What is the allure of traveling overseas?
It requires preparation and endless lists. Alert the bank and credit card companies; find someone to care for pets; arrange for immunizations if needed; get an international phone plan … not to mention searching for the best airfare and hotel deals. And then there’s packing.
You could easily stay at home and take journeys through books and films. Yet many of us want to discover for ourselves not just new vistas but the people in a different country, their traditions and day-to-day interactions.
On a recent trip along the Dalmatian coast in Croatia, I experienced “fjaka,” a timeless state of blissful relaxation. I tried new seafood like cuttlefish served in its black ink with chickpeas. I met Croatians who freely spoke of their struggles for independence and saw some of the remaining destruction.
Traveling overseas you also experience the influence – for better or worse – of the U.S. A waiter told me he wanted to move to Texas because that’s where George Bush lives. Someone else noted that the crime in a certain neighborhood we were driving through was not, of course, as bad as in the U.S. And while I heard some traditional folk music and local rap, mostly I heard American music. A restaurant I visited had Johnny Cash on a loop!
Diving into a different part of the world I get a break from my norm plus new insights and ideas to bring home … and perhaps a more realistic sense of my place in it all.
I’m Paula Garrett, and that’s my perspective.
