Saint anthony
It’s morning in Melbourne and I’m about to wander the city on my final day in Australia. Do I have a plan? No. Why? Because I try to walk in the footsteps of Saint Anthony.
Saint Anthony said this:
"I'm a big believer in winging it. I'm a big believer that you're never going to find the perfect city travel experience or the perfect meal without a constant willingness to experience a bad one. Letting the happy accident happen is what a lot of vacation itineraries miss, I think, and I'm always trying to push people to allow those things to happen rather than stick to some rigid itinerary."
Oh I don’t mean St. Anthony of Padua, a 13th century Portuguese Franciscan friar, the patron saint of lost items, the poor, and travelers. I mean celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian, Anthony Bourdain. Tony Bourdain is not a real saint, of course, but he is regarded as such for a certain kind of traveler, myself included. Tony demonstrated many of the values I aspire to live up to in my travels: curiosity, open mindedness, respect, and—this is a doozy for a lot of type A folks like myself, surrender.
Folks these days don’t even have to buy a Lonely Planet. For the cost of a few glugs of water, AI will effortlessly make you an itinerary. And I’m not above seeing what ChatGPT has to say. I will often visit the tourist hot spots. It’s impossible to resist seeing the iconic Sydney Opera House if you’re in the neighborhood. But I find simply visiting the heavy hitters of tourism leaves me feeling a bit empty.
Tony Bourdain agreed. He said, “Nothing unexpected or wonderful is likely to happen if you have an itinerary in Paris filled with the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower." It can be nice to check these places off your bucket list but the satisfaction often ends there. Places like this are often overrun with crowds, there are long lines, and jet lagged people short on patience. It can feel like a commodity for consumption or a constructed fantasy like Disneyland. And don’t get me wrong, Disneyland and the Eiffel Tower are magical, even amidst the crowds. That being said, it's a very different experience than visiting somewhere less corrupted by tourism where interacting with locals and getting a sense of the culture is more accessible. I aim to allow myself a mix of both and follow these principles for the best experience:
Connect with yourself
I ask myself before and continuously throughout the trip what I am curious about, what sparks excitement, and what my heart/mind/body wants. There is nothing more glorious than having nothing on the agenda other than following the thread of your interest. Travel is always ideally a pilgrimage back to yourself. Surrender to your desire.
"Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.”—Anthony Bourdain
Get outside your comfort zone
I love to travel but I hate transit. Maybe business class helps but planes, trains, buses etcetera are often rough on the body and spirit. And if there’s one thing you can count on it’s that your trip will at some point go off the rails. Luckily for you, this is where the magic happens.
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always icomfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”—Anthony Bourdain
Have integrity
While tourism brings an influx of cash, the crowds aren't necessarily good for the local people and more-than-human animals. Whether it's the carbon cost of air travel, Airbnbs skyrocketing the cost of rent, or environmental impacts, the decision to travel is ethically ambiguous at best. So what do I do to try to ameliorate the harm l am causing?
I attempt to practice curiosity and cultural humility, wherein I learn about other cultures while examining my own beliefs and cultural identities. It's often only through the contrast of another culture that we can see our own culturally ingrained beliefs, assumptions and attitudes.
I am respectful and adapt to the local culture, honoring their mores and traditions. I research the destination before I leave, learn the words for please and thank you first, wear appropriate clothes, and follow the rules (even though usually I don't find doing so very fun
And finally I just try not to be a dick. I'm a guest in someone else's home and I try to be conscientious and kind. I don't litter, l always ask people for permission to take their photos, and I try to be aware of and rectify any power imbalances that may arise as the result of global wealth disparity.
"It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn.
Maybe that's enlightenment enough-to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.”—Anthony Bourdain