by travellotus on May 1, 2011
‘The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers.
But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.”
~Sarah Ban Breathnach
Most people have dreams of traveling more often than they do. Often, we focus on the “reasons” that stop us from traveling rather than problem solving and making it happen. It’s important to differentiate real obstacles from excuses. Obstacles can be overcome, while excuses are based in fear and block our dreams from being actualized.
It’s time we reframe the American cultural perspective that travel is a “luxury”. Here is a better alternative — travel should be considered a necessity for self-growth and an invaluable tool for increasing our psychological well-being. Traveling to new places, even for two days, can provide an opening to be present and alive within, rather than numb and uninspired.
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by travellotus on April 18, 2011
The concept of the “responsible traveler” or “ethical tourism” is about cultivating respect for other cultures and reducing our footprint upon the world while traveling. This awareness goes beyond eco-friendly behaviors to practicing a “global code of ethics for tourism.” There are many ethical concerns about the impact of tourists, especially affluent Westerners’, upon developing countries’ cultures and economies.
When thinking of ethical issues around travel, I have one image permanently burnt in my memory. In 1999, I witnessed a young western backpacker giving what she thought was something of value to a local Indonesian woman –an empty water bottle. The local woman politely accepts the bottle. The backpacker turns and walks away. Almost immediately the woman tosses the empty water bottle into the nearby water ravine and returns to her work without a pause. That situation could have easily come out of the 1982 movie, Koyaanisqati (“World Out of Balance”). The cultural misunderstanding and environmental implications of this exchange, has never left me.
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‘The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers.
