Traveling the World with No GPS

ThinkExist.com Quotes

“Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going.” —Paul Theroux

At the oldest of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World

I was born with no sense of direction. What I did enter the world with is a whole lot of wanderlust. It was hardly in my DNA; my doting parents were middle-class folks whose idea of foreign travel was a jaunt up the California coast, say from L.A. to San Fran.

My plan to backpack around the Continent midway through my quest for a college degree came as a shock to my father. “If you can afford to go to Europe, you can afford to pay for your college education,” he raved. 

Rather than counter with something like, “No one will believe I went to college if I didn't backpack across one continent or another,” I called on St Augustine. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page,” I told my dad. He continued to fund my higher education until I earned a degree that led to a career as a travel writer.

Beautiful Budapest

In the decades since that parental debate, I've learned an important distinction. There are two kinds of people in the world: tourists and travelers. “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been,” explains Paul Theroux, “Travelers don’t know where they’re going.”

I like to think I´m one of the latter. After all, even without a GPS, what tourist would wind up in New Orleans after boarding a train bound for Mexico? Armed with a boyfriend and $500, I´d headed south in my 20s, clueless we'd wind up in the Big Easy after a dispute in Guatemala landed us in jail. Our best option, after a friend made bail, was to fly due north, to the closest U.S. city, we figured.

And so began my love affair with the world. I lost the boyfriend but remained enthralled with the planet. As in any romance, we've hit some bumpy patches. But like John Steinbeck, who took the pulse of the country he wrote about by driving across it with his French poodle, I realized, “A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” Having ditched the road to marital bliss after 23 years of fruitless trekking, I had no delusions about control. So I let the universe—and a few Dutch con men—take over when I set off down a warren of post-divorce trails.

Crazy Bangkok

These journeys have cost me more than a few unanticipated bucks. And a lot of embarrassment. Indeed, those slanty-eyed stares virtually screamed “crazy farang” when I overturned a trash bin in a Bangkok hotel, sending eggshells, food wrappers and Hong Thong whiskey bottle shards across the room. But how else could I prove my innocence to a hotel clerk who tried to convince me I'd consumed mineral water (60 baht), not drinking water (15 baht), from the mini-bar—an attempted 45 baht ($1.50 or €1) heist?

Thai snacks; do they bug you?

While contemplating bins of fried insects in Chaing Mai or haggling over bejeweled camels in Cairo's Khan al Khalili, I swear I heard James Michener whispering in my ear, “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” Although I never tasted any of the crunchy arthropods, I did buy a few golden dromedaries.

Overlooking Jerusalem

Hardly the reluctant traveler, I've always wanted to stray far from home, to learn and grow from globetrotting, taking risks and embracing the unknown beyond the land of ubiquitous Starbucks and McDonald’s. I've found plenty of American fast-food joints along the way, but I try to resist their lure until only a big gulp or a giant burger can satisfy my appetite for Yankee fare.

Even with such indulgences, I've lost inches while broadening my world perspective, for independent travel entails a lot of work. And a lot of decisions. You walk a lot and talk a lot. You call on resources you never knew you had. But it all makes you smarter and sharper, even while you're flailing about, trying to communicate with folks who speak Arabic. Or Italian. Anything but English. And engaging in commerce with cents that make no sense in a wallet familiar with American dollars. On such occasions, I remember Henry Miller´s point, “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of looking at things.” And hearing things, I might add.

Yup, IAmsterdam!

When I finally landed in a city that made my soul sing, I pulled up my California roots for good and bought an apartment in Amsterdam. Asked why I traded sunny SoCal for a soggy patch on the European continent that might be underwater were it not for Dutch ingenuity, I quiz back, “Have you been outside today? Met any people in this chilly lowland or lost yourself along its twisting canals?”

The real Dam Square

Watching the tourists roll down Damrak in those climate-controlled coaches, I marvel at the comfort they enjoy in their plush seats, taking in the world through giant panes of glass. Escorted by a tour guide who explains, in their native language, what time the bus will depart after their prescribed visit to Anne Frank's hideaway or the stately Rijksmuseum, they hold no scrunched maps or Lonely Planet guides—reminders of confused meanders in search of must-see piazzas or must-have falafel.

