What do Israel and Canada have in common?
In 1969 Pierre Trudeau said: “Living next [to the U.S.] is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly or temperate the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.” Well, we in Israel, though more than 10,000 km away, are clearly affected by every twitch and grunt of our friendly indispensable ally…
Benefits of Traveling – Learning
One can travel easily without knowing much about their destination. I, for one, certainly did not! I came to Canada vastly ignorant. You can either read about the place before the visit and come well prepared, or fill up on missing information during the trip or after. As an example, I have never heard of Acadians before, but after meeting some in flesh-and-blood, and visiting historical Acadian sites in Cape Breton, I got interested in their story and searched the subject…
In Israeli schools we learned about the American Revolution, the Tea Party, the Civil War, Slavery. We even read and studied the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights… Everybody knows about the Conquest of the West and the wars with the Indians, America’s role in the first and second world wars, even the war with Mexico. Any kid can name 10 American presidents, and almost all the American States. But Canada? Saskatchewan? Nunavut? Where’s that? And why do we call the United States “America”?
It feels good to acknowledge the ignorance gaps, and try to close them. When years before I landed in Mexico City, I did not know Mexico was a federation of states, or that they also had a revolution, just like its northern counterpart…
There’s nothing like traveling to promote curiosity and interest, a learning grounded in real Life. Studying about ferns in school can be boring. Taking a guided walking tour with an enthusiastic fern expert, as I did in Fundy Natioanl Park, got me to start browsing the webpages…
When in Ireland for our honeymoon, we met an American tourist, an educated lab practitioner with a second degree in biology. She was physically there, but was not aware Ireland was an island, or that it was Catholic… I was shocked then, but why should I? I can barely name all the African countries, not to mention capitals and locations. But that’s OK. There’s just so much to know, and the hierarchy of what “everybody should know” is artificial and subjective.
It is a bit sad if you go up and down a country and never bother to learn anything about it, though. Even so, the experiential input retains and merges with everything else that constitutes your concept of the world and of yourself in it. You change and learn without noticing it. We will never have all the info in our brains anyway, so it’s up to us to pick and choose, no judgement.
You learn a lot also on the more mundane, smaller scale. For example, I visited a town in upstate New York as they were wrapping up an October Fest celebration. I didn’t know this festival ever left Germany’s shores (later I found out it was now celebrated in Israel as well!!!). I did not know there were Indian reservations on the Canadian border, I couldn’t imagine the American army had jazz bands…
There’s always something new to find out, discover. The world is “out for grabs” for the curious traveler.
Traveling as Skill
Travelling is a skill developed over time with experience.
Normally, traveling does not bring in money, it spends it. Even the cheapest trip is felt in the pocket. But traveling affects functioning positively on so many levels it cannot fail, in the long run, to benefit one in “ordinary life” as well. You learn how to manage yourself in the world, widen your horizons, communicate. You are physically challenged, and mentally have to build new neuron paths to figure out on-going novel situations. It is crucial to understand how systems work (or don’t work) in a different country: transportation, communication, accommodation, even how to operate the showers.
Travelling can be viewed as a mega-skill with many subskills, major and minor, on board, and much of his can be put to use, if indirectly.
Nothing one knows from one’s own country can be taken for granted. There are surprises everywhere. You live, you survive, things are different from what you are used to. Stereotypes you might have had are challenged, broken (for example, I’ve never seen people work as hard as in Mexico). A traveler has to take care of him/herself under constant change and motion. You endure, you enjoy.
From one trip to another, the skills sharpen. You learn how to manage with fewer belongings and how to choose the most adequate ones. You adjust to climate and weather changes, and to differences of terrain and cultures. There are always obstructions, unexpected difficulties, challenging encounters. There might be a linguistic challenge, even that cute Scottish accent…
If you came with a partner or partners, or if you met them on the way and joined together, you need to be able to manage your own relationship under the intensity of a voyage and the constant challenge of choices and decision-taking.
Above everything – you keep studying yourself, what you, at your particular age, time, stage in life and general circumstances, can expect of yourself. How to keep your body and soul in the right balance. You can never prepare for all eventualities, but overtime and over trips you build a certain resilience and a certain wisdom. Some skills transfer over and awaken every time you board that new plane towards a new destination…
Camping as an Exercise in Deprivation
It’s good to practice voluntary deprivation once in a while. That’s why fasting and food restrictions have a spiritual value. The Jewish holiday of Sukkot stipulates moving into a Sukkah (a temporary shelter) for 7 days to remember the hardships of the Exodus from Egypt. Changing conditions and environments increases flexibility and adaptability.
Unfortunately, the way I see the global future, even in the so-called developed world, is fraught with uncertainties. Practicing simpler modest life styles before we are forced into them not only promotes empathy for those who don’t have, it also strengthens us to endure undesirable global developments if they were to come to pass.
Clearly, seen in another way, a 2-month camping trip for 30$ a night is a luxury for the majority of mankind, but measured on the scale of how most middle class people vacation, it is not. Not having what we are used to having is a formative element in my worldview.
Here’s a link to a poem I wrote years ago about not taking things for granted…
Traveling as Cognitive Expansion – Connecting the Dots
Beyond the survival/skill acquisition level, you learn about the world. And that is not obvious. You have to be open to it. Some people travel from one big city to another to do shopping; or from one 5-star hotel in one country to its simile in another. People go on a cruise ship to meet similar company, then do short sorties at the ports to designated tourist attractions. Typically, they spend a large portion of their time on shore in gift shops. When they come back home, they think they’ve seen the world. Or worse, that the world is boring. Everything is the same, but yes, that one spot was spectacular. Click. I’ve been there. Check.
It vastly helps to know the local language. I’m sure I would have gotten more from Quebec by knowing French. I know how far my Spanish went to help me understand and enjoy Latin America. It helps to use public transport, walk the streets, visit neighborhoods where local people live, spend time in Nature. Paradoxically, you learn more the less you spend. Travelling on the low end (no need to go extreme here, though) allows for more “authentic” exposure.