Let’s Travel

As a frequent traveler, I try to keep in mind the following: “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.”

That may seem like an amorphous saying, but I take it to mean this: check your ethnocentrism at the airport.

One of the best – but often strangest – parts of traveling to places very different from where you live is experiencing another culture. It’s not for everyone; some people don’t feel comfortable getting out of what they know, which is not a bad thing, just a personal preference. I often find, though, there are people who want to experience different cultures, but are unprepared for doing so.

Nothing dampens a travel experience like internal or external conflict with the cultural or social norms of the country you’re visiting. The best way to avoid this is to go into a travel experience with an open mind and a willingness to learn.

In general, you can’t expect your own country’s values or ideals to be accepted everywhere you go. When you travel to places that differ substantially from where you call home, you must sometimes leave behind many of your own cultural norms and temporarily accept some new ones. It doesn’t mean you have to go to extremes, but it does mean that you need to be respectful of people and their customs and try to abide by them when necessary.  This might mean not making jokes about being gay, not discussing certain social or political topics, covering your head with a scarf, refraining from engaging in public displays of affection, or not being visibly drunk in public. On top of being culturally sensitive, it can keep you from getting in real trouble, like finding yourself being detained for breaking the law.

Sometimes, we can be inadvertently offensive because we’re simply unaware. There are plenty of social norms or customs that might not be obvious to a visitor that have implications in your interactions with people – certain gestures or words that are considered rude or inappropriate, for example. The best way to prevent accidentally upsetting people is to do your research ahead of time. You can easily find information on local customs online or in guidebooks. Understanding local codes of behavior is an important part of planning for travel. It may be that where you’re going, there’s nothing to know; but in case there is, be a conscientious traveler and check. Not only will it prevent you from offending people, it’ll make your travel experience that much more enjoyable. If you’re acting like a jackass, good luck being able to have pleasant, educational interactions with the people you’re upsetting.

I’ve unfortunately read about travelers being disgruntled with local customs (like covering your head or shoulders at a religious site) and purposely bucking tradition in order to make a point. Don’t do this.  This is unequivocally a dick move. It is not your prerogative as a traveler – a tourist, vacationer, visitor – to take stands against customs or beliefs you find disagreeable, or to balk at cultural norms or traditions because you have ~feelings~ about them. The origins and workings of most customs and government/religious/cultural institutions are far too complex for the casual traveler to understand anyway, so you’re not going to solve any of those perceived issues by being insensitive. This is what I meant when I said to check your ethnocentrism at the airport. Unless it’s your actual job to delve into these matters, be respectful and mindful of your attitudes and actions.

There have been times I’ve been uncomfortable with what I see or hear while traveling. Some places  have customs and attitudes about women that trouble me on many levels. I am human and I have opinions on things like that – I suspect we all do, and by no means am I saying people are not entitled to those opinions. But there is a time and a place to discuss those, and as a visitor to another country, you should prioritize being respectful and culturally sensitive over ignorance or making a point.

This brings me to culturally sensitive photography. I love taking pictures of people and “daily life” when I travel. But don’t be disrespectful about it – either snap photos inconspicuously if you’re trying to snap a picture of people or scenes on the street, or better yet, if you’re wanting a photo of particular people, ask if they mind you taking their picture (you don’t even need to speak the same language to do this, simply smiling and pointing to your camera does the trick). I got a great picture of a couple of people walking their cows across the road in Peru. They smiled and waved for the photo, and in return I gave them some money for their time. It was a small price to pay to have a pleasant interaction with them and in return get myself a great memento of my time in Peru.

In short, don’t be a culturally insensitive jerk when you travel. Be mindful and respectful. It’s the least you can do.

Let me preface this article by saying that it is a huge privilege to have paid time off (PTO) at all. Many people work low-wage or hourly jobs where they don’t; that is terrible in its own right, but that’s a post for another day.

But for Americans who are lucky enough to have jobs that offer paid time off, many of them don’t take it. According to “An Assessment of Paid Time Off in the U.S.” a study commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association, and completed by Oxford Economics., as many as 40% of Americans who have PTO took zero – that’s right, zero – vacation days in 2013, leaving a total of 429 million unused days for U.S. workers.