Then I return to my computer and gaze at photos posted by a friend who spent three days with me on an “If this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium``-style romp. “Dam Square,” the caption reads below an image I recognize as A'dam's Central Station. Damn! I love my friend dearly and we had loads of fun when she visited. But now I know how different we are. At least when it comes to travel.

Travel as Hero

“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” —Charles Dudley Warner

A long time ago, when I worked at an advertising agency as a copywriter, I learned about the genre of ads we called “food as hero.” In these snippets of salivation-inducing marketing, a giant hamburger can become an edible superhero in less than 30 seconds, driving hungry carnivores straight to Carl’s or Wendy’s in search of beef oozing with mouth-watering drippings. For vegetarian types, more tempting spots might feature ripe summer fruit from Chile, like the current one with the pop-off-the-screen, please-squeeze-me grapes and mellow-yellow bananas. For me, a 50-something freelance journalist who will eat practically anything, travel has much the same delicious, hypnotic effect. It activates something in my brain—endorphins, if you will—that makes me feel happy and at peace with the world.

So let me say a few words about globetrotting as I prepare to launch my next adventure—an exercise in cultural overload that will take me from Eagle Island off the coast of Georgia to Spain, Israel, Egypt, Italy and the Netherlands. It’s likely I’ll evolve along the way, for travel has a way of changing who we are and how we see things. “Without travel, said actress Lauren Hutton, “I would have wound up a little ignorant white Southern female, which was not my idea of a good life.”

Solo adventure travel has potent, drug-like side effects. It boosts stamina, improves powers of observation and makes operating on auto-pilot impossible. It enhances our ability to make decisions and solve problems. Most significantly, it shows us how other people live and see the world. According to author Miriam Beard, “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”

And so it has been for me. On all my recent adventures, I’ve become a cultural chameleon, embracing foreign customs and cuisines. Now I wonder if I’ll be eating with my hands in Egypt and gasping for air on a bike or on foot in the Italian Alps. On the plus side, I’ve become better at ignoring the inevitable potholes, enjoying the journey and turning situational lemons into traveler’s lemonade. I know a missed connection can become an opportunity to visit a new town and an overcrowded hostel can yield tips not available in guidebooks. Now certain I can’t control the universe, I accept the reality of flights at insane hours, long layovers and uncertain accommodations—all small trade-offs for the wonders of independent travel.

My upcoming adventure will blend planned stops with serendipity. The former will include a return visit to VaughanTown in Spain, where I'll earn my keep (just as you can if you're a native English speaker) by gabbing with Spaniards for 10+ hours a day; a bike-sail tour down the Nile; and a stay in the Dolomites (the Italian Alps) for hiking, cycling and watching pro-cyclists on the Giro d’Italia. I’ll couchsurf in Jerusalem, ride buses through Israel and return to my beloved Amsterdam for an extended stay.

Whether you’re a real or an armchair traveler, I invite you to become a follower and share my journey. We launch on April 3 and who knows where we’ll actually go, for as Jewish philosopher Martin Buber observed, “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” Come along, share tips and discover the world with me!

Final Top Tips (#10-13) for Solo Adventure Travel

If you've been following my posts on solo adventure travel, you may be experiencing a bit of wanderlust. Not to worry; a cure's as close as your nearest keyboard—one of your best tools for researching and planning an independent journey. Whether it's your first foray outside the world of organized tours or just another venture into the unknown, a trip embarked on without the help of travel professionals is guaranteed to give you a new sense of power, freedom and wonder.

It's a big world out there. To help you explore it, here are the final tips for solo adventure travel from my baker's dozen. Access all 13 in a picture-packed document from a link at http://wordgeisha.com/WGblog2008.html.

10. Break out of your comfort zone. When visiting a foreign country, things won’t be as they are at home. You may dine at midnight in Spain, hand-pick dinner from the kitchen in Greece and eat with your hands in Morocco. You’ll drive on the left-hand side of the road in London and forgo your bottomless cup of coffee in most European cities. By adapting to local tastes and customs and partaking of native specialties, you’ll enjoy the best quality and service for the lowest price while having the richest experience possible.

