Travel Advisory

Travel Advisory-

Behind the “what’s your favorite place?” question the second most common question asked is “were you ever in any danger?” As my journey is winding down I look back to the only incident that comes close;

In New Delhi I made a visit to the mosque site of “Hazrat Nizam-un-din Dargah” As we pull up my rickshaw driver turns around and says “keep your hand on your purse and watch yourself, It’s a different place in there”. I step out, humored by him calling my wallet a purse and thanking him for the advice, but remaining confident on my ability to look after myself. With people demanding I take my shoes off I do so and leave them at a stand. Then without saying anything I get handed 2 styrofoam plates with flower petals and small silk cloths on them and have a white crocheted Muslim “beanie” thing placed on my head. Barefoot, I follow the hawker maze and end up in a temple grounds. It was the highest concentration of beggars I’ve experienced. Many deformities, missing limbs and someone that was full human, but only a fraction of a person. Little more than a head with tiny warped arms I don’t know how the person is alive at all let alone how this poor soul functions in the world. It was like a scene straight out of Apocalypto. Confused by the plates I’m holding I walk around aimless and eventually get pointed to a prayer site where someone takes the plates from me. I’m not allowed inside because of the shorts I’m wearing, so I take my place and watch through the grated marble gate along with the women, who aren’t allowed in either. At one point prayer chants in a female voice come over the loud speaker and it echoed beautifully with crystal clear sound, unlike the distortion you would expect in such a place. It was a powerful scene that had me in awe of the spectacle. On the way out I locate the stand where I left my shoes. I slip them back on and start walking away when the stand operator demand I pay him for the plates of flower petals he gave me. I tried explaining that I never asked for them in the first place, but it was a fruitless argument. I attempted walking away, but he started to yell and everyone in earshot was taking notice. He’s demanding 500 rupees which is a ridiculous amount. Although its only about $10 U.S. that’s about the same price for a hotel room or good meal. I’m looking around and make eye contact with the older guy at a neighboring stand. He shakes his head no and motions for me to just leave, which I again try to do. In hindsight that gesture from the older guy could just as easily have been a “you don’t belong here” head shake and “go away and don’t ever come back” hand motion. Regardless of what he was trying to communicate to me when I try to walk away again the guy demanding money gets louder and more agitated, now causing a legitimate scene. He’s SCREAMING at me in Hindi at the top of his lungs. More people are starting to pay attention and a wave of nervousness comes over me. Within a few more seconds I’m surrounded by a small mob and a few hands start grabbing at me. I’m completely alone in this place, isolated and vulnerable. I try walking away again and am blocked. I pull out my wallet, shielding it with my body, give him the 500 rupees in disgust and walk way, heart beating out of my chest, looking straight ahead and completely ignoring anybody trying to get my attention until I reach my rickshaw. “We’ll what do you think” asks my driver. I was shaken, but simply replied. “You were right, it’s different in there.”

This was it. The very worst situation I had in over 2 years of traveling. No muggings, no car jackings or kidnappings, no malaria or ebola, no militias, no guerrillas, no reenactments from the movie Hostel, no forced drug muleing, no Locked Up Abroad, nothing like that. So was I lucky or is traveling safer than people believe? A little of both I think. It definitely pays dividends to have some street smarts and keep your wits about you. If something doesn’t seem right to you it’s probably not. If you are told by locals not to walk around after dark, don’t think that doesn’t apply to you because you’re in search of “adventure.” Inevitably there are certain places you need to be on guard more than others. Any major city has the inherent risk of petty crime, just don’t be an idiot. Africa, to generalize, should not be taken lightly. Especially the REAL Africa and not your group safari to the game reserve. Corruption and desperation are both wide spread and for as much as I advocate traveling solo, there are places you should not find yourself out alone. This is not to scare you away from it, because Africa is amazing and you should, by all means, go there to experience it. Again, just don’t be an idiot.

