I totally agree with Damon. Once you have traveled to different places, you can see similarities. It actually solidifies the fact that we're more alike than different.
Yeah once you've spent enough time traveling to different places you see the similarities cross-regionally. There are clearly cultural differences and those matter, but in my experience a tiny village in Turkey is very similar to a tiny village in Czech Republic, for example. Something that I was actually very disappointed to realize is that the environmental landscape of so much of the world is really similar. Clearly there are major differences between a tropical rainforest and the tundra but like the realization that most forests are filled with pine trees, for example, was actually quite sad haha
I have family in Thailand and even though physical life (e.g., houses, transportation, roads, etc.) appears TOTALLY different from the states… life in Thailand still felt like life back where I’m from in America. My family there lives in a pretty rural village that would be a culture shock to someone who’s never been, but once you get used to it, you realize it’s their version of the suburbs in America. We still did things like going to the mall, eating at chain restaurants, and just hanging out with family - watching TV and playing with pets. Just like you would anywhere else. We are definitely more alike than different.
Damon needs to read about orientalism and the French obsession with the “orient” this totally encapsulates this idea that people from different counties are different from us and thus when we visit their counties we have to engage in the exotic. It’s an older academic theory I’ve read a lot in university, but it’s totally applicable today. It’s weird to think that people from other places are different from us.
I was thinking the exact same thing!😂 Orientalism is one of the subjects i read for my Master degree and i am sure Damon would find it interesting because it has to do with the "alterité", les transferts culturels and all these things
ALRIGHT! OK! ALRIGHT!!!!! *phoebe buffay outburst* I see that you guys like this format, so I'm turning in my next video essay on the realities of traveling at a marathon pace. Based on a newsletter I sent months ago, I feel like you guys will resonate with a lot. ✨also go here to get notified for the travel course (so you can spend thousands of credit card points on 5 star resorts that hand out Chex-mix + charge you a $60 daily resort fee) → damondominique.com/Global-Citizen-Course
Can’t even begin to express just how much I enjoy and look forward to these thought provoking video essays! Side note: as an Arab, I suggest tuning into some of our podcasts - they’ll definitely help with vocabulary & accent acquisition
Can you do more in depth essay about friendships, making friends and relationships in other cultures? No pressure, just a girl in need of real friends in a foreign country
This is why love you Damon, you don't just travel and take us travelling for the heck of it. There is a sense of being present and thinking critically associated with the way how you do it. We really need more analytical think pieces like this for all facets of life.
I appreciate you bringing up this topic, even if I disagree with some of the points you make. Being from a place over-exploited for tourism, I worry about the impact on the environment, minority cultures and languages, and access to fundamental rights. At the same time, I do like to travel and live abroad occasionally so I loved when you said we should travel to places that are actually meaningful to us. That might help slow things down and rethink the crazy consumerism that’s become travelling and vacationing.
A lot of things in this video resonated with me, so I actually went over to my laptop's keyboard to type out some thoughts. My context for my thoughts is hugely impactful: I was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary (mostly) until I turned 14 and went to high school and college in suburban, affluent Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US. In general, one of my reflections is that who you are greatly impacts how you experience a place, but also, these differences are decreasing with the rise of social media and globalization. There are definitely some themes of behavior that have become ubiquitous throughout cultures. I have friends from Chapel Hill and Budapest who, although they have never interacted with each other, share idioms and hobbies because of what they see on social media. Lavender oat latte and thrifting, anyone? However -- there are some major differences because of cultural and societal norms that were handed down, especially in relation to wealth. Hungary's national anthem says, "God, please give us mercy for our people have suffered enough for the past and the future..." Now compare that with the US manifest destiny and stereotypes of being destined for greatness as a country. Most of my Hungarian friends, family, and acquaintances will never be able to afford an iPhone (there isn't even an actual Apple store in the whole country!), but in Chapel Hill, I've seen high schoolers throw their iPhones to the ground so that their parents will buy them a new one when it breaks. Over the summer, I brought my American boyfriend to Europe to meet my friends + travel for fun. We had some interesting observations. For context, for most of his life in the States, he lived in Burlington, NC, which is known for being the densest drive-through fast-food restaurant place in NC. To him, Vienna and Budapest look incredibly similar - which is factual, as they were built by the same architects and used to be under the same nation. I completely agree to a certain extent, but because I am incredibly well-acquainted with Budapest and Hungarians, some differences are astounding. Vienna has consistently ranked as one of the most livable cities across the globe, whereas while most of my friends want to leave Budapest (or already have) because living there under the current economy and political state of things is unfeasible. But seeing how this shows up in the minute differences between the people in cities is way more visible to my eye than to my boyfriend's, who has seen thousands of drive-thrus but no European architecture before. In some ways, all major European metropolises look very similar, but how people live in them differ slightly because of societal structures that remain unseen to travelers. I've been conflicted about what to do while traveling - try to see "local" spots or go to tourist destinations. When American friends visit Hungary, of course I want to show them some of my local favorites, but that honestly may not be as exciting to them as the tourist spots are. Additionally, there are tourist spots that none of my actual Hungarian friends have ever been to because they cannot afford to visit them (because of inflated tourist prices). So should I even direct travelers to tourist spots, as that might eventually push out locals? And then eventually there are two completely different experiences of Budapest - one for the rich traveler, one for the poorer locals. So what does 'experiencing' a place even mean? Anyway. Loved the content and format of this video!
