It’s usually easier to hop on a plane to Paris and snap a picture of the Eiffel tower, than create opportunities for meaningful travel. AT the same time, with the rising ease of travel, I believe there is a growing crowd of people looking to infuse vacations with more than a snapshot.
You know the type — those crowding the popular ‘insta’ sites, standing in line for the famous bakery. Maybe you hope NOT to be like them or maybe you wish you COULD be them. Either way, there is more to travel than just being a tourist. You don’t have to follow the crowds …at least not all the time.
I could tell you that to NOT be a tourist you should leave behind the white sneakers, short shorts, revealing clothes, bright watch, and large camera around your neck (That’s 5 Ways!). And maybe you should consider them, but that is not the point.
The point is that the best travel experiences usually involve relationships. Getting involved with locals in a meaningful way. Relationships take time and intention. Do the leg work and the heart work. Build relationships. It’s worth it.
Five of the more meaningful ways I have found to travel and build relationships are through work, friendship, volunteering, education, and sport.
Work
Traveling for work is often a great way to interact with people from another country. It provides a reason to interact with locals in a meaningful way. It also doesn’t hurt that you may get paid to meet with those people!
There is no better way to be introduced to durian than by heading out of the city with a large group of excited Malaysian colleagues. No better way to visit the German countryside than on a colleague’s borrowed bike, followed by a meal of white ‘spargel’. And certainly no better way to experience Shanghai’s food scene than with colleagues ordering for you for months on end.
Truth be told, traveling for work may require the most planning of all. For me it meant purposely choosing a degree, not because it was what I wanted to do, but because it provided the opportunity to work globally. Similarly, I have crafted jobs and skillsets in a way that allow me to work with people around the world. That said, regardless of your career, there are likely conferences you could attend, people you could meet, classes you could teach, or things you could sell…there are options. It won’t likely come overnight, but if you willingly work towards it, work travel is a great option to travel intentionally.
Relationships
Visit your friends! Sounds like an obvious reason to travel, but you would be surprised how many people don’t take up on visiting their friends abroad. Most of the time, when I visit friends that have moved, I find I am the first person to come visit. When they move, everyone says they will come visit, but no one actually does!
Friends are great! Running marathons, riding scooters, and tuktuk-ing the no-longer-working scooter with friends in Chiang Mai — nostalgic. Catching the back of a motorcycle with your friend in Phnom Penh for tea at her friend’s house on the Kehmer killing grounds — eye opening. Smuggling your mom through four border checkpoints to visit extended family in Paraguay — worth it.
Maybe you don’t currently have any friends living abroad? I have a suggestion! Sponsor a child through a program like Compassion International and write back and forth. BAM, you now have a friend abroad too! Now go visit them! Visiting my sponsored kids in Ethiopia and Indonesia were experiences I still cherish. (I wrote an article about why I like Compassion International and my experience visiting my sponsored kids here).
Volunteer
I get it, often short term volunteering can do more harm than good. Yet for many of us, due to any number of obligations, short term is what we can do. Don’t let that deter you! There are options for you to go and do good. Do your research. Ask the questions!
Sometimes finding the opportunity is the hardest part. A few years ago when the Syrian Refugee Crisis loomed large (it still does), I found it incredibly difficult to figure out what I could do to help. There were opportunities if I was a doctor or an Arabic speaking teacher (I was neither). I prayed, and remembered a Facebook post a (now) friend had made relating to Syrian refugees. I called her. It turned into a several hour conversation and I got involved in an organization she was starting. I then took my only two weeks of vacation time that year to go help distribute food, clothing, mattresses, and heaters to Syrian refugees living outside the Zattari refugee camp in Jordan. Sure, it was probably I who gained more than the people we helped, but I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.
With these kinds of experiences, one often doesn’t know what you are getting into until you are there! After college, I signed up to teach for a summer in a village in Nepal. I prepped for it- Nepal was always in my dreams. At the last minute, the organization decided they needed me to instead travel through India, researching people groups. It was not what I had signed up for. It was better.
Follow your heart, do the research,
take up on the opportunities presented!
Education
Take a class or teach a class! Education is a key way for many to incorporate a chance to travel, longer than with a vacation. Learn or teach a language. Learn or teach a skill. Whatever the topic, it will give you a purpose to interact and appreciate people of different cultures.
In middle school I participated in an exchange program, and went to live in a home in Mexico for a week. Sure it was short, but I brushed up on my Spanish, witnessed that tacos should be made on small tortillas, horchata is for breakfast, and dancing through the night is fun. More importantly, I experienced the culture in a deeper way and gained some new friends.
In college, I spent a summer in the Chinese countryside. Every day I’d bike a long way to University, taking Mandarin classes in the morning, and teaching English in the afternoon. I’ve found that learning the local language in the country you are visiting not only opens opportunities, but provides deeper insight into a culture. Learning direct translation of how sentences are formed helps explain the way a culture is thinking.
You can go take a picture of a statue, or you can learn the way and tongue of a people. It’s certainly richer to exchange thoughts as much as you snap pictures.
Sport
Finally there is sport, yet another way to travel and connect. Sport allows you to connect with people even though you don’t speak their language. Playing soccer with a group of ‘outlier’ girls on Tuvalu’s airstrip or on the Zambian plains, the result is the same — a whole lot of giggles, fun, and connection.
For me though, sport has always been about endurance — about climbing mountains, biking, and running. These kinds of activities get you further into the remote villages that few tourists get to. When the only place to stay is in a villager’s house, you know you are in for a treat!
The far flung experiences of endurance sports have brought me to friends I can’t forget. I think of the tiny Vietnamese man who literally pulled me up some of the steepest hills in the Vietnamese alps, introducing us to all his friends, and then took us to visit his sister. Betty, the staunch Papuan entrepreneur who helped me climb Mt Wilhelm. That lady, she “owned” that rioting island — literally rallying groups of 50 men with machetes to rebuild burnt bridges to let us pass, rather than attacking. There is something binding about going remote, knowing you must trust those you are with, to ever get back.
When I first hired a coach for triathlon training, they had a questionnaire about why I wanted to train. I thought about it for all of a second and realized I like to stay fit for the very reason that it enables me to trek to remote parts of the world. Lurking in the back of my head was the idea that one day I would need fitness. For now though, it certainly has allowed me to do incredible things, like travel to Duathlon World Championships, climb some of the highest peaks, and meet some of the most inspiring people.
It might not be the far flung villages and endurance pursuits that get your heart thumping. There are other sports too: maybe you dance, maybe you play ball, maybe you do yoga. Whatever it is, there’s a good chance it can be an avenue to make meaningful relationships with people from around the world.
Being a Tourist isn’t wrong, it has a time and a purpose, and certainly has its merits. Yet if you put in the legwork to engage at a deeper leve,l you will reap the benefits of meaningful travel.
What are the meaningful ways you have found to interact with the people and places you visit? Comment Below!
Liked This Post? Share it on Pinterest!
