From the Archives: Raw Travel

[This blog post was orinally published on liberty-shockley@wix.com on 7 June 2017. This was my personal website for the University Honors Program where I chronicled some of my whirlwind travels during college. No edits were made despite the cringey clichés of 20 year old Liberty.]

All of us like to share the cool adventures we're going on with our family, friends, and followers on social media. It's fun trying to get the perfect shot, color correcting, straightening, and going through all the filters (even though you won't use one so you can say #nofilter). We know that, and we expect it. Could you imagine your best friend hiking out to a waterfall in Hawaii then never hearing about it? No. We want to see pictures, we want to hear what it was like because of our own curiosity but also because we're proud of our friend for going out and doing something that has made them happy. We know that travel changes us, and it's important to see how our loved ones are growing.

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I read a book recently called, The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. First off, I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys passing the time by figuring out optimal flight paths on Google Flights. Second, this book had a lot of points I somewhat already knew, but didn't ever think about in the forefront of my mind. These were things I took for granted, and have started to think about during times of active reflection. Finally, this book was beautifully written. A sentence about ordering a cheeseburger would invoke the same feeling as reading about a countess eating caviar in first class.

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“The best books, he [Winston] perceived, are those that tell you what you know already.” 1984 by George Orwell

Well, this is me in an exotic place. I can’t stop thinking about the points Botton made in the first half of The Art of Travel, about looking out the window of an airplane. He talks about how people are so focused on the destination, they forget about the journey. I know that sounds like an arsty white girl Pinterest canvas you would hang on your wall, but Botton really takes a few paragraphs to talk about how boring the airport in nowhere, England looks, so let’s analyze what he’s saying. How often do you post pictures of yourself after not showering for three days, not sleeping for two, and eating whatever you can find, despite your “healthy, organic, yoga-loving” lifestyle that usually dominates your social media? Do you ever travel to a place and only eat at McDonald’s, drink Starbucks coffee and talk to people who speak English?

I'm tired y'all. This is the lesser shown part of travelling, the actual travel, opposed to the destination. It's tough adjusting to time changes, gate changes, and being next to a mid-flight diaper change by an even more tired mom. This aspect of growth through travel is just as important as the destination, if not more. Botton is saying these “boring” days are just as eventful as your picturesque ones, and I believe this is where most of your lessons will come from.

I learned how to appreciate things I take for granted in America. Toilet Paper, clean water, and freedom of speech, may come to mind, but at the airport in Kathmandu, I learned to appreciate the importance of queuing. Trying to check into my flight, many South Asian men were bumping into me and standing much too close. While watching two struggle at the counter, I notice at the next counter over was the man that was behind me! However, there was still a man in front of me, patiently waiting. The man behind me had jumped the line. The man in front of me shared an eye roll, then took on the offensive, taking up as much space as we could at the front of the line so we could check in on our turn. This is not a huge deal, but it's common to the region, and I'd have to learn how to deal with it even when exasperated. Next time I'm 14th in line at Starbucks, I imagine I'll have a good chuckle. (Read this full encounter in another post, Raw Travel: An Anecdote)

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Then, once you reach your destination, you see more than just what you can find on Google Images. You learn the transportation system, some of the language, and the behaviors of people who live there. You’ll practice quick decision making and character judgement, you’ll fight logistical errors out of your control and ones that are your fault, you’ll overcome language barriers and fatigue. This is what I’ve experienced! It’s hard, it’s discouraging, and it can be dangerous. But it’s essential.

So yes, go. Go and take your photos with elephants and ice cream and tall buildings. I encourage you to look back on these photos not only with how pretty it was, but giving value to how you got there and where you went. When people ask you how your travels went, sure you can slight them by saying it was “Just perfect”, but when you think about it, reflect on what you were thinking about when you were looking out that airplane window. Reflect on the differences from the destination to your home. Reflect on how the beautiful waterfall made you feel. This, my friends, is the art of travel. It’s not how many stamps in your passport you have, it’s the range of emotions you experienced, the memories you will keep inside you, and the lessons you learned as a result of travel.