Purchasing my tickets to the Forbidden City in Beijing, I received a number of slips of paper along with my change. I presented what I assumed was my one and only entrance ticket at the Gate of Heaven and proceeded in. This enormous courtyard was followed by another enormous courtyard and I was already hot as pulled out my wade of slips and offered them up the to second gate attendant. He had meticulously examined the tickets of other visitors and I was certain that things needed to be in order. I had no idea what slip of paper he needed from me so I offered up them all — now limp with moisture from Beijing’s May heat. He did not search for the ticket; he merely waved me in and my visit to the Forbidden City continued. I felt a bit foolish as well as unprepared. But also felt grateful for my treatment, chuckled at my incompetence, and felt both relief and awe at my surroundings. Maybe I would indeed learn to travel brilliantly.
A few years after my visit to China, I decided to become a nomad. I had relatively little world travel experience up until that time. Europe three times, Thailand twice, five weeks of backpacking in Mexico by myself as a much younger man. Did I have what it would take to travel full-time? I had a sense that I was well suited for nomadic travel, but was that anything more than simple self-regard? What could I do to become a better traveler, a good traveler? What could I do to be a bit better organized?
The Practical & The Philosophical
Tripit.com. I rely on this app and happily pay for the Pro version. With it, all my travel itineraries are in one place.
Japan’s culture is ancient and modern at the same time. Kabuki Theater was a surprising delight. Learn more here.
For more on Japan, click here.
Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. It reminded me of the California Coast — facing another California coast. There isn’t a place I like better. See why here.
Notre Dame Cathedral is both universal and particular, a gift to humanity and the patrimony of the French and so universal. Learn more here.
It Takes A Village To Determine The Origins Of An African Proverb
“Skål!” Swedes & Alcohol.
Swedes drink a lot of coffee — and a lot of alcohol. Perhaps it is all to keep warm. See what the Spirit Museum has to say
As my travels have become longer, more frequent, and more personally rewarding. I have thought about why I got so much out of my visit to China. I wondered if there was something equivalent to emotional intelligence involved in handling the challenges and opportunities of nomadic travel. Like emotional intelligence, could we have travel intelligence? And would it comprise different aptitudes and competencies that anyone can develop like emotional intelligence?
Over nearly 400,000 miles (I use Tripit Pro to keep track for me), I’ve identified five different habits of mind or senses that I think constitute what I am calling travel intelligence.
- A sense of imagination.
- A sense of history.
- A sense of humanity.
- A sense of humility.
- A sense of humor.
A sense of imagination.
When I first saw the Seto Inland Sea of Japan or the towering Arenal volcano in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, I wondered what would my life have been like if I saw such sights on my way to school? When I first entered the grounds of the Taj Mahal, I thought of all the of loves of my life and marveled at the love that could create the most beautiful building I had ever seen with tears rolling down my cheeks.
It thrills me to imagine myself as the same exact human being but with everything around me different. Day after day in Japan I had the chance to explore the parts of me that increasingly felt Japanese. It was an act of the imagination but also one that made me feel closer to the people around me and to regard the Japanese as one of the most remarkable people on earth. I even loved Kabuki!
A sense of history. I heard the news of the 2019 fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Yellowstone National Park, in the shadow of the Old Faithful Inn. A friend showed me video of the Cathedral’s burning roof. I remembered seeing flames of the great Fires of 1988 in Yellowstone, as then, I was shaken by the sight. I realized that how a part of the church’s history had become my own.
Every time you take a step in a new place you are trudging a path to the past. Countless people came before me and made Notre Dame a sacred place. They did it through their blood, sweat, tears, laughter, passion, and imagination. None of them did it for me; they did it for themselves, their loved ones, their own interests and agendas. Yet their legacy was a gift to me. Traveling with a sense of history helps makes me appreciative. I love asking the question, “How did this place come to be?” whether I am visiting a medieval cathedral or a national park.
A sense of humanity.
I am monolingual. Sometimes I get frustrated when I’m in a situation where my inability to communicate in the native language makes me feel like a child who can either be ignored or cuddled. These moments make me feel that I am losing my agency. When I feel myself becoming confused, uncertain, or frustrated about my ability to make myself heard, I try to remember the common humanity we share.
I’ll never forget the humanity shown to me by the Salas family who run Xilopalo Arenal. When I first arrived the president of Costa Rica had just announced a country-wide lock down starting in 48 hours. Only one family member was fluent in English but I had a lot of questions to ask.
I was not sure what to do but I stayed for the next 51 days, nearly all of as the only guest. Jose and his father Norman invited me to stay longer, telling me that they would never ask me to leave. “You are familia. This is from the heart, Edward.” I arrived as a stranger but left as a member of the family, the human family.
A sense of humility.
A sense of humility will come with your sense of humanity. When I travel, I marvel at the kindness that I have been shown. I am treated better than I have a right to expect as the Salas family demonstrated in unforgettable ways. Nonetheless, sometimes the fatigue or stress of foreign travel makes me feel that I am entitled to information, clarity, and communication in the English language. I am not. I must be humble. Tampering my expectations with a big dose of humility is key.
This is especially so when you will feel that someone is not giving you your due. Stockholm’s bars have gotten lots of attention lately for never having closed for COVID. My experience in one of them was a lesson in humility. As I stood at the open-air bar surrounded by beautiful Swedes, one customer after another was served before you. I got angry because I felt entitled to better service. Just as I started to complain, a couple next to me told me that I was not standing in the right place, I hadn’t queued properly. I was humbled. Travel will humble you. I am not a humble person but I have learned to embrace these moments.
I embrace the humbling and other moments with humor.
A sense of humor not only makes travel more joyful; it makes all of life a bit easier. I think that a sense of humor might be the product of the other senses. At other times, I think that a sense of humor might be the gateway for the other four. Humor has kept me sane away from home and brought a smile on the faces of many I have met along the way. I have done remarkably stupid things abroad. I have left a brand-new computer on an airplane; I have spoken in terrible Spanish when I meant to mouth a memorized French phrase. (This happened at a café in Paris. The server was rightfully confused. I switched to my French but did little better to communicate. Finally, she said, “My dear, don’t you speak English?”.
There is an African saying, “If you want to go fast, travel alone. If you want to go far, travel together.” I would add that if you want to go far, travel with a sense of humor.
By developing these five senses of travel, you can not only become an intelligent traveler. You can become a brilliant traveler. I don’t mean brilliant in terms of intelligence. I use brilliant in the sense used by jewelers. A brilliant is a gem. A gem is a precious stone cut to reveal both the beauty inside as well as to refract the light around it. Travel takes the rough gem that is each of us in our everyday, location-bound lives and fashions us into something brilliant. Brilliant travel is journeying with imagination, humility, and humor. It is carrying a sense of history and common humanity to distant places. These give sense reveal your internal beauty and enable you catch, bend, and amplify the sights, lights, sounds, tastes, and smells around you.