Read your whole comment and I have such similar experiences and conflicts, being from a poorer country to my husband's. Usually no one is interested in real local life, and does not have to be. But we should also be more honest about it at least
@@semihakisisel Cool to hear that someone shares a similar experience! It's a weird dichotomy, for sure. I think having more open conversations about it helps - people usually avoid discussing wealth, even though it permeates everyday experiences.
I think people in those cultures like Bali detest the assimilation of foreigners as a defense mechanism from years of colonialism. I think the mentality/concept can’t really be compared to White America, as it takes away the respect and ownership to the native people and their land.. one may even say they probably wouldn’t have wanted foreigners on their land either, but alas here we are. I totally get what you’re saying though, and is a difficult and nuanced experience to share. Thank you for opening the conversations, love your videos as always. ❤️
i literally feel this so hard -- feel like i've traveled more in the past few years post lockdown as some sort of ~live laugh love~ moment. and there's definitely a depreciation return on investment once the travel feels like floating. floating during travel is terrifyingly ungrounding
Sometimes we, who are working and travel but not as frequently, we romanticize what traveling the world would be like. In reality, life happens wherever we go and wherever we are. Everywhere has the interesting and the mundane. Finding Bliss and Adventure is a challenge whatever avenue we take or wherever we go or are.
Im glad you made this! I’ve been ‘travelling’ and living abroad for the past 6 years and it’s so hard for my friends and family at home to comprehend that my life is basically the same in a lot of ways.
I think its so curious, to touch on the difference between or the confusion of what I would call "Traditional vs authentic". At some point it was the same, the traditional things were authentic and vice versa. But with the arrival of globalization, the authentic will not necessarily be the same as traditional - authentic locals all over the world at some point of their day or week will drink starbucks and eat sushi, and the traditional cuisine, dress etc will not play such a part in everyday. Traditional will always be authentic, but whats authentic wont always be traditional. I definitely feel this when having someone visit from abroad and ask :"So what is the authentic local thing to do? ", and I always feel somewhat trapped by the question - as if its expected to put on a show of some historical practise that I don't necessarily resonate with, or risk disappointing the guest by replying that things here are kinda the same as anywhere really...
That’s so interesting that you say you observe more when you bring your camera. I experience that when I am taking pictures/videos, it takes me away from being present and observing, and I really dislike that feeling. Thanks for sharing this video!
I agree with you in many ways, but I also think that to have more ‘complete’ vision of the tourist/local thing is important to think about the effects of ‘tourism’ nowadays in certain parts of the world. The fact that locals in some way take advantage of tourists depends on the relationships created historically. In Colombia we have a very complicated history with colonialism and new ways of gentrification with so many of these ‘digital nomads’ moving to our countries.
I used to dream of going to as many places as possible, but the more places i see, the more I just want to go back to where I've already been and loved.
The temporal friendship part is exactly how it feels when i meet someone from a hostel, get to know them, spending time with him or her at a place and never seeing them again once they check out.
I don’t love traveling. I love to appreciate my apartment and how cozy I’ve made it. The majority of my life I’ll be living at home so I want to learn to appreciate it. I just never had the itch to leave my city!!
