Never-Ending Story
Reach the Stars. Fly a fantasy. Dream a dream. And what you see will be. — Never Ending Story ~Lahmil
When you are little, what is the one thing adults tell us to do? “Reach for the stars,” they say. The idiom means to keep reaching higher and conquer the difficult things in life to achieve your goals. To me, it means something a bit different: Travelling. To experience change is the most valuable thing in life. Being a third-culture-kid, change is something I have now wholeheartedly embraced. It is something one has to embrace to fully immerse themselves in the wonders of this world; the challenges and beauties alike. I never really understood this until my family bought a house in Basel, Switzerland and I realized we were there to stay.
Having grown up in Europe, I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to many cultures and traditions through traveling to many places. I have further been able to enhance my appreciation for change and diversity by having lived in the landlocked country of Switzerland. I have been exposed to perspectives that I do not necessarily agree with and have talked to people everywhere about everything from Politics in Russia to Sushi making in Japan.
Standing in awe in front of the natural wonders of the world has taught me a lot about perspective. Multiple dents or scratches can tell different stories, and different people can tell different sides to history. Historical artifacts can tell the stories of ancient civilizations and they help us to understand the present by investigating the past. Learning about the past can shine a light on the problems of today’s society and teach lessons of change and give advice on what to do to ensure history does not repeat itself.
However, this has impacted the way travel is perceived and new cultures and traditions are absorbed. Travel has changed drastically due to technological advancements. In 2007, the Apple iPhone and IPod’s were released, giving people never before seen features such as touch screen, and the ability to take photographs and videos with the click of a button and store them on the device in your pocket. To me, it was normal in places like Stone Henge and the Taj Mahal, to take a few pictures, maybe even a family photo, and then listen to a local guide tell the history and culture. However, recently, I’ve noticed the number of people coming to natural wonders and historical monuments just to take thousands of photos, and not fully immerse themselves in the historical and cultural significance of the spot. I have noticed the evolution of travel turn into a fad or trend: posting stunning photos of the world’s coolest places on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook under the hashtag “travel”, to get likes, followers, and relish comments from strangers. Welcome to the age of social media traveling.
This aspect takes away the experience of taking a journey through time to understand the beauty and adventure of some of the best sites and cultures the world has to offer. People often experience places through their cellphone lense instead of appreciating the beauty with their own senses. Furthermore, it is (a) contributing to environmental degradation through litter and overcrowding, and (b) eroding the sense of human connection and emotions that result from immersion in an unfamiliar location.
When I travel, I love to establish genuine connections to the local traditions, people, politics, cultures, traditions and learn to appreciate and relish in unfamiliar experiences. A perfect example of this is when my family and I traveled to Japan. There, we fully immersed ourselves in Japanese culture through visiting historical sites, enjoying the outside nature and scenic views, and even participating in a sushi-making class. Perhaps my favorite part was meeting our tour guide in Kyoto. She was a lovely local who I spent the majority of the tour talking to and intently eagerly listening to as she took us around the streets of Kyoto. What I loved most about the tour, was that she taught me some Japanese phrases, including how to count to 10, something I still (mostly) remember today.
Experiences like Japan have made me appreciative of travel even more because of the personal relationships and attachments I make to certain places. Travelling makes me feel distanced from the constant familiar rhythm of everyday life. Having lived in England for the last few months at University, I have realized that using my phone constantly robs one of the real-life interactions. I have additionally stopped wearing headphones, as it blocks out the cacophony of the different languages and accents around me.
One cannot truly reach the stars by following and acting upon a social media post. It comes from within — through experiences and challenges that a phone cannot offer. Change and development are some of my favorite parts of traveling because I come back more appreciative and culturally diverse. I come back with the true story of a place, which helps me to understand truly what the people think rather than what is in the news and media.
An example is when my family and I went to Russia in the summer of 2018 after the World Cup. I remember being super excited as I had learned all about the history of Russia from WWI and could not wait to see the place I had learned so much about. I had been learning about Russian politics by watching the news and reading articles and got the sense that there was tension between the people and Vladimir Putin’s government. However, after talking to our local tour guide, I was surprised to discover that the locals at the time, generally had varied opinions about him, both positive and negative, which the media did not highlight.
I believe travel to be experiences and not expectations. The experience of travel is individual and the true beauty cannot be encompassed in a single social media post. Reaching for the stars encompasses the journey — the highs and lows excluded in social media posts, such as uncomfortable situations — delayed flights, sudden weather changes, extremely long immigration lines. Sometimes, the worst circumstances can lead to the best experiences.
The best experiences I have had in travel are the ones that cannot be captured with a camera. The ones where I get to interact with the local people and eat amazing local food. For me, the experience of traveling and further opening my mind cannot be photographed.
For example, traveling to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland when I was 10 will always stick with me. As we were walking around the camp, I realized I was witnessing the remains of one of the darkest times in history. That real people had experienced these things and that the hair and belongings exhibited (such as the shoes and clothes) belonged to real people.
Social media will always be there. Experiences and memories from travel will not and will fly past like a shooting star if not caught.