20/11/2023
Emma Davies Leigh Elliott-Davies read this story. Amazing š»
Why travel ?
My daughter Bellaās recent globetrotting experience emphasises every good aspect of world travel. Her first port of call was Mexico City and from there she travelled south to every parentās worst nightmare; Colombia, Peru and further afield to Loas and Indonesia.
She grew up in a small, isolated Pyrenean Mountain village surrounded by folk who never venture further than Toulouse a city 90-minute drive away. Her world was confined to mingling with folk who take pride in their heritage, who donāt have the need to discover more than the high mountains surrounding them, who are happy to play in the vast natural playground on their doorstep and whose palate extends no further than a rigid menu of French cuisine.
For someone who lives in the British or Australian suburbs her childhood will seem exotic. But perhaps thanks to her mumās incessant wanderlust she soon began to realise that there was more than being a sheep following the herd. So, by working 3 jobs (babysitting, pulling pints at the local and sitting behind a cash register in a health food store) she squirreled away the funds to escape. It takes a lot of guts to leave home. To buy a one-way ticket to a world utterly different to your own. A place where folk speak a language you are not familiar with, where folk donāt believe the stuff you do, where folk accept a totally different reality. To throw caution to the wind and obey your inner nomad. But she did and of course she thrived.
Call it beginnersā luck but it took her no time to adjust. She loved Mexican food, the vibrant edginess of this colourful city, the laidback approach of the people, the exotic adventure beyond the city boundary, a landscape straight out of a Western, travelling by thumb and the opportunity to be free. She loved having only herself to answer to and to set her own rhythm and beat. She loved being in a place where literally everything was unfamiliar, new, and fresh.
Of course, her friends from her village would have seen Mexico through a different lens. Perhaps travelling the world is not for everyone. Perhaps, the unexpected plain weirdness of peopleās lives, the food they eat, what they belief in and the way they dress, let alone the magnitude and unfathomability of the landscapes they call home, are for some best kept at arms lengths and best observed through a flickering screen. A screen you can switch off when it all becomes too much. Perhaps there is a lot to be said for routine and familiarity. For plodding rather than dancing through live.
Itās a shame that today, despite the all connecting internet and the ready availability of budget airfares, Bellaās world has become much more unglued than the one i knew growing up in the 90ās. Progress has exaggerated rather than shrunk the differences between us. The media extols the virtues of our safe, healthy, and comfortable lives, whilst blaring loudly about how foreign places have the most dangerous polluted and crowded cities on the planet.
Abroad to many has become, strange and shocking. Hysteria has replaced mystery. Constant news updates, sensational live reportage, outrageous documentaries, and movies based on ātrue eventsā constantly reinforce the notion that, perhaps were better of sticking to the comforting routines of our daily lives, continue to indulge in our cozy, predictable luxury and visit the same old places over and over again. To plod rather than dance through life.
I am glad that kids like Bella can see through this thin veneer of complacency and shameful contempt for āover thereā. That the horizon intrigues her just as much as me. That her expectations of what she would find once she arrived was not distorted by the background noise. That she arrived there with a clean slateā¦
When she returned, I asked her which had been her favourite place. āColombia Dad!ā she responded enthuasiastically. When I asked why she listed a huge number of exotic, beautiful, strange, unexpected, and unique experiences which were totally unlike any she could have had in Europe. I was astonished at how her face lit up when recalling her stories, how intensely vivid these memories were to her, how much they meant, the impact they obviously had, how they had changed her.
She will most likely never meet the vast diversity of people she met on her travels ever again but they and the places they call home will live inside her forever. Bella now knows of many parallel lives traveling alongside hers. That somewhere over that horizon thereās another young person her age, living in South America, Africa or Asia who also hopes for something better, envisions a brighter future. Bella now understands that what connects us is far more precious than what separates us. Only real experience can truly teach us this lesson.