For many people, it might be that they can’t afford a vacation. But let’s put aside the idea that time off work necessarily equals going on a “vacation” where one travels away from home. People can easily take a staycation, as I’ve written before, and utilize PTO to take a much needed break from work without upending their budgets. Or even take a random day off here and there because they just need a break, which I like to call “Mental Health Days.” But they still don’t.

We can speculate as to why this happens. Maybe it’s a fear of coming back to a mountain of work. Maybe it’s reluctance due to a corporate culture that looks down on taking vacation days (despite company proclamations that they “care” about work/life balance). The U.S. Travel Association study noted that nearly 34 percent of employees surveyed indicated that their employer neither encouraged nor discouraged leave, but 17 percent of managers considered employees who take all of their leave to be less dedicated employees.  Or perhaps Americans want to be martyrs who wear “busy” like a badge of honor, and taking time off is seen as lazy. For some, according to the study, their heavy workload simply prevents them from taking time off. I’m sure the reasons are varied.

But numerous studies have demonstrated that using PTO stimulates the economy, and is better for worker productivity and well-being. I won’t get into the economic benefits of taking PTO since I’m not an economics expert, though a simple google search will lead you to many studies showing that to be the case. Let’s focus on the two things that affect the worker as an individual: productivity and health.

As for productivity, we all tend to labor under the misapprehension that more hours working means more work accomplished. In fact, the evidence demonstrates the complete opposite: to be an effective worker, don’t work too much.

Back in the 1920’s, car manufacturer extraordinaire Henry Ford did something revolutionary for the time. He decreased his employees’ work weeks from 6 days to 5 days, decreasing their working hours from 48 to 40. Ford did this after realizing that employee productivity dropped significantly after 40 hours, and they could accomplish just as much in 5 days of work as they could in 6. Now, this might seem like a liberal policy approach, but this was motivated purely by profit.

That being said, Ford was onto something. Numerous studies show that weekly productivity diminishes past the 40 hour mark, and pretty much cliff-dives once you get past 50 hours. We aren’t meant to sustain a constant or extended output of mental energy; we can push hard for a certain period of time, but then need to recharge.   Take working overtime, for instance. While an overtime push usually creates a large output of work in the short term, it’s almost always followed by a “hangover” period for several days afterward, where productivity decreases significantly. And working more than 50 hours a week does not generally increase productivity, either. Any of us who have pulled all-nighters at the office or worked 60, 70, or 80 hour weeks can attest to this. It makes more sense to work reasonable hours week to week, which facilitates routinely high output, than to crank out overtime and suffer from peaks and valleys in productivity.

Not only does productivity increase with mental breaks, but the quality of the work is better. This study demonstrated that brief mental respites from work results in better quality of work with fewer mistakes. Trying to sustain a constant stream of attention without interruption causes a depletion of mental resources over time. To put it another way: burn out leads to crappy work product.

Taking this past the arguments for shorter work weeks and the occasional day of rest, what about prolonged absences, like week-long vacations? Wouldn’t that automatically result in less productivity since you’re away from work for extended periods of time? The short answer is no. The longer answer is nope.

Extended breaks may, in the short term, result in slightly decreased productivity for the time you are away, but they more than make up for it in better job performance overall. We tend to be more motivated and less likely to make mistakes when we take vacation time. So while our work output might decrease while we’re gone, we come back to work raring to go, producing more, performing work more accurately, and feeling better about it.

Which brings me to the next benefit of taking PTO: your health. Studies show that taking extended breaks from work, whether you travel somewhere or simply stay home and relax, decreases stress.  Constant high stress levels can lead to higher blood pressure, an increase in harmful stress hormones, weight gain, and depression, all of which also cost money to treat. Taking vacation also increases your energy, and can even lead to a healthier heart and longer life. 

Although it’s inevitable that stress will return once you get back to “real life,” the health benefits of taking vacation are still considerable.  Europeans seem to have this figured out, as vacation time is codified into law.

So, take your PTO if you have it. Do it for both your work performance as well as your sanity. And if you’re not going to, give me some of those 429 million unused days, people, and I’ll find something to do with them.

