By Paulo Coelho
I realised very early on that, for me, travelling was the best way of learning. I still have a pilgrim soul, and I thought that I would use this column to pass on some of the lessons I have learned, in the hope that they might prove useful to other pilgrims like me.
1. Avoid museums. This might seem to be absurd advice, but let’s just think about it a little: if you are in a foreign city, isn’t it far more interesting to go in search of the present than of the past? It’s just that people feel obliged to go to museums because they learned as children that travelling was about seeking out that kind of culture. Obviously museums are important, but they require time and objectivity - you need to know what you want to see there, otherwise you will leave with a sense of having seen a few really fundamental things, except that you can’t remember what they were.
2. Hang out in bars. Bars are the places where life in the city reveals itself, not in museums. By bars I don’t mean nightclubs, but the places where ordinary people go, have a drink, ponder the weather, and are always ready for a chat. Buy a newspaper and enjoy the ebb and flow of people. If someone strikes up a conversation, however silly, join in: you cannot judge the beauty of a particular path just by looking at the gate.
3. Be open. The best tour guide is someone who lives in the place, knows everything about it, is proud of his or her city, but does not work for any agency. Go out into the street, choose the person you want to talk to, and ask them something (Where is the cathedral? Where is the post office?). If nothing comes of it, try someone else - I guarantee that at the end of the day you will have found yourself an excellent companion.
4. Try to travel alone or - if you are married - with your spouse. It will be harder work, no one will be there taking care of you, but only in this way can you truly leave your own country behind. Traveling with a group is a way of being in a foreign country while speaking your mother tongue, doing whatever the leader of the flock tells you to do, and taking more interest in group gossip than in the place you are visiting.
5. Don’t compare. Don’t compare anything - prices, standards of hygiene, quality of life, means of transport, nothing! You are not traveling in order to prove that you have a better life than other people - your aim is to find out how other people live, what they can teach you, how they deal with reality and with the extraordinary.
6. Understand that everyone understands you. Even if you don’t speak the language, don’t be afraid: I’ve been in lots of places where I could not communicate with words at all, and I always found support, guidance, useful advice, and even girlfriends. Some people think that if they travel alone, they will set off down the street and be lost for ever. Just make sure you have the hotel card in your pocket and - if the worst comes to the worst - flag down a taxi and show the card to the driver.
7. Don’t buy too much. Spend your money on things you won’t need to carry: tickets to a good play, restaurants, trips. Nowadays, with the global economy and the Internet, you can buy anything you want without having to pay excess baggage.
8. Don’t try to see the world in a month. It is far better to stay in a city for four or five days than to visit five cities in a week. A city is like a capricious woman: she takes time to be seduced and to reveal herself completely.
9. A journey is an adventure. Henry Miller used to say that it is far more important to discover a church that no one else has ever heard of than to go to Rome and feel obliged to visit the Sistine Chapel with two hundred thousand other tourists bellowing in your ear. By all means go to the Sistine Chapel, but wander the streets too, explore alleyways, experience the freedom of looking for something - quite what you don’t know - but which, if you find it, will - you can be sure - change your life.
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….remember “La Joconde”
I dont go to Museum don’t know enough about it.
I like to talk with my hands and feet
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Very well said, thank you for that! I myself never could have said it this way but these are the reasons for the way I travel I travel. I was so free and translated it into german on my little site. It is slightly different - after the version written down in “Like the flowing river”
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2. That’s true. Magic meetings live there.
I remember one day on the pavement with a friend I told I wish to eat a couscous.
He did not know, but I sallowed only bread and water for one week; in the situation I was.
I knew that friend not for so long, but I didn’t ask to him. I said it. My belly was really empty. :)
Then, maybe 3 minutes after. I entered into a bar, and the waitress came to my friend, and I. She said in a smile: “Do you want to eat couscous, the boss offers!”
I explained her I made the wish, and that it was a Grace.
Now I don’t want to eat meat anymore, but that time was a rejoice for all.
Thanks
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Viagens!!!! Travel!!! my favourite thing!!!
I have to write in portuguese sorry :)
Quase sempre viajei assim!!! Mas nestes tópicos o que me fez sorrir ao ler foi o 6!!
Vou contar porquê:
Estava eu a apanhar o ferry de Atenas para Mikonos e tive que ir ao wc, entrei e encontrei um senhor que cobrava para a utilização do WC.
