It has been suggested several times over the past 45+ years of traveling and guiding that I should write a book about these experiences. Up until this last year, my travel designing and guiding has not allowed enough time to spend in writing. Now that I am in my sunset years, it seems a good time to share some of the adventures I have enjoyed. Rather than trying to seek out those exotic instances, I would like to focus on people, places and sights that may have a particular appeal for the Traveler.
Is anyone who travels beyond their home a Traveler? (Notice that I did not say travels to a foreign land). No, because, for this discussion, we must draw a distinction between a tourist and a Traveler. The distinction is not a valued hierarchy with one placed above the other, rather it is a consideration of which one could avail himself or herself to the experiences that I will be describing.
For this discussion, we will define a tourist as one who is on a set itinerary and time schedule with a group of 15 or more individuals who may be moving about in a large bus hosted by a tour guide speaking in a loud voice or through a closed communication system and who could be observed walking in front of them with an umbrella or colorful flag in the air.
Does this suggest that we define the Traveler as one who moves about on ones' own or with a few friends, travels by public transportation, researches destinations and sights before departing, brings his or her own written guides and does not follow a schedule or timetable. Maybe, but said individual might be a pilgrim, a wanderer or a student spending a period of time on the road.
For whom am I writing these reflections, recollections and recommendations? I would like to draw from the mission statement directing my work and suggest the I will be writing for those Travelers who seek life-long
learning in a creative, stimulating environment while promoting cross-cultural
understanding. The Traveler's focus is the diverse cultural and geographic settings of
our global community that provide an environment for growth in
understanding international relationships through a prepared, personal
encounter with regional nationalities and the environments that molds their
culture.
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| Drepung Monastery Monk Debates (1993) |
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"For the
history that I require and design, special care is to be taken that it will be
of wide range
and made to the measure of the universe.
For the world is not to be
narrowed till it will go into the understanding (which has been done hitherto),
But the understanding is to
be expanded and opened till it can take in the image of the world."
Francis Bacon