People are always surprised when I tell them that I hate flying. HATE. Despise. Loathe. Detest. I travel all the time, so people tend to assume it doesn’t bother me. But I have really bad anxiety, and being stuck on an airplane, even for just a few hours, tends to exacerbate it. Turbulence scares the ever-loving shit out of me, and I can usually be found clutching the armrest, white-knuckled, praying for the smooth air to return. I’m not above popping a Valium and/or drinking a whiskey on the rocks  to settle my nerves on a long flight.

Obviously my first tip for surviving long flights is to be rich and fly first class. If that’s not possible, as is the case for me, I’ve figured out some decent ways to quell anxiety and make international flights slightly more comfortable.

Dress Comfortably. Sorry but I don’t believe in dressing “nice” for a long flight. Seriously, who wants to be smooshed into a plane with hundreds of other people wearing uncomfortable clothes? Yoga pants and Northface Fleece or bust. I also always bring a pashmina, since it’s easy to throw around your neck and can double as a blanket to accommodate the sub-zero temperatures on flights.

Drink.   As in, have a drink at the airport. I always have a pre-flight beer or glass of wine. It calms the nerves and makes dealing with the people who line up at the gate 20 minutes before boarding begins much more bearable. I typically also get a drink when the first beverage service comes around, as it takes the edge off. Pro-tip: it’s easier to get drunk on planes because of the slightly lower oxygen levels so be careful and don’t overdo it, or you’ll wake up hungover on the plane, which is the second worst place to wake up hungover (the NYC subway is number one).

Bring snacks. Do not make yourself hangry on top of being stuck in a tin can hurtling through the atmosphere. Also the last thing you want is your blood sugar crashing because you haven’t eaten enough. You can bring food through security so long as it isn’t liquid, so take advantage, since snacks at the airport and on the plane are offensively expensive. I typically bring almonds, dried fruit, beef jerky, and Lara Bars (bonus: I usually have stuff left over for the first couple days of my trip). Try to stick with healthy stuff that won’t upset your stomach. Make sure you’re eating an appropriate amount; sometimes I have to force myself because my anxiety diminishes my appetite, but you really don’t want low blood sugar on a flight.

Hydrate. And not just on the flight. The couple days leading up to your trip, drink extra water so you’re going in fully hydrated. If you bring your own water bottle (make sure it’s empty when you go through security), the flight attendants will fill it up for you no problem- it’s easier than having to constantly bring you water. I typically bring a large one and refill it once every 2 hours, because flights more than a few hours can leave you very dehydrated due to the pressurized air being pumped into the cabin. Dehydration can lead to headache, fatigue, and a general feeling of shittiness, so drink more than you think you should. That is actually why I always get aisle seats, even on long flights; I pee constantly due to chugging extra water.

Eye Mask, Ear Plugs and Neck Pillow.  I didn’t used to travel with these when I was younger, but now that I’m past that “I can sleep anywhere!” phase, I need dark and quiet if I’m going to snooze, and god help my neck if I don’t have a proper neck pillow. Most people will have their overhead light off on overnight flights, but there’s always that one asshole who stays up reading the latest James Patterson novel, so best to bring the mask just in case. The ear plugs might not be necessary if you’re someone who can sleep through noise, but I always travel with them anyway in case the hotel is noisy, so I use them if I’m not listening to music. As for the pillow, invest in a really good one, because it’s so worth it. Here’s a great list. 

Melatonin. I find this is the best sleep aid for me. It’s gentle, natural, and doesn’t leave me waking up wondering who and where I am (like the unfortunate Ambien episode of 2007). I definitely recommend giving it a shot, but Tylenol PM or any other sleep aid that works for you should do the trick.

Entertainment. Many long flights, especially international ones, have some sort of entertainment for each seat. If I can’t sleep, I watch a shit ton of TV or movies. But bring your own entertainment just in case; on two flights I’ve been on, my entertainment console didn’t work and it was a full flight, so there was nothing they could do. Luckily I had 2 seasons of The Good Wife downloaded and a bunch of old Star Trek: TNG episodes, so I was set. Plan ahead and download some TV shows, movies, or books, so you have some options. It’ll make the time go by way faster.