Traveling is, for the most part, safe. Traveling solo is safe, even for females. Perhaps even more so for females. Peoples natural instinct is to be good to one another and offer help to foreigners whenever possible. I’ve heard stories that would suggest this instinct is magnified specifically relating to females. A paternal instinct if you will. There’s a good portion of the third world living with xenophobia; The fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange. In some cultures that fear will manifest itself as aggression, which is much more likely to be directed toward a male than female. I bring this up because I constantly hear from girls “It’s easier for you to go traveling by yourself, you’re a guy, it’s not safe for me.” It’s not necessarily true. The ‘solo’ vs ‘alone’ paradigm I referred to simply means that when you set out by yourself you are very seldom actually alone. You quickly find like minded solo travelers to group with. This is even the REASON for traveling solo, because if you always travel with the same group of friends you close yourself off from meeting these new people. As much as I enjoy my moments of solitude, certain memories need to be shared with others to be fully appreciated. My favorite quote on this subject is from Helen Keller: “It’s better to walk with a friend in the dark than alone in the light”. But either alone or with a group, the odds are your own hometown is statistically more dangerous than wherever it is you’re backpacking through. If you are from the U.S. you need to consciously desensitize yourself from all the travel warnings. If you read and follow the travel.state.gov website, which posts all the travel warnings, you’ll never leave your house and probably be afraid of your own shadow. It’s terrifying. It’s also probably a load of bullshit. There are some “no go” zones that are good to be aware of, but I suggest reading the Canadian or UK version of this same website for a more realistic take on things. I’m not sure if the U.S. site just lists every remote possible danger you may encounter from a liability standpoint the way pharmaceutical company’s are required to list every last side effect that’s ever happened, or if the reason is more sinister; like since we lost all of our manufacturing industries generations ago perhaps the government just wants to stimulate the economy by scaring the shit out of people (something they specialize in) making them never want to leave and thereby keeping travel expenditures internal? Who knows? What I can tell you is this: The high water mark for Americans traveling abroad was in 2009 before the recession hit. Removing business related trips from the equation and focusing only on leisure trips the numbers show 15.5 million people traveling abroad. Sound high? It amounted to only 5% of 311 million population. This includes everything from a honeymoon in Paris, to a ski trip in Whistler, or a weekend with the boys in Cabo. I couldn’t dig up the numbers related exclusively to American backpackers traveling several months at a time, but you can only imagine what it would look like based on these figures. Interesting? Here’s another something to chew on that I actually found interesting myself: want to take a guess at what theological grouping of countries I felt most welcomed?.. You guessed wrong. It’s the Muslim countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey & Jordan (Egypt not so much, they don’t like us there)… AND curiously enough the worst scam pulled on me the entire trip was from a supposed worldly and all loving Buddhist in Nepal. So what have we learned here if anything? The moral of the story- don’t believe the hype.

Take notice of how these numbers multiply: In the year 1500 the Earth’s population was around 500 million. It took a full 300 years to double and in 1800 we reached 1 billion. In 2012 we surpassed the 7 billion mark, by 2025 we will be over 8 billion and, sixty years from now, in the year 2075, all things remaining equal, we are to hit the 10 billion milestone. The world simply does not have the resources to sustain that amount of people and something’s got to give. I’m by far from a dooms day prediction type guy, but there are some realities to face. Climate change is real, major cities are running out of water and crazy ass communist China is taking over everything. Two or three generations from now (or 1 generation, or next week) there may not be the same ease of travel. WE are the lucky ones! We are, all of us, lucky to be alive at this very moment. Living in an unbelievable time in human history. The age of aviation and information. No matter where you’re at in the world you are 1 day away. What a new and radical concept! If you want to visit Europe you don’t have to brave the Atlantic Ocean for several weeks on a freekin’ wooden ship, you just jump on a plane and voila! Feel like checking out what Darwin observed in the Galapagos? Ok go for it!… Antarctica? Greenland?… Kyrgyzstan! Do it! Travel now, travel while you can. Do it while you still have your youth, your health. If you search hard enough you’ll find an excuse for just about anything, so stop looking for an excuse. As far as I’m concerned having children and raising a family is the only valid common reason not to take time for travel… and in which case you should be pushing your kids towards taking a gap year after high school or college. If you think the danger factor is an excuse, it’s not. If you aren’t traveling because you have nobody to go with thats ridiculous. You don’t think you have enough money? Guess what that’s bullshit too. Get out there and have yourself an adventure. Hanging out on some beach taking Corona pictures somewhere for your 5th vacation in a row is NOT an adventure. Jumping on a standing room only train in India without knowing the destination, is. You want real “adventure” go get yourself lost. Find yourself in unknown surroundings and uncommon situations. Discovery, not familiarity, is at the heart of adventure, but don’t mistake recklessness for bravery. Follow your gut and listen to your intuition. Buy a one way ticket somewhere, book nothing in advance, speak the local language, eat the local food and travel the local roads. Go discover what’s in store for you. Take advantage of this precious moment in time and don’t squander the opportunity of living your life. You only get one chance at it.

Bob