Thoughts about travel
I keep getting emails saying that what I'm doing is somehow impressive. I have to admit that I think the issues that I'm battling with here are no different than if I was flying to, say, Texas or Nebraska or some other city that I'm not familiar with. The issues are always the same, and even in the same order. I guess that in my mind, its sort of an application of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
The first questions are always about survival. Where to sleep and leave my stuff, so that I will survive and not be robbed? These are easily filled- hotel rooms, friends couches, any place people are sufficiently comfortable and safe. Food and water is a natural concern, but if local people who are identical to me can eat something, it stands to reason that I can as well. My solution when traveling tends to be to find a place where a lot of locals are eating (safety in numbers) and order whatever the guy in line in front of me gets, or the guy at the table next to me. Sure, I run a slight risk of Traveler's Diarrhea, but that comes from differences in intestinal flora and cannot be avoided, even at home.
Next comes the need for a plan - I think this roughly correlates to a need for stability and safety with Maslow. Plans guide my focus through the day, giving me an outline of things to do, and a way to fill the higher needs (the really fulfilling stuff.) You know that sinking emptiness that people feel when they are alone in a foreign city? I think that comes from not having anything to guide their action. The usual things that people have to focus on (work, family/friends, hobbies) are removed, and I think that the 'not knowing what to do with yourself' that results is the source of that emptiness.
As for the rest of the hierarchy, all that stuff- love, recognition, and self actualization is long term, and can't really be pursued directly except through what we do each day. That's why, when I ran out of stuff to do in Hong Kong, I really started to feel badly. What reason was there to get out of bed?
here in shanghai, though, I'm relatively better. Because I speak the right language here, its much easier to do everything, and because its a city 3x the size of Hong Kong (with other famous historical cities only a few hours away) There is a lot more to do and discover.
Simply put, my goals are as follows:
1. Find a Job (meet with every person involved in Financial services I can find)
2. Improve mastery of the language (go a day without hearing or speaking an English word)
3. Improve knowledge of environment (develop a mental map of the city)
4. Improve cultural embeddedness (understand and accept things that develop from 2 and 3)
The trick for me now is to get these set into some sort of viable routine to fill my day.
The first questions are always about survival. Where to sleep and leave my stuff, so that I will survive and not be robbed? These are easily filled- hotel rooms, friends couches, any place people are sufficiently comfortable and safe. Food and water is a natural concern, but if local people who are identical to me can eat something, it stands to reason that I can as well. My solution when traveling tends to be to find a place where a lot of locals are eating (safety in numbers) and order whatever the guy in line in front of me gets, or the guy at the table next to me. Sure, I run a slight risk of Traveler's Diarrhea, but that comes from differences in intestinal flora and cannot be avoided, even at home.
Next comes the need for a plan - I think this roughly correlates to a need for stability and safety with Maslow. Plans guide my focus through the day, giving me an outline of things to do, and a way to fill the higher needs (the really fulfilling stuff.) You know that sinking emptiness that people feel when they are alone in a foreign city? I think that comes from not having anything to guide their action. The usual things that people have to focus on (work, family/friends, hobbies) are removed, and I think that the 'not knowing what to do with yourself' that results is the source of that emptiness.
As for the rest of the hierarchy, all that stuff- love, recognition, and self actualization is long term, and can't really be pursued directly except through what we do each day. That's why, when I ran out of stuff to do in Hong Kong, I really started to feel badly. What reason was there to get out of bed?
here in shanghai, though, I'm relatively better. Because I speak the right language here, its much easier to do everything, and because its a city 3x the size of Hong Kong (with other famous historical cities only a few hours away) There is a lot more to do and discover.
Simply put, my goals are as follows:
1. Find a Job (meet with every person involved in Financial services I can find)
2. Improve mastery of the language (go a day without hearing or speaking an English word)
3. Improve knowledge of environment (develop a mental map of the city)
4. Improve cultural embeddedness (understand and accept things that develop from 2 and 3)
The trick for me now is to get these set into some sort of viable routine to fill my day.
posted by Me at 6:56 PM
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