11. Be a citizen of the world. If you don’t like something, figure out how you can accept it. If you’re not enjoying a place, learn more about it so you can enjoy it to a greater degree. Remember that every culture and place has something unique to offer—something that will broaden your perspective and possibly give you something to weave into your own character and world view. Optimize your travel experience by stepping outside your ethnocentric cultural bubble and opening your mind.

12. Don’t be an ugly American! Europeans perceive Americans to be rich, rude, loud, naive and sometimes unrefined. Don’t give them any more ammunition than they already have: lower your voice and be respectful of cultural differences. Above all, be humbled by the fact that while millions of Europeans might be curious about America and alternatively amused and worried about Yankee ways, few would trade passports with you.

13. Bring your most extroverted self. You’ll meet more people and have more fun if you open up to folks you meet. Look for people you can connect with in hotels, hostels, coffeeshops, restaurants, bars, museums, tourist attractions, walking tours and anywhere else you find yourself in a foreign city. Opportunities abound when you’re waiting in line for breakfast, tickets and any attraction worth viewing. Be open and open minded in your communication. If excitement is waning on your trip, stir some up by talking to the people you encounter on your journey and making your own fun!

Top Tips for Adventure/Budget Travel, #4-6

With my next three tips for independent adventure/budget travel, I hope to inspire singles and couples to venture out on their own to exotic ports, without the safety and structure of an organized tour.

While this type of travel is a little more work, considering all the internet research and booking it involves, its rewards include a more intimate glimpse into a foreign culture than those giant floating cities offer. Travel through a foreign country on a cruise or American-style tour and the most up-close-and-personal view of a culture you're likely to get is via a random interaction with a clerk or waiter. Go it on your own and you'll be interacting with foreigners in a much more consistent and intimate way.

After you've tried it, my guess is that you'll agree with me: there's no better way to discover a foreign destination at your own pace, according to your own interests, than through independent travel. And with that I give you tips #4-6 of my top 13.

4. Spend your time where your dollar goes farthest. For the nightly cost of a standard room in London, you may be able to stay in a Turkish palace for a week. In Maramis, a nice room with wireless internet access and a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean cost me just 25 Turkish lira (about $17, including breakfast)—less than a third of what I paid for similar digs in Barcelona, London, Madrid and Paris.

There’s a side benefit to visiting places where your dollar stretches farthest: in cheaper countries where culture shock is greatest, e.g. Turkey, you can often find the most interesting gifts and memorabilia. If you have ample time, you can also save money by staying slightly outside of city centers. This makes especially good sense in places like Paris and London, where public transportation is so good, it's easy to get wherever you're going as long as you're near a Metro or Tube stop

5. Scope out FREE stuff. Take advantage of programs and volunteer opportunities that offer affordable and even free vacations, e.g. VaughanTown in Spain (www.vaughantown.com), through which any marginally gregarious and culturally inquisitive native English speaker can enjoy a FREE week-long vacation in four-star accommodations, all meals and wine included, just for gabbing with Spaniards (you pop for airfare). If you have skills to trade, try negotiating a deal with establishments in places you want to visit.

For fun, check out such free activities as the three-hour walking excursions offered by Sandeman’s newEurope in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Paris, Madrid and Jerusalem. In such cities as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid and Paris, some of the world’s best talent performs on streets and in public transport stations. Enjoy the free shows and don’t forget to leave a generous tip if the performers are good; they make an honest living this way!

6. Be creative with accommodations. In many foreign places, there are many alternatives to big, expensive American-style hotels. These include small pensions where you’re likely to get a good dose of local culture for a price well below what you’d pay at a Hilton. Universities, nunneries and hostels like the ones I stayed at in Dublin and Chicago provide other good accommodation alternatives; most are open to people of all ages at prices that are a fraction of any hotel room rate. Staying at these places puts a kitchen at your disposal, as well as the opportunity to meet travelers from around the world. There’s also www.couchsurfing.com through which you can connect with hosts offering FREE accommodations and priceless cultural insight.

If you can't wait for future posts, you can access my baker's dozen of tips through a link at http://wordgeisha.com/WGblog2008.html. If you have some of your own, please share so we can establish a dialogue about adventure/budget travel. Stay tuned for more and please add your own tips with a comment!