The Traveler's Rites of Passage

"Travel sparks ideas and friendships."

- Todd Carmichael
Traveler, Explorer and Coffee Guy





Just recently Lonely Planet, a well known and respected travel guidebook and review publishing company, put up an excellent article on what they referred to as The Traveller's Classic Rites of Passage. Me being well, me, I had to see how I measured up. (I'm the kind of guy who opens the next issue of Conde Nast Traveler and proceeds to analyze how my own history on the road compares to the current issue. "Been there, been there, yeah. Saw that. Did that. Crap, wanna do that...")

The article, written by contributor James Kay, posited eight travel experiences or scenarios -- both good and bad -- which mark a Traveler (I use the singular L, they use the double) as an experienced one, having "passed their rites". My kind of article, I thought, and I read through, comparing my background with what Mr Kay considers essential experiences to be considered "seasoned". Not that I'm competitive, but when it comes to seasoning I want to be a piece of Christmas roast rather than a McDonald's hamburger. (Yeah, yeah. I wanted to make a point and got carried away...deal with it.)

The article's a fun read and pretty much spot on, with one notable exception from my point of view.

Obviously this prompted me to take a look at my own travel experiences and credentials in the lighting Lonely Planet chose. That in mind, here are my own thought. I've experienced a lot, and reported quite a bit of it here, but let's see how I stack up against the Lonely Planet Traveller's Classic Rites of Passage.

That special place 

As the article states, there are any number of places which hit you hard and make an impression. But only one, in the grand scheme, is "that one". A place which hits you and stays with you. It's a rite of passage because it means you've had enough experiences to truly have something to compare it with. Looking back over a multitude of options, if something stands out it's really The One.

For me it's Hanalei Bay, north shore of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. More than any of the other paradises I've found, it's the one which stays with me. Haunts me in a way. Ask me, at almost any time, where I want to be right now, it's likely going to be Hanalei Bay.

And, as it is with almost anyone's "Special Place" it's not easy to describe actually why it's mine. Yes, there's an amazing verdant beauty. Yes it's next to a spectacular part of the Pacific Ocean. There are things to do, so it's not out in the middle of nowhere, but getting away from it all is merely a five minute drive. The people are laid back and friendly.

It's just...special. And for me it's "The One".

(Oddly enough, I will note I wouldn't want to retire there. In a way that would lessen its impact on me, I think. I want to keep it a treasured experience, not an everyday one. It's like a fine wine. If you drink it at every meal -- well, not breakfast -- it's no longer special.)


The captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign


Hoboy. Yeah. Turbulence. I have to say that for me, as for millions of other fliers, turbulence is not a welcome experience.

Fortunately, as the article notes, severe turbulence is an extreme rarity. I have, of course, experienced mild turbulence. Heck, anyone who flies into Phoenix airport in the summertime has experienced mild to moderate turbulence just as a habit. (The desert thermals are pretty rough a good percentage of the year.)

Fortunately I've never experienced severe. But more than a dozen times it's certainly been close.



The travel bug... not that one, the other one


Another "hoboy". I've been here enough times in my life to know it's not a pleasant thing. Food poisoning and other travel-related maladies are not fun to deal with, particularly since the vast majority of the time is consumed from doing things you came there to do. My wife had the unfortunate experience of being so ill on one trip to Hawaii's Big Island that we had to forego a planned swim with the manta rays -- one of our life-list items that fortunately got checked off during a subsequent visit.

On another such adventure, I (and my father in law) suffered at the hands of poorly cooked sausage while attending a trip to the Bay Area. I succumbed around 2am, but he was spared until 8 or nine the next morning....right as we were departing for an eight hour drive down the coast. There's nothing more miserable than food poisoning on a road trip -- it necessitated a replanting on our drive to accommodate frequent stops along the way. I was in hangover mode, but my father-in-law was suffering through the worst parts, and did little more than lay prone in the back seat, trying to sleep.

On the other hand there are the infrequent moments of humor. Such as the moment I was lying uncomfortably on the bathroom floor at the Westin Maui, lamenting life itself, when I noticed the brand name of the toilet lid was "Church". I imagine somebody had a good laugh over that wholly appropriate brand name.

The overnight bus journey

While Lonely Planet insists this is a rite of passage, I don't agree. In my entirely humble opinion I believe it's simply having an adventure while on a bus trip. Not a tour bus, as they would suggest, but on a bus ride that is memorable for perhaps all the wrong reasons. 

Such as the local transit bus trip we took in Tijuana, Mexico, from a side street in the tourist area over to the border crossing back to the states. As gringos we were the only people on board. The rest were a number of locals who would board and/or depart as we traversed the city. It was an excellent way to see the town, and all said and done a good way to "go local" as we like to say. 