Tentei falar com ele em inglês e ele sempre a falar em grego, ás tantas fartei-me e comecei a falar em português (entretanto entra um Inglês que viu o decorrer da conversa), foi o suficiente para nos entendermos!!! Ainda me virei para trás a pedir papel ao que ele me atira o rolo!!!! quando olhei para o inglês estava desmanchado em riso sem perceber como nos tinhamos entendido! :)
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You know I was thinking how when you travel you tend to take more of an interest in the people around you and wondered why I don’t do that at home so much but then I remembered a couple of weeks back.
I held a stall at a Trash n’ Treasure market and sold little but enjoyed myself immensely because I just find people so funny, interesting to watch and heartwarming. One quite elderly gentleman was seriously considering one of the bargain rings I had on offer and told me in earnest how he was planning to propose to his lady love. He asked me how much the ring was and then proceeded to look at the few coins he had in his hand which came to the exact amount. His face brightened as he felt this was a good omen!
Another customer was after a particular book, I watched him wander off, do the rounds of the market and return to my table asking me the exact same question. He repeated this process about 3-4 times.
Kathleen xx
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Excellent advice.
Even though I like to be able to see the famous places of history I think what makes most of an impression when you travel are the people. The way they live their life, the foods they eat, the music they listen to, their warmth and hospitality and also their interest in you.
Variety really is the spice of life.
Kathleen xx
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I have learned some tips from travelling my self while in Figi and New Guinea .
1- People often see things totally different ,in a foreign place .But they need to at least see it first in order to then remember if they will visit it again.
2Hang out in Bars- couldn’t agree with you more,as silly as it is to join in ,you could though misinterpret the wrong information because you are not in with the language ,and they could have been talking about all sorts of things before you joined in. conversations can lead u the garden path sometimes..
3 Be open -ask for directions WHY! or Why Not ?? its good to ask with passion ask with heart , if u dont ask u are left in the dark…
4-Every one knows leos are leaders..lol but group gossip is best left between friends as some conversations are like stories and are made up….by the story teller ..
5 The thought that you think,you think ,which attracts to it;so you think it some more,which attracts to it;so you think some more.In other words when you have an expectation,you;ve got a dominant thought going on,and the law of attraction is going to deliver that to you,again and again and again.And you say “THE reason that I believe this,is because it is true”.And we say the reason that you believe it,is because you’ve practiced the thought.All that a belief is a thought that you keep practicing. -Abraham-hicks
6- Understand what you think you know ,isnt always what it seems.
7-Fully agree. baggage is a drag, but some love to shop !!
8-If we all where u then we could just take off,but some have important commitments and responsibility , men are from mars and woman are from venus ..
9-I do not go on any journey to seek,I go for inspiration because I firmly feel that if something is to be found it will find me. .
Blessings Tania .
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Thank you Paulo !!!!!!!!!!!!!
i thought i was crazy but now i know am not the only one jajajaja.
POINT # 1 AVOID MUSEUMS ! Of course theres a lot to see and learn in them but please, Dont visit museums! I like to travel, I love it, but no, POINT # 4, i dont travel by myself, sooo, the first thing everyone thinks about when going somewhere is… “Lets Visit a museum” :( I find it so unatractive when theres nothing i need 2 know.
But well, am happy because am not the only one who thinks that way. :D jaja
Thank you Paulo :D ill try to follow your advice. Sometime soon ill travel by myself jajaja.
“A city is like a capricious woman: she takes time to be seduced and to reveal herself completely.”
Blessings.
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thanks for the precious info…i did travel once on my own…eventhough i’ve been to the same country with my sister, strangely, i enjoyed more being on my own…it gave me a feeling of self-control…and yes, i saw the city differently !!! i was more open to people…their attitudes and so to the culture… XXXXX
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So true!
Travel with your soul, see with your heart,
feel the rhythm of the place you in, the heartbeat.
That’s why I almost never go with the group, especially if I want to see something I haven’t seen before.
You just cannot concentrate on where you are, discover things, enjoy the moments.
You cannot pay attention to every detail passing by.
The problem is, if you different, you don’t want to travel in the group, your friends think you are strange, weird, you can become the outsider.
Sometimes it’s hard to balance it all.
love
Agnieszka
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Estoy de acuerdo con todo excepto con lo de los museos y la capilla Sistina.
Tomo nota de todo.
Un beso.
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