Story by Emmjay
It is or perhaps WAS said that travel broadens the mind. There is no information about whether the broad minds travel, or whether travel minds the broad. I suspect that the former might be answered in the negative. And the latter in the negative too, but there is clearly an underlying assumption that the mind could do with a spot of broadening -that it is somewhat narrow in the untraveled state.
But travel is more likely, according to G.K. Chesterton to achieve the reverse – bringing out our disapproval for places, people and practices that may differ from those with which we are familiar. He was suggesting that there may be no inherently inferior aspect, but that it is human nature to find fault on the basis of difference alone. We tend to regard the familiar as naturally better.
Chesterton went on to say some seriously non-PC things that shout national stereotyping. I won’t repeat them because to do so is to cast scorn upon a man for having lived in a different era where it was OK to spruik generalities about “the Turk” and contrast his personal and collective peccadillos with those of the long-held to be superior British character, particularly since we know that this chap was simultaneously responsible for the genocide of over a million Armenians at the same time the ANZAC diggers were lauding him as such a worthy foe.
We may think that travellers, far away from home for long periods might not be the most unbiased observers, and in fact may themselves display characteristics not typically seen amongst their countrymen at home. Chesterton cites the example of “the Americans”, we know as kind, polite and generous hosts in their own country curiously turning into loud dressers with even louder voices and outrageously insensitive ignorance of local manners when they are abroad.
I once met a family like that visiting Franz Joseph Glacier, South Island, NZ. It was 1973. They dragged along a teenage son who was painfully shy – well everyone looked shy next to Roger and Marjorie. I remember the poor lad’s name to this day. Marjorie was the photographer. She shrieked “Stand by the glayshure, WORREN”. Not such a difficult request since it was everywhere around us and underfoot to boot.
But I have to confess that when touring, I would have to be very homesick before I would gravitate towards many Aussie accents. As Englishmen have never caught on to how ridiculous they look in shorts, long socks and sandals, so many Australians cannot bear to leave their stubbies and thongs locked in the wardrobe at home. It’s as if the attire is taking the person on holidays and not the reverse. I suppose the payback for dressing like you’re at home in the rumpus room, when you are in fact travelling overseas, is that people who cover up and wear stout shoes are the ones who survive longest when the plane falls from the sky in a ball of fire.
Thankfully, if Chesterton is right, we’ll avoid narrowing of the mind by avoiding travel – and not giving oxygen to shock jocks. We can taste the cuisine of Tuscany at the local Italian and visit the Uffizi online. No queues. No deep vein thromboses. No beggars. No airport security. No jetlag or snappy customs officials. Toilet in the next room. Safe water in the tap and no ripoff money changers. Mind expanding ? You bet !
astyages said:
Of course, it’s all ‘mind over matter’… I don’t mind and ‘They’ don’t matter!
😉
LikeLike
sandshoe said:
Lovely to find GK here at the pub. I read this for light reading in the early hours, Mike. It has a lovely fluency to it. A point of view. I really never know whether you are pulling our piglet legs. Entertainment value classic. Many thanks for it.
‘Shoe.
LikeLike
gerard oosterman said:
The Aero-flot experience with the unbolted seat and the subsequent chargrilled sardines three times in a row (on a single day) have perhaps been my most memorable travel experiences. Never mind the St.Peterburg Winter Palace or Hermitage museum with the ‘Mona Lisa’ that was never shown there, or the hundreds of sculptures of pensive Tostoys or Lenins.
Finally, I still dream of an apartment in Paris or Amsterdam. Time is of the essence with the egg timer’s sand running out so quickly. Perhaps a walk around with Milo instead. Things like travel making for wiser and older might be a travellers pipe dream as well. Who knows?
LikeLike
Therese Trouserzoff said:
I dream of a Paris apartment too, Gez…… but not their winters. Still, I wouldn’t mind a year or two there to see, hear, feel and taste a few more things. As far as air travel is concerned, I think I can count the flights I’ve enjoyed on one hand. When we can fly to Paris in 2 hours, I think it will be a cool trip. That or a slow boat.
LikeLike
sandshoe said:
Sinking with a group of newly met companions in a boat in the Port Moresby harbour and bailing like mad stand out in my travel adventures. 🙂
LikeLike
sandshoe said:
Flight doesn’t do it for me either Emmjay.
LikeLike
sandshoe said:
It was only a tiny little boat not an ocean going liner.
LikeLike
sandshoe said:
Nevertheless I found this to share. 🙂
LikeLike
Therese Trouserzoff said:
I’m goin’ to Chattanooga and then on down to Cuba ! Banjo style I believe is called either clawhammer (boom chicka boom chick) or “frailing” and the rather wonderful strum is done with just the middle fingernail on the down strum and the thumb as an afterthought.
LikeLike
sandshoe said:
Jolly technical of you, Emmjay.
LikeLike
helvityni said:
I believe that if you are broad-minded to start off with, then the travelling will broaden it even more..
If you have a closed mind, if you look for Vegemite or Finnish Rye Bread in India, you’ll might as well stay home.
When you get older and have travelled a lot, those exciting flights to different places are starting to feel too troublesome. I remember the well-travelled Somerset Maugham said that once in his seventies, he had seen and experienced everything, and best and the nicest past time for him was to go for a walk in the local English forest with his daughter Lisa…he knew about experiencing everything, he was gay, had been married, lived overseas, studied medicine, yet became a writer…
LikeLike
Therese Trouserzoff said:
I think you’re onto it here, H. Travel when you’re young, open-minded and fresh to new ideas. While there, speak little, look and listen a lot. And savour the exotic taste of where you find yourself. That way, when travel does become too much of a burden, you can enjoy the microcosm of ……. where you find yourself….. ahhh.
LikeLike
vivienne said:
Precisely what I did. Go back to those places now? All changed and too much spoilt. A few days in Echuca will do me just fine – new and the old as it used to be.
LikeLike
sandshoe said:
A few days in Echuca sounds like bliss, Viv. I love the idea of its history and the name itself. Give me a home even in Echuca to return to on a track winding back…
LikeLike