SeanFromCanada's Blog

I think the reason I like traveling, is the unfamiliar. While it’s not always easy, it’s so enlightening to be in unfamiliar places. It’s me, all cool and collected, but not really…I don’t know what to do. I observe myself when I don’t know what everyone else is doing. How do I really enter a restaurant, when social norms aren’t there to guide me? What do I want to wear to the place where I have no idea what everyone else will be wearing? Important questions, when observing one’s self…

I feel vulnerable and stupid when I flounder to order my drink from someone who doesn’t speak English. I don’t know if I should interrupt the conversation the service person is having on the phone in a foreign language, while I stand there for 7 minutes, holding my clasped hands in patience…it’s interesting to be an outsider when my ‘cool’ is centered on the inside.

Travel is by definition, going outside of your familiar. Vacations are restful, travel is experiential. While I love vacations, I know at heart I’m a traveler. I place value in seeing that which I’ve not seen before…and when it’s me, at the bar ‘out of place’, I know I’ll do fine…but it’s fascinating to find myself unsure…and in unfamiliar territory.