I re-found you through your last video (through Maddie actually) as you were someone I used to watch in middle school, LOL. You’re just so real and I appreciate it. I too am disillusioned with how everything you do or say nowadays can be twisted to be problematic. The acknowledgement of sameness around the world and our common humanity is incredibly important in our very divided world. There’s much more to be said about this topic but I really like your ability to speak on this type of thing knowing that someone is going to take it the wrong way.
Currently travelling and was just telling my wife that it feels so underwhelming going to all these cities and just feeling too familiar… I agree with pretty much 100% of what you said.
I feel the same as Damon. I went on a 2-year solo backpacking trip around the world in my 30s. And after a while every country started to look/feel/blend in the same, it felt underwhelming. I used to glorify travel so much cause I come from the USA with limited vacation time. But after my backpacking trip my perspective changed. I no longer obsess about traveling and don't feel the need to rush to check off bucket-list places. I travel now for a purpose to see family/friends, to relax, passion hobbies, etc. I now live in Europe and appreciate visiting the US and exploring my own country.
I used to travel a lot and I kind enjoyed the feeling of going out somewhere away from my routine and exploring the "locals spost". After Cuba I felt no need or desire to travel as before, but still have my fav place to go, Tel Aviv. ♥
I think you would really enjoy reading some human geography, specifically about how "space" and "place" is defined if you havent already:) maybe something from Doreen Massey! And about placelessness in our global world, its very interesting:)) there is human geography theory about tourism also, I really recommend
Une vidéo très intéressante, merci. J'ajouterais peut être que beaucoup des aspects négatifs du voyage que tu soulèves sont liés avec la courte durée des séjours. En restant plus longtemps dans un nouvel endroit, tu as la possibilité de réellement t'investir, de découvrir différents aspects de cette vie différente. Il faut du temps pour se lier d'amitié avec des locaux, pour découvrir le monde associatif, pour y contribuer... Les pays de chaque continents se ressemblent pas mal quand on y reste 1/2 semaines, quand on y reste 4 mois+, on découvre tellements plus de choses (bon après, peut-on encore franchement parler de voyage dans un situation comme ça ?) Merci de partager tes cheminements, bonne continuation à toi !
Your travels have imbued you with great experiences and using your intellect to question and ponder the meaning of any given subject will always lead you to answers. I enjoyed listening to you and I hope that you continue sharing with us.
Thank you for this Damon! You brought up so many interesting things I've thought about myself. Especially the difficult topic of different types of "temporary" friendships, and for me, the loneliness that can come from it. Not being sure about who/what a close friend really is when you're not consistently hanging out weekly month after month. I'm now in-between the decision of either keeping a permanent home base in my hometown (in order to keep up with close friendships and relationships) and traveling from here, or moving abroad "permanently" but keep visiting my hometown to maintain my most important relationships. Hard choices
The first part where he mentioned Globalized Lifestyles and travel made me realize that White Privilege leaves people out of so much. I come from DC. Washington DC has a Culture all its own. That is really hard to Access if you don't know someone from here. It's also the Nation's Capital. So there's that. But every city in the US has these layers. I think of Hawaii there is a culture of Immigration there so that Asian cultures feel central to the culture. This obviously doesn't touch the Indigenous peoples who are both suffering and thriving. I say all this to say, the more places become Global there seems to be an equal opposite reaction to preserve local Cultural artifacts. If you come to DC, I will show you what I mean.
Russian living in Berlin here 👋 Damn, I agree with you, I didn't travel much, only around Russia and EU, but the more I travel, the more I see similarities. It's so fun to explore the country knowing the language, you get to learn much more about the place and people there. But specifically because of the Mickey Mouses of the touristy cities I don't want to be seen as a tourist, just to be safer, probably because I often travel alone :D
I love being a digital nomad BUT what I realised is that I cannot do it fast paced. I much prefer being in one place for longer, and am so happy so many more countries are coming out with digital nomad visas that allow for you to stay 6 months or a year. I've seen the term slomad being used and I suppose that's more my style. It's too stressful for me otherwise.