On the other hand, the woman in the seat next to my ten year old niece really did have two chickens in her lap, and the heavily sozzled guy in the back row who was periodically sampling from a bottle of...something...was very friendly. (Not inappropriately, just drunkenly. A very happy man.)

Our constant reassurances to my niece that she was safe -- and just enjoy the adventure -- didn't do the trick, and we found ourselves, a day or so later, explaining ourselves to her mother. It wasn't any sense of danger her mother feared, she trusted our instincts. It was the inevitable call from the girl's father -- the subject of a pending divorce -- which caused the heartburn.

My beautiful launderette

Doing laundry on a trip is essential. It enables you to pack lighter and still retain a fresh scent. On extended journeys we trundle our goods down to the local laundry and pop in our quarters/pence/euros, oftentimes finding ourselves in the company of both locals as well as fellow travelers. 

Who knew?

The nightmare dorm mate

Being married and traveling frequently with my wife this rarely happens any more. But one of these times I'll relate the work trip I took to San Antonio for training in which an anticipated workmate/roommate called me up -- after checking in -- to surprise me with the news that I would be in my own room without him. 

That was pretty cool, right up un

til the moment he explained that he expected me to fork out half the cost of his room to make things even. (The company was paying for the combined reservation.)

A short yet terse conversation ensued, and he ended up footing the bill. On the other hand, I didn't wake him when I got up to watch the spectacular lightning storm which erupted around 2am.

Life in balance.

Breaking up and making out

I've never really been one for hooking up while traveling, but for me a good portion of travel is meeting new people and spending important time with friends and loved ones. A suitably romantic time with my wife is certainly a major point to any trip we take together, and there are definite bonding times with friends.

I will note that while traveling we have ended up meeting people who have become lifelong pals as a result of good times on a cruise or on a specific adventure.

It's not quite the same as "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas", but is a healthier and less threatening philosophy when it comes to my marriage.

(And going back to my pre-marriage days...well, that stays in Vegas.)

A moment of epiphany

This is the key "Rite of Passage".  This is the one which truly marks the transcendental moment, where the traveler "Gets It" and becomes a Traveler.

Travel is about epiphanies. You can see it every season of THE AMAZING RACE. The discovery. The sudden light bulb of revelation that we are all on this planet together, all part of a greater whole.

I genuinely believe that the most well-rounded people are the ones who throw themselves into a discover of "other-ness" by investigating other cultures and appreciating the differences among us. It doesn't have to be a world away, sometimes it's just visiting neighborhoods different from our own. Getting to know people different from ourselves.

Think of how great this world would be if we embraced the infinite diversity and infinite combinations of people we meet instead of fearing strangeness. Fearing the unknown.

Obviously I'm an American, and proud to be so. On the other hand that does not make me inherently better than any other nation or person. What makes me a better human being is appreciating everyone and everything I find, even if it's completely alien from my own experience.

That moment of epiphany...that moment of revelation...can only come from being open to enlightenment. Open to that flash of understanding, that moment of epiphany.

And that is what makes a Traveler out of a traveler.

Along the Way

 

"I have dedicated my life to travel and am a strong believer in its benefits, both for the traveller and the local community that they are visiting. Travel broadens the mind by sharing cultures, language and traditions."  - Tony Wheeler, founder of LONELY PLANET

Looking for Adventure

I am in the midst of reading Unlikely Destinations by Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the founders of the well-known and well-respected Lonely Planet travel company. It's an excellent book and is full of interesting stories and anecdotes detailing their own times on the road as well as the construction of their global empire. (You might say I want to be them when I grow up.)

But it occurred to me as I was reading one particular passage early in the book which went into some detail on their first trip around the world. In this section they were discussing the trek down from India, through Southeast Asia to a boat which would take them to Australia. It was a challenging trip because of both weather-related and economic factors. 

The "road" less traveled

As I have grown older, my sense of adventure hasn't decreased, but have to admit that my desire to "backpack across Europe" or hike the jungles of the Amazon has decreased to the point of disinterest. This doesn't mean that I'm above roughing it, it's that roughing it has become my second choice when visiting new places and things. There is, no question, an amazing attraction of sitting in a tent somewhere in the rainforest. listening to the sounds of the wild. On my N.O.W. list is a clear intention to go on a safari as well as a trip down to the coast of Antarctica. I don't need luxury accommodations as much as a degree of security in which events are not left purely to chance and risking the stranding of me in some exotic spot where my survival might itself be very well in question. (I love watching Dangerous Grounds with Todd Carmichael, but am certainly not looking for that kind of adventure in my life. At most, I'm more of a Michael Palin sort who has a plan and is along for an adventure.)

