KS&L 297 Vacations Part 2

Seasoned travelers are seasoned by hard won experience. Cultures don’t shock them anymore and they know how to deal with endless delays, astonishing mistakes in communications and horrific conditions in third world countries.

Seasoned travelers laugh when their brand new Nikon camera dies at the end of the mile long Ramses tomb in the Valley of the Queens in Karnack, Egypt. Maybe it was the 100 degree heat or just karma denying them that precious photo. Actually, they really only laughed some years later, at the time, they gnashed their teeth.

Seasoned travelers quickly adjust to how time is perceived around the world. Italians close up shop from 12 pm to 3 pm and most close completely for Feragusto [festival time] in August. Colombian parties start at 10:30 pm and don’t really get going until 3 am. Flamenco dancer shows don’t start until 11 pm in downtown Madrid. German tours start precisely on time. One couple touring the BMW factory in Munich were admonished for being 10 minutes late. The American perception of time is just very, very different. Americans don’t even notice when it takes 10 very modern minutes to get through customs in Singapore. They are dumbfounded that it takes three hours to do it in Malaysia. When Americans travel, they have to learn that the world does not function on their perceptions of time.

Seasoned travelers know that problems are going to arise and they plan accordingly. They listen to that inner voice that warns them about things like eating certain foods, going into areas that are iffy at best, especially if they are not on a tour. They learn how to deal with airports, hotels and restaurants.

Seasoned travelers know that if you don’t speak the language, say so, thank someone for speaking English, be grateful that someone learned English so that they could deal with you.

Seasoned travelers know that in the end, vacations are never about relaxing and only about the experience of sometimes surviving your vacation. Sometimes you thrive in your vacation and that is great, but what are the stories people tell when they return: they tell about their experiences with a restaurant, an airline or a breathtaking moment.

Vacations are only about the magic and icky moments you live to tell about. These range from the story about the person on the plane sitting next to you for 16 hours who talked your ear off, to the coolest 13th century castle you spent the night in while in Scotland. Sometimes it is about the children you encounter or the food in the shop windows. Often it is learning how you handle adversity, like the beleaguered tour group flying from Aswan to Cairo, who were told that there weren’t enough seats on the plane for all the people who booked that flight and that they, the tourists would have to ‘rush the plane past the machine-gun toting guards to have a hope of a seat. . .’

Often what defines a vacation are the host residents of a country who take pity on lost tourists, like the crazy American family hopelessly lost in Mexico city because they had run out of map. Perhaps the highlight of that trip was remembering the very kind Mexican gentleman in a red Volkswagon, who said ‘Follow me!’ and helped them thread their way through streets with no name to find their hotel; or the restaurant owner in Naples, Italy who spent an entire evening with an American family telling them about living under Mussolini in World War II treating them to fabulous taste sensations.

Mostly, people don’t relax on vacation, they experience life differently than the life they left. Vacations to far away places, even as close as the American Southwest offer a full buffet of experiences, vistas and tastes. Sometimes you grow up, sometimes you learn gratitude for the dull, boring, wealthy life you are really living. Sometimes, you end up counting your karmic blessings that you live where you live and have the karma to have the life you have. Finally, vacations do allow you to relax, often, ironically, as you walk through your front door deliciously anticipating a whole night’s sleep in the sweet comfort of your very own bed!