Three Aussies, two Germans and I sat at the roof-top bar discussing the differences of nationality.
Specifically, the nuances of language.
Aussies have their own language, sort of like our English. They abbreviate everything. Not really a bad idea, but when you’re already challenged to wade through the accent, then figure out the code, the brain gets a quick workout.) “Where’s your sunny’s?” asked the girl. From the context, I knew she meant sunglasses.
Germans, on the other hand are very precise about everything. And accent? They actually have so many little internal dialects, they have names for them all.
And so, I learned a few more words—Aussie and German words, together with bits of Spanish I’m picking up on this trip. I might even be able to understand the Aussie lingo next time I ski at one of BC’s interior mountain resorts (where most of the staff is Aussie). Oh, yes, that’s Aussie for “Australian.”
That’s what I love about travel. You get to know and appreciate people from all over the world, learn their lingo, get into their culture. I’ve made friends from those two and many other countries over the last few years with the trips I’ve done.
It’s changed me—for the better, I might add. Travel opens the mind, helps us appreciate one another, expands our horizons.
I subscribe to a travel blog by “Nomadic Matt.” Some years ago he decided just to start travelling and enjoying the world. Now he writes, speaks, holds seminars and webinars, etc.—and, of course, keeps travelling.
At a personal development workshop about how travel improves your life, an attendee asked him “Would pre-travel Matt recognize post-travel Matt?”
After thinking about it, he decided that travel had completely changed him, and concluded “travel pushes me to be a better version of myself. I think pre-travel Matt would be happy with what he’s become!”
That about sums up my feelings, too. But I’ve still got a lot more to “become,” I think. Most of the people I encounter on these trips have travelled way more than me. And I like most of them, and can learn a ton from them—even beyond the nuances of language.
So, I’ll keep travelling, especially when I can do it for almost free,” like this.
Hey, I’d better grab my sunnys and get back out there before this boat leaves Caye Caulker for the last time . . .