Lap of Luxury...

There are always challenges which are to be dealt with, and it's those challenges which determine your worth as a traveler, versus a tourist. A traveler tends to resolve things themselves, while a tourist waits for others to solve things for them. I've been, and will continue to be both a tourist and a traveler -- there are times I want to sit back and look at pretty things, or be part of a small group in a minibus going to look at a particular site (or sight). And other times I want to be off on my own trundling through a back alley looking for interesting things to amuse myself.

But, to be fair, my "off the beaten path" hasn't been really far off the trail, though I'd like it to be a bit more than it is. Far and away the best such trip was the visit to Churchill, Manitoba, six years or so ago. This is genuinely off the beaten path, and is a lesson in getting away from it all. But, again, we had "locals" there to watch over us and make sure we didn't wander into the path of an oncoming polar bear.

(Locals, by the way, are an excellent way of finding the good stuff. Ignore..or at least treat as suspect…the things the tour operators want to throw your way. They may be amazingly valuable, but are driven more by a sense of profit than a true sense of the local experience. Always ask a local for a recommendation, even if you're on a tour. It will help you understand a place a bit better, and also give you a chance to find out what is really, fundamentally good about a place.)

All grown up, and still on the road

The author in Japan

But what I find personally difficult to do is be 100% tourist, 100% of the time. I love cruising on Wind Star Cruises because of their itineraries. You can suffer yourself the illusion that you're not a tourist, you're a visitor. But years ago, when visiting Skagway, Alaska, I saw first hand the wave of tourists as they washed down into the town from four different ships docked in the bay. A virtual tsunami of people who were there for a day, only looking for low-cost shopping and some sort of day trip. I witnessed the same event in Monaco, and was personally part of such a wave in several ports in Mexico. And I found that I want to be in these places before and after the waves have come and receded.

Similarly, a true visit to a particular destination must include a selection of the local culinary scene. Give me beignet in New Orleans, sushi in Tokyo, steaks in Dallas, nicoise foods in the south of France, or seafood in Dubrovnik -- and yes, haggis will be a required food when I finally get myself up to Scotland. It's all part of the adventure, which is sorely lacking in the expansive floating hotel experiences of most cruise lines.

I keep, in my study, a map with push pins denoting where we have been, and whether it's been a day trip or an overnight -- overnight being a true checkmark of a stay, but we define a visit as more than two hours outside the airport as the minimum standard for logging a place as "been there". This is woefully inadequate, of course, but it prevents use of a mid-flight transfer as qualifying for a pin. (If this were allowed I would add three states and a dozen other locations to my world map.)

Not a good view of the country

So adventure comes only if you grant yourself some time to absorb. I am guilty of the counting coup method of touring, and I've found that hill it's a terrific way to see a place if you're on a limited schedule, it's not nearly as satisfying as a stay and play approach -- which is itself a misnomer, since part of these travels can be occupied by a constantly moving road trip from one spot to another. In a week or so we're headed to Santa Fe for a few days. While our friends elected to fly, my wife and I are hitting the road and re-traveling I-40 between LA and Santa Fe. It's a fascinating section of the country and certainly worthy of a few days' transit. Better still, on the way back we're detouring to Monument Valley, an area I have wanted to see -- almost to the point of N.O.W. inclusion -- for my entire lifetime. It's an almost mythic place in both our national consciousness as well as in our collective heritage. It's about time I looked it up. Obviously there will be a future column with shots.

But it's about getting out, and getting away. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a tourist, staying in a massive luxury liner and seeing the world from your stateroom balcony. But in the same way Todd Carmichael's rough and tumble risking it all approach, it just isn't for me. And since travel is keenly driven by a sense of engagement, of accomplishment, we must all find our own way of satisfying that need. That need may even change with our mood or particular need at any given time (though I can't picture Todd ever booking a stateroom on Carnival).

That's kind of the philosophy of The Thumbnail Traveler. Harking back to how I started this column, roughing it…backpacking through Southeast Asia, for example…is certainly the most fundamental method of travel. It's true, it's basic and, frankly, it's not for me. I prefer my roughing it to come in small portions, and knowing that no matter how rough it gets there's an exit. But we each must find our own most-rewarding approach. Mine is somewhere between Todd's scramble through the jungle and a night at the Ritz Carleton. Both have their appeal, it just depends on my spirit and the amount of money I can afford. But the most important aspect, as with any travel, is in what you gain along the way. 

Donald Trump has no doubt "been a lot of places", but I cannot say he is "well-traveled". Sir Richard Branson is well-traveled.

I would much rather be Sir Richard than The Donald any day. 

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