How we see the world

To be literal, we see the world together as well as with friends and family. While we freely admit to being jaded by the amazing sites and history available to us on a daily basis, it is not completely without shame. We could and should take better advantage of what is at hand, but life tends to get in the way. However, when faced with opportunities to experience new cultures and see first hand what we've only read about, we're as giddy as a child on Christmas morning. There's no better way to learn and understand than direct experience.

We try not to act like tourists, but rather make an effort to be a visitor. The difference, to us, is that a tourist tends to skim the surface while a visitor makes an effort to immerse themselves in the experience with a sense of curious anonymity. For example, on a trip to London several years ago, our then-19 year-old daughter was walking down Piccadilly to the Green Park tube station, in lock-step with a local businessman. An American family stopped unexpectedly (and unnecessarily) in front of them at a crosswalk and they split to go around, one to the left and the other to the right. When they met on the other side of the street the Londoner muttered under his breath "Bloody Americans" to which my daughter replied in her finest southern-belle voice "I know, right?" - leaving the gentleman slack-jawed and smiling. I was determined to learn some rudimentary Italian before our trip to Rome in 2024, knowing full well that Italian is a "uni-tasker" in the world of languages. English is the primary spoken language in 58 countries, French in 29, Spanish in 21, and German in 6. Italian comes in at 2, technically, but when you consider Vatican City is one of the two, it becomes 1 from a practical standpoint. Even though Italy was the only place I can use it, I really wanted to learn the language. The reactions from Italians to even the most basic phrases made it well worth the effort, and is now a source of pride. Don't just go on a trip, do some research and give yourself a rudimentary foundation of knowledge - it will pay dividends.

By all means see the sights, but eat the local food, drink the local drink, and talk to the local people. Do your homework before departure to avoid any obvious faux-pas and always maintain awareness of your surroundings, but come out of your shell and soak it all in! Approach with curiosity and humility, maintain the ability to laugh at yourself, and adopt a posture of respect in all things. To increase your odds of a positive experience, please leave the hubris at home.