OPEN LETTER TO ALL OF THE AWFUL TRAVELERS OF THE WORLD:
There has never been an easier time to travel, or a time when the ability to do so was as highly valued. An ethos permeates the youngest generations that foreign experiences are more valuable than local ones. A couple of hundred years ago, if a stranger showed up in your country it was usually a bad thing. Conquest or disease was coming. Now the people of the world welcome in travelers as second nature. But for something we as a global society have come put so much value on, goddamn most people suck at it. Rather than some tips or tacky rules to travel by, I offer a few reframes in order for you to see your travel through some different lenses.
Reframe #1 - Here You're Only Your $$$
The biggest thing to realize when you're a tourist is that the only value you bring is your money. Sure, many of us want to feel that they are somehow different, valuable and contributing to a culture of vibrant diversity when they visit a place but the glaring fact is that the only tiny benefit to you being there is the help to the local economy and business owners. If you are trying to reach a place to experience it's remoteness and serenity, you are in fact destroying the very thing you seek in the process. You're probably not preserving world heritage sites or volunteering to build schools so don't be an absolute fuck wad and try to haggle/negotiate every local that you buy something from and get deals on everything that you buy in the country. Accept a premium on what you buy as part of the price of being welcome into a place that is working to accommodate you.
Reframe #2 - No One Else Is Wearing A Fucking Costume
I don't know what it is about traveling that makes people think it's halloween, but just because you're visiting somewhere doesn't mean you get to dress up in some quasi-ethnic gear and prance around like a chump. If you want to buy a hemp T-shirt and take it home for those hot summer days I won't stop you. But don't get all dolled up like a Buddhist Monk or like you're attending some Peruvian wedding just to walk around a shopping district. You make tourists look beyond clueless and you'll notice if you look around that jeans & t-shirt are the universal standard. So you don't really have to stretch from your comfort zone on this one. Some Levi's and a 3-wolf-moon shirt and go hit the bar.
Reframe #3 - Tip Housekeepers
Whenever you leave a hotel room, tip the housekeepers. Well. If the service at the hotel was overall shit, the housekeepers have no control over that. If there was something specific the housekeepers did, try telling them what it was. They may have a very different perception of the room than you do. You can guarantee that a few shekels will go a long way for someone who's job it is to clean up after disgusting hotel guests all the time. If you correct them on something AND still are kind enough to tip them, you can be damn sure they'll remember what it is you were talking about.
Reframe #4 - Pull Your Head Out Of Your Ass
Treat that country as if real people actually live there. You're the only one passing through on an escape . But many millions of people that is their home. So appreciate the images of crumbled streets, garbage strewn about and shoddy housing, but just be glad that you won the geographic lottery and were born in a place that has improved on those standards. Don't shit on the status quo of developing nations as they struggle to pull them selves to a better standard of lifestyle and accommodations. If the locals don't see trash on the ground as the rape-adjacent crime against humanity that most Westerners do, don't worry, their perspectives will likely change as soon as unclean streets enters into the top 50 problems that they have to contend with on a daily basis. Everyone wants things to be better for their children than it was for them.
Reframe #5 - Ask To Take Pictures Of People
If you're going to take a picture with a bunch of locals in it.... here's a novel idea: try asking them first. A simple holding up of your camera and a shrug can work if you don't speak the language. Instead of thinking you're some freelance National Geographic documentarian and trying to be the 10,000th person to capture that local flavor through your iPhone. Have some respect for the people and enter into a dialogue with them before you immortalize them on your Facebook feed.
Reframe #6 - Learn something beyond "Hello" in their language
One of the easiest ways to ingratiate yourself to a hosting countries citizens is put just more than the minimum effort into learning something of their language. A few key words or short phrases will bring a smile to 90% of peoples faces. In most places it can be done is less than 15 minutes and you'll have countless opportunities to practice. Recommended go-to's:
Reframe #7 - Remember You're Only Your Money
Reframe #1 all over again as a reminder. Don’t be a penny-pinching, deal-mongering asshat and assume that everyone’s goal in a foreign country is to fuck you over. Realize once again that the only thing you bring to a country besides good will and a smile is your money. So spend, anticipate not getting some 'local' rate and just be OK with that. You shouldn't get that rate. A society is setup to benefit the majority of the inhabitants in that society. If you're an outsider you should be paying at a premium and happy that people will do the same when they come to your home.
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