@greenytaddict I don't mind at all. I have a print on demand shop and part time work as a league of legends booster 😅💕 if it helps, my friend does data entry remotely for a UK company. If you find a job advertised as "work from anywhere" you can usually use it as a stepping stone until you find something in an area you really love.
this is the third video essay i've watched all the way through and its been so worth my time !! much to DISCUSS ... also i met you once near arts et métiers and you were v nice so
You are such a good influence on me as a viewer. Watching your videos feels like it benefits my neuroplasticity in probably 5 different ways or something.
you’re not wrong about feeling like you’re treated like a fool. but it’s definitely coming from a place of they see your privilege as an american/foreigner/gringo.
I'm so happy you are posting again. Your content is pure quality. I appreciate your critical thinking, POV and how you share your experiences and knowledge so transparently. I can listen to you talk about anything. Thank you! Love from Vancouver, Canada!
I remember one time when I was doing a motorbike loop in vietnam. I'd sped up ahead of everyone to get to the next stop before dark but I ended up stranding myself in the middle of nowhere with no fuel. I managed to find this old lady and communicate with her through my phone, and she took me to her neighbour's house. It was practically a open wooden structure in the mountains, with pigs and chicken everywhere. Her neighbour, out the kindness of her heart, emptied the fuel out her scooter to give to me. I was so touched by the gesture but I felt bad for taking her fuel so I tried to give her some money. The second she saw me trying to give money her face was very obviously offended, and I realised that I had almost cheapened this act of kindness by trying to change it into a transaction so I could feel better about this power imbalance, and I felt really bad about that. That moment has always stayed with me and I think it's precisely the type of thing you were talking about re: westerners being super nice to locals in poorer countries. I think the reality is that we feel bad, guilty even, that we have had better access to life and resources than them (not always, but usually) - and overcompensate with kindness. It might not be so much that you feel 'superior', but you acknowledge you've been treated better in your life, and deep down you know what body you are put into is a lottery, and you are no more worthy than anyone else.
So GLAD you spoke on this!! I feel and can relate to you on sooo many parts! A reason I took a break from traveling was because the more places I visited, the more they all felt the same in some way... Love you, Damon! Please keep doing you and posting more of the talk videos!!💖💖🥰🥰
I spent 10 days in Guatape (the town) hanging out with locals and expats, it was such a fun experience just chilling at the main square. I did visit the rock one morning, just after it opened, almost no people there, the tour buses from Medellin had not arrived yet, even the restaurants were not open yet so it was a pleasant experience. Can`t imagine doing that with 100s of people 😬
Yes, people that are privileged enough to be able to travel that much to that many countries may start becoming disillusioned or unimpressed by some of their trips. I honestly hope so much that that is never me. I think it's pretty valid though, people are entitled to their genuine feelings. But I feel like I intentionally live my life prioritizing finding meaning in my experiences or even in the music I listen to etc. Like, I don't really want to overconsume on music, movies, tv etc because I don't want to start devaluing my favorite things that I love. When you consume enough of anything, you start noticing the repetitiveness and lack of uniqueness a lot of times. Like the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun. Not to generalize, but I just prefer to find what has meaning to me personally. Travel is a bit different, I actually do believe that each country has its "thing" that is unique or different. I really try to be grateful for my experiences when I'm in a new place, there's noting worse than travelling with a sour Susan that complains about this, that or the other while travelling, like things are not up to their standard or what they're used to in their 1st world country. Obviously you can be real if something is crappy, hell, I hated staying in an AirBnB with giant roaches in Spain, but I still prefer to make the most of things as much as possible. I loved the sense of wonder I felt while visiting the beaches on that trip and I know there are other magnificent beaches in the world, but I don't wish to ever reach the point of not appreciating the beauty of one place, by comparing it to another. Each country has its own culture, pride, history and richness that shouldn't be dismissed as just another stop on our holiday, there are real people living their day to day that will continue with their real lives long after we leave the country. There's a sense of respect that visitors should have, I l think This was a bit of a random rant from me, I love your videos, thanks for sharing your honest thoughts~
In Latin America, ppl are so prideful of their countries. If you say one is like the other, you better believe there will be trouble. I’m not sure if Damon is diving into each countries “personality”. Sure they look similar, but there are plenty of differences
There was this issue a while ago here in the phillipines where a Foreigner (a white man) expressed how its so annoying how locals are at a starbucks bringing their laptops with no intention of leaving for hours++
I like Hitomi’s take on this; yes we travel and we should see and do all of the unique things and immerse ourselves in the culture. but in the end, what makes travel so special is the parts of yourself you get to discover and uncover. it’s being yourself times 10 against a beautiful backdrop and beautiful people you meet once in a lifetime ❤
My goodness, Damon - the amount of truths you dropped in this video are astounding ! Loved hearing your thoughts about travelling and the sort of inner and genuine reflection around it. Plus, for a foreign student of French like me who gets overwhelmed for not knowing all the verb conjugations immediately when I speak, you just took some weight off my shoulders when you said “I didn’t grow up with this language” after trying to remember the gender of the word Green in French. It made so much sense to me and felt less guilty for not being a native like French person (what is a native speaker in this globalised world anyway, eh ?). Thank you and so happy you are back ! ❤
I’m honestly living for these video essays. I find myself nodding along like YUP, YEAH, MHM… Exactly! You’re articulating (or trying to and not finding the exact words, lol un-phased) thoughts that are complex, yet, in my mind, simple… in a sense? Definitely traveling gives you a broader perspective, but, as you said, it’s the purpose, the wanting to learn, participate, immerse, talk, whatever… it’s what you do in the places you go to that teaches you, even if you only learn that you don’t like it. At least, you learned something about yourself! Thanks for the TOP TIER content!
