in really good shape to travel because traveling is exhausting. You have to have stamina, guts, patience and really pristine health. Lets play with this a bit.
You have to get ready for a 10-14 day trip and that means planning for someone else to manage your home, yard and pets. You have to organize everything at work to be able to leave, making sure that all projects are done. You have increased your stress to reduce your stress. But hey, it’s worth it, right? Even for a little while it is worth it to escape where you are for a while. Think about it, that is why the travel companies encourage you to ‘escape to Spain, Majorca or Greece’.
Let us say you are going to ‘escape’ to Singapore, the Switzerland of the Far East. If you start out in California, then you only have the 14-hour flight to Korea, the 6-hour layover in Seoul, then the additional 6-7 hour flight to Singapore. Even if you take a direct flight, from Los Angeles to Singapore, you are still talking about 15-20 hours of airtime plus ground delays, 3-hour pre-flight check-in time, processing customs, and hauling luggage. So if you weren’t tired when you started your vacation to relax, you are just exhausted in the process of getting there.
. . . and then there is jet lag. All the pills in the world will only help you somewhat to get past that feeling that your entire body is out of whack. You are hungry and sleepy at all the wrong times. You probably paid a fortune to get to this far away place with the strange sounding name and now all you want to do is sleep all day! Aargh! If you booked a tour say in Cairo, Egypt, or Rome, Italy for that matter, the cheeky, cherry, commanding tour guide isn’t going to let you sleep when you want. He or she will have to whip you and your fellow travel wearied tourists into the regimen of the tour schedule, which can literally be relentless. So, are you relaxed yet?
If you are new to this feeling of jet-lagged frustration, this is your first introduction to culture shock. Now you have to get past jet lag, adjust to your tour or travel schedule and then there is the food and water issue. Water is different in every country of the world. Some of it is pure and safe and some of it is not. Water is different between San Diego and Los Angeles, so imagine what it is in all the other global water districts. In Colombia, for example, you can drink the water in Bogota and Medellin, but not in many outlying areas. You just have to be careful. Water directly impacts what food you eat. Often, though, the most powerful element of culture shock is the food.
People say that they want a different food experience, but truly, that is only good for about 4 days. After that, most people want to eat something familiar. If you are in a country where you cannot drink the water, this is also going to mean that you cannot eat the dairy or fresh raw fruit and vegetables. This can also vary throughout a country. You probably packed so many clothes that you did not think to bring your own food. Often the food may have a spice or a cooking technique that just does not agree with you. That can happen even in your home country, it doesn’t have to be overseas. However, when it happens, you cannot stand up you feel so bad. This isn’t exactly relaxing, but at least you are having fun. . . . .
OK, you are past airports, jet lag, water, and food. Now you are actually sightseeing. Finally, you are having a wonderful time. Maybe you are with a great person and you are sharing the trip. Maybe you are having the experience of a lifetime. However, what is really happening is something different entirely and has nothing to do with relaxing! Maybe you are becoming slightly more worldly as you embrace these new life experiences.
In part two, learning what it means to be a seasoned traveler.
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