Move Around. The worst thing you can do on a long flight is stay seated the whole time. I usually grab aisle seats precisely so I can get up anytime I want. I’ve been known to do yoga in my seat, or head to the back of the plane to do standing yoga sequences; I’ve even led a mini yoga session for a few flight attendants. Here is a link for a great plane yoga sequence that I highly recommend the next time you’re on a flight more than a few hours. If you don’t want to do plane yoga, at least walk around every couple of hours. It’ll keep the blood flowing and reduce swelling, as well as your risk of developing a blood clot. I also regularly spell the alphabet with my feet, as mine tend to get sore and swollen on long flights.

Chapstick, Lotion and Socks. Dry lips and hands make me so uncomfortable, as do cold feet, so I always bring these items. The air on planes dries everything out, so next to belly-flopping into a vat of vaseline, this is the next best thing. You don’t want to deal with dry, cracked lips heading into your vacation. Also don’t put your bare feet on the airplane floor, who knows what’s been there. I typically bring a pair of thick socks with those little rubber dots on the bottom, so I can walk around in them. I also always bring an extra pair of socks just in case.

Meditate. Partly due to my anxiety and partly because it’s just a great thing to do, I keep several short meditation podcasts on my phone. Whenever I’m getting antsy or anxious, I listen to one.  Meditation Oasis on iTunes has some great free ones, ranging from 7 minute relaxation sequences to 20 minute sleep meditations. I promise it works. These have kept me from having full-fledged anxiety attacks on flights before.

And finally…..just think about all the cool stuff you’re about to do. Sometimes, no matter what, you just want to get off the damn plane. When that feeling hits, start mentally ticking off all the fun things you want to do on your trip and revel in the excitement of travel. That’s why you’re putting yourself through the hell of flying in the first place.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “ecotourism” thrown around before, or you may have heard it referred to as “sustainable travel.” These phrases are certainly catchy, but what do they really mean?

It can be hard to define ecotourism, but in general, ecotourism means a type of travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people. According to the International Ecotourism Society, ecotourism will:

• Minimize physical, social, behavioral, and psychological impacts.
• Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
• Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
• Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
• Generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry.
• Deliver memorable interpretative experiences to visitors that help raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental, and social climates.
• Design, construct and operate low-impact facilities.
• Recognize the rights and spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous People in your community and work in partnership with them to create empowerment.

That’s a tall order, no doubt, but in reality many travel experiences can easily promote most or all of these ideals.

In my research, however, I found that many companies promote their trips or tours as being “eco-friendly,” which may be true, but eco-friendly is not the same thing as ecotourism. Rafting down the Amazon is not ecotourism, unless doing so somehow benefits its conservation or local residents, or is focused on environmental awareness of the region.

The Pros of Ecotourism

Ecotourism, if done correctly and conscientiously, can do a lot for both the environment and local communities. It directs attention and money into conservation of important natural habitats that might otherwise be overlooked, or worse, overrun with big businesses looking to make a quick buck by exploitation of environments rich in resources or with the potential to generate high profits. It provides supplemental income to local populations as they get involved in ecotourism endeavors, and keeps that money local. And in the best of scenarios, interactions between visitors and local indigenous people can provide a better understanding of cultural ideas and differences.

The Cons of Ecotourism

Some environmentalists believe that certain parts of the world should be “No Visitor” zones, as tourism can and does upset the delicate ecosystems of the area (many environmentalists feel this way about tourism to Antarctica, which has seen a huge rise over the last several years). Ecotourism can, even when incredible care is taken, displace indigenous peoples from their land as those areas become preserved for ecotourism; this has been an issue in various African countries, as people are forced off their land as National Parks are created for the booming Safari industry.

The concerns about potential negative effects of ecotourism are legitimate, and there are mixed opinions about Ecotourism, understandably so. But personally I look at it this way: People are not going to stop traveling. It benefits everyone, and the environment, to promote a type of travel that protects the environment, minimizes our carbon footprints, benefits local communities, and promotes biodiversity.  But as a traveling community, we should carefully work together to make sure that the cons of ecotourism don’t overtake the pros, and be conscientious of whether our travels truly promote ecotourism ideals.