midweek Connect:7/7/21 ~ My kind of tourism
Greetings and Happy Midweek!
In our quest for all things cross-cultural, continuing with the idea of having a monthly focus, and given that it’s the summer here in the northern hemisphere and many people are planning vacations - I thought we’d spend July exploring some facets of tourism.
Part of my ‘global nomad’ identity, which I have noticed more in recent years as I’ve been based here in the US, is that I am definitely not a ‘typical tourist’! I think one big reason for this is that my whole adult life, including right now, I have lived and worked in places considered tourist destinations. So, rather than planning big trips and rushing around to see famous sights, my kind of tourism is basically just to enjoy the space and the people and the culture - wherever I am!
For example, I spent 4 days visiting friends outside Rome a few years ago - and did not even go into the city! It was the tail end of a busy and tiring work trip to Tunisia, and I really just wanted to rest and spend time with my friends. Happily they are both walkers, and so each day we took long strolls around their neighborhoods and the surrounding countryside - harvesting pine nuts from roadside groves (I kid you not!), climbing through Roman ruins, buying kilos of quince to make jam.
All this to say that, where-ever we live, work or yes, travel on vacation - my experience is that we can enjoy our own spontaneous versions of cross-cultural ‘tourism’ moments.
How about you ~ what is a ‘tourist’ experience you’ve had lately - or plan for coming weeks?
Share about that with a friend or note it here...
And check out Global SKILLs LINKs below for some other kinds of tourism…
And stay tuned for more on this whole topic next week!
Betsy
Global SKILLs LINKs
~ One article which inspired this exploration for me: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/italy-gardens-botanical-tourism-cmd/index.html
~ A thought provoking opinion on tourism - not to imply I totally agree with it, but heck, doesn’t hurt to at least engage with other opinions - right?! https://www.thelostgeographer.org/articles/why-tourism-should-be-redefined/
~ And one version of what global nomads are...again, not to imply I totally agree with it, but it helped me process a bit more of my own global nomad identity:
2021 ~ Celebrating 40 years of working in
intercultural communications and global community building
Connecting, Collaborating, Cultivating Community