On Being A Resourceful Traveler
Something that has been on my mind lately..
Today I was my last day in France. I celebrated by going into “town”–a tiny village nearby called Syselle.
I’m sure many people would miss this sweet little charming place, or think there was nothing to see and do there. However, I had a wonderful few hours there, doing everything from eating locally made pastry to visiting a little known bird sanctuary to finding myself drinking wine at an impromtu wine tasting in the local supermarket.
I guess I’ve always been the kind of person that can make the best of it, or “make do”. Certainly this skill is incredibly useful when it comes to the art of travel. But what is probably even more important is knowing how to be resourceful when one travels.
Resourceful. I realized today that if I was asked to descibe what kind of traveler I am, I would use that word to descibe myself.
Resourcefulness and backpacking go hand in hand. Unfortunately, the word resourceful in this context generally conjures up the backpacker who is having to be resourceful because they really don’t have enough money to travel in the manner to which they are attempting. This is the backpacker who is always looking for a “connection”, a place to stay in the next city or country, or looking for a free meal.
Not that there is anything partially wrong with this scenario, but it’s not the kind of resourcefulness I’m talking about here.
I’m talking about the kind of resourcefulness that really allows one to have a fuller, deeper, and more “live like the locals” kind of travel experience. For example, being in a tiny village for several hours in the south of France, and finding out that there are alot of hidden gems in the area, just by walking around, observing people, and talking with them. Not going to the expensive tourist restaurants and sights, but choosing instead to talk with a sculptor who takes you on an impromptu tour of his studio. Finding the cemetery and listening to an old man, raking the gravel walkways, talk about how his village has changed over the years.
In attempting to be a resourceful traveler, not only do I find myself in strange situations with people I would not normally have the likelihood to meet, but I am forced to practice a degree of self reliance that is similar to inviting 10 people to dinner and starting to cook the meal 10 minutes before they are due to arrive. It feels a bit crazy, flying by the seat of my pants through one interaction or experience after another, but it’s so much more satisfying. Afterwards, I always find myself saying, “Did you really just do that?!”
This trip which started as such an organized, well thought out plan, of where I was going to where I was staying for the next few years has happily disintegrated into a trip where I hope I have no idea of what I am doing tomorrow. I love not knowing what is next because it forces me to think, to act, to make choices based on my impressions and my skills. Maybe even develop some skills right there in that moment–like when I was in Guatemala and had to row my own wooden canoe through water snakes and crocodiles. I had never rowed a canoe in my life, and I was afraid of boats, let alone crocodiles–I looked around for some gringo or guide to help me and there wasn’t one. It was just me. I learned to row a canoe in about 2 minutes! (Landing it and getting out were another story entirely!)
In a few days, I will be in an area of the world that is the gateway to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a small cluster of islands of the coast of India. It’s a place of many a traveler’s fantasies, with beautiful beaches, bamboo huts, and diving and snorkeling. But is that all there is?
The answer is no, in spite of what any guidebook will tell you. What is actually there remains to be seen, to be discovered.
I started out reading guidebooks religiously when I started this trip. I carried them around like they were the Bible, and I only went to things they suggested. Unfortunately, I soon learned that that is what most other travelers were doing too. Now I use the books as a basic guide to start out with and then give them away, preferring to get completely disoriented and figure things out by myself.
But back to the Andaman Islands..There are 6 different indigenous groups living on the islands, along with a mix of everyone else who has decided to go and live there over the years. Of these groups, some have resisted outsiders by becoming quite violent at the sight of a foreigner, while others have had their population increase dramatically due to religious conversion, amongst other reasons.
I imagine the Andaman islands full of rich tourists looking for a tropical island getaway and poorer backpackers, swinging in hammocks and taking a diving class or two. It’s also full of lots of displaced people who have lost their identity since losing lands and territories due to a huge tsunami that hit the islands several years ago.
I’ve been thinking about going to the islands, because they are very close to Calcutta and one can get there by boat. But I don’t want to be a rich tourist, and hire a guide…nor do I want to follow the advice to the letter of whatever Lonely Planet says about what to see and do. For me, Lonely Planet is a resource–a place to begin. But it’s not the journey. The journey is after you give up the backpacker scene and move in with the locals.
Why go all the way to the other side of the world just to hang out with people just like myself? When I have done this (My first 2 months in Xela, Guatemala comes to mind) I have been so unsatisfied with my journey and my understanding of the culture. I like the challenge of being different, of being around difference, because it forces me to rely on myself and be a resourceful traveler.
I’d much rather get very much off the gringo trail, get completely lost, be with people who spoke a language I did not understand, and have one interesting adventure to talk about when I got home–paired with a deeper understanding of place.
I imagine that going to the Andaman islands would be no different than going to a small, seemingly faceless village in France. It doesn’t have to be a touristy destination–in fact, it could be a destination that becomes one of the most significant on my around the world trip, and teaches me the most about the environment and global warming.
Resourcefulness is key for the sensitive traveler who wants to appreciate what things are actually like for the people they are seeing in the street, the shops, the market. It’s the key to understanding why one is traveling in the first place, and it requires getting off the beaten trail to do just that.
I know Calcutta will prove to be place where resourcefulness is a valuable, and even necessary, skill. Hundreds of volunteers are attracted to coming and working there every year, and there is a strong gringo presence in some areas of the city. I know that my first few days there, that’s where I’ll be, eating my tofu burgers and swapping traveler’s tales on the rooftop of some backpacker hostel.
But after a few days of that, I hope to be living far away from that part of town, hopefully in a local’s house or a rented room in the middle of who knows where, struggling to figure out a language and customs while experiencing some serious culture shock all on my own.
Flying by the seat of my pants, and loving every minute of it.
gigi
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