I was excited to chat with a friend recently after her trip to India and hear about all her adventures, but then was taken aback when her first reaction was, “I loved it, but it really is very dirty isn’t it?” As I bit my lip and pondered a tactful response, she continued to dig deeper, saying “I mean there’s no excuse for all that litter in this day and age, surely?”. I took a breath and replied that there surely are excuses, and in fact many good political and social reasons for it. But, given that we were at a social gathering, I decided there was a time and a place to discuss judginess while enjoying the privileges of global travel.
However, if truth be told, most travellers may not have to scratch too deep to find examples of when they’ve carried some excess western bias in their backpack. Even signed up members of the responsible tourism movement can be judgy on their journeys, sometimes without realising. It’s easily done, but it’s also easy to flick a switch and change your mindset when travelling. The easiest trick is to remember that you’re in someone else’s home and that this home most likely has a very different history, politics, social norms and priorities to those of your lived experience.
Globalisation and greedy travel
There’s a lot of talk at the moment about whether globalisation is a thing of the past. And as globalisation is intrinsically linked to the growth of tourism, let’s hope that our need for things to be ‘just as they are at home’ will also be a thing of the past. Globalisation certainly changed the way in which we travelled. From junk food to fashion, tech to TV shows, the world has become more and more homogenous. Globalisation brought the likes of McDonald’s to Lahore in Pakistan, or Zara to Marrakech in Morocco. It brought multinational hotels to just about everywhere, with the same global furnishings, comforts and enclosures. This meant that westerners were catered for in ways that they weren’t before, and expectations soared, influencers swooped in and places raced to accommodate them.
This isn’t global travel, however, it’s greedy travel. It isn’t eye-opening culturally, it’s blinkered and blasé about the impact we could be having on local people and places. Which is why we seek to take you off the beaten track and into places where you may have to adjust your expectations. There may indeed be litter, no air conditioning or ice machines, poverty may be tangible and painful to witness, and yes, suck it up, shops sometimes close for religious holidays.
Look beyond the litter
For those of us who have grown up with western lifestyles and privileged access to modern services, there is no doubt that it can take time to acclimatise. Or to simply take a breath and expand your way of thinking about things. On a recent holiday in Albania, my local guide apologised in advance of a day’s walking trail because there were spots where litter was prevalent. Flytipping is the norm in Albania, mostly because the waste collection is lacking and recycling is almost non-existent. But, as my guide explained, when you look back through years of communism, corruption and lack of collections, it’s a messy subject. And, on many levels, they’re still trying to clear things up.
I came across the same problem on a remote Irish island off the west coast a while back, where it costs money for islanders to remove their rubbish, and so it’s easier (and the local tradition among older generations) for them to go burn it up in the boglands. And there hasn’t been communism there, but there have been other problems. So let’s not judge, let’s just try and learn why these things are still happening.
West isn’t always best
As westerners, it’s important to remember that our cultural and societal values aren’t shared around the world, even when we believe they are the best and only way to behave. Whether it’s people dropping litter, a lack of recycling facilities, keeping their children up late, smoking in public, stripping off in the sauna, or not bowing and curtseying to you because you’re a tourist. We travel in search of something new, and sometimes the reality is that ‘new’ doesn’t come as perfectly packaged as you might have imagined. When you start to think of it as a ‘pass the parcel’ instead, the joy of global travel unfolds. Just take your time to unwrap the layers, and you’ll find a surprise gift of kindness or learning tucked in there somewhere. These gifts just aren’t always visible, however, when you travel with an ethnocentric approach that isn’t prepared to shift.
“The globalisation of indifference is a very ugly disease.” Pope Francis, May 2024.
Walking is weird
For people who have grown up living in the mountains where they walked to work, get food, sell their produce or go to worship, walkers can still be seen as a little bit weird. It’s worth remembering, therefore, that these weren’t always walking trails, just paths that evolved over the years to give access to mules, monks, cattle or carriages. We western walkers have now benefited from these in many parts of the world but in some areas, they’re still adjusting to our chosen usage of them.
We recently had the honour of supporting top UK travel journalist, Duncan Craig, who took on two of our hiking holidays in Greece and wrote about them in National Geographic Traveller. In one of these articles, about the Zagori region, he opens the feature with the line, “Greeks don’t hike. You’ll hear this everywhere you go in Greece — usually from the locals themselves. They can’t see the point, apparently; uses up too much beach time.” So, while we enjoy the privilege of leisure time on walking trails, and you get frustrated with the local people or state of the landscape, bear in mind that this notion of walking for fun is still relatively new to many of them. The culture shock goes both ways.
The Sheep’s Head Way in Ireland, for example, only opened in 1996, after years of tireless community efforts to persuade all landowners and farmers to come on board and give us weird walkers access to their land. It’s been a huge success, and a mammoth trail too, but it’s all taken time.
The C-word cannot be ignored on your travels
The word I’m referring to is colonialism. I was travelling in Donegal in Ireland, recently, in the Gaeltacht region, one of several in Ireland where the predominant language is Irish. I rented a car in Northern Ireland to get there, and was given a Mini Cooper. When I noticed that the British flag was part of the integrated design on the rear lights, I trusted my instinct and asked for another car. The guy at the desk asked me why, and I explained that going to the Irish Gaeltacht with a UK flag was a bit insensitive, and he looked at me blankly, given that I was hiring it in British-run Northern Ireland.
I grew up in Northern Ireland, however, and I know for a fact that UK flags are strong symbols of colonisation and political statements that can upset people. So I erred on the side of caution, and respected that they may cause offence. And, when you meet the wonderful people of Donegal, trust me, you would never want to offend them, given that they are so innately welcoming. In short, to judge people in India or Pakistan for poverty or not keeping their country tidy, Vietnam for hassling street vendors, in Morocco or Cape Verde for infrastructure issues, it’s worth remembering that colonisation had its repercussions over a long period of time. And one shouldn’t always judge a book by its cover.
There is no doubt that travel is a force for good, and we can all contribute to positive change on our travels, whether it’s through conscious consumption, responsible communication or by simply reading up on issues before we go. It’s worth remembering the Celtic proverb, “The way you think it may not be the way it is after all“, which reflects a common Celtic theme of understanding the complexities of life and the importance of perspective. We may be psyched to go on a slow travel adventure, but that may mean nothing to local people. What they will understand, however, is humility, patience and generosity, as those traits are definitely welcomed globally.
