thoughts, words, deeds

on the road again

Do you think travel is stressful, and what would you do if you found yourself alone in a foreign country where you don’t know the language and you don’t even know if there’s an embassy of your country?

Travel is something that I enjoy and plan for. Yes, it’s stressful, but I try to minimize the stress with careful planning so that I can get where I need to go. I’ve mostly traveled inside the states—to and from school. I’ve taken plane, train, bus, automobile—depending on the year and what I was planning to do when I got there. Mostly I traveled solo, except in the case of car trips. Then I was mostly a passenger.

I’ve never been in a foreign country where I didn’t know the language. I’ve traveled a lot in the US, but only a bit outside—once to Canada for a road trip, and once to England where I spent eighteen months. I don’t know what I’d do traveling outside those restrictions. I think I would still do all right. Body language and tone are as important for understanding as speech. I also would study up as much as possible. Read guidebooks and trying to learn the language as much as I could. Humility and courtesy go a long way.