Damon, I just found your channel and I feel like I resonate with everything you say so much. Even your thought process. How you start to question things and within that question another thought sparks another level of curiosity on another subject you’ve never thought about. You are so open minded and it’s so refreshing to see on the internet for once. Thank you for top tier content and quality discussions.
This video gave me a WHOLE different perspective as someone who also travels frequently but in my case it’s with my family and it’s a passion for us. I’m going on a spring break trip and I’m now curious to see the points made in this video and make the comparison :D
I always appreciate your honest insights and what I love so much about your travel videos is that you travel with purpose -- you go where you want to go and do your best to get to know the culture
I'm just about to finish up a 3 month SE/E Asia tour, and this video completely sums up my feelings right now...Bali especially I hated. In Vietnam, the concept of going to a beautiful natural location, and there then being about 20 photo opportunity structures for people to take pose in being the main attraction really didn't sit well with me. My bike guides were so confused every time I rejected their offer to take my photo...
I really appreciated your video, Damon!, It’s refreshing to hear someone speak about the not-so-aesthetic side of traveling. I didn’t realize I was guilty of not being honest about my experiences living abroad. Like you mentioned, often times we don’t dare say that we didn’t have a good time because we don’t want to come off as ungrateful; traveling is truly a privilege not experienced by many. I can see now how this is problematic, and being honest can show that we are, in fact, not very different.
Many places in Thailand left me looking around for locals. I was just one more farang meeting others like me and talking about how great Thailand is. I kind of get why Japan is being that extreme. Many places in Mexico aren't affordable to locals because people from other countries are buying the "best" property and raising the cost of living. I agree with finding the similarities between countries/cultures. Ghana, Nigeria, and much of West Africa are alike but we have to remember that the lines drawn all over the map were not done so by the natives. It is like cutting a slice of cake and being surprised that it tastes like another slice from that same cake. Migration, trading etc. will almost guarantee this occurring in certain regions.
Your videos are like a breath of fresh air. I could happily listen to you ramble for hours, especially while I'm cooking. The last one had me hooked, and I'm eagerly awaiting your next video essay
Damon... thank you! With your videos you actually give me that feeling of dépaysé. Its like im not only traveling to places (with travel vlogs), but also to different ideas and perspectives with your talk videos. Thank you! What an interesting well rounded human being you are 🩷
"It might solve your issues. But you forget to remember is that you will have new issues." is very true1 When I talk to friends about life in Spain, I do mention the negative things, but for them, it always sounds like I'm ungrateful. Because somehow, they can't realise that you will have issues everywhere, which is normal!
The bit about "Solution: do something" is very interesting to me because I feel like I'm the opposite. I went on two pretty much solo travels so far, one was very short, one was 5 months. And the latter made me feel completely miserable the majority of the time because "doing something" put so much pressure on me that it prevented me from enjoying the completely new things I was experiencing. Am I ever gonna see an ocean again? Honestly, probably not, because I will be busy with other things. And there I was, sitting, watching the ocean and worrying out of my head about things I came there to do. Part of that was definitely disillusionment with how everything turned out to be, but in my experience going somewhere without a purpose can be even more liberating. Letting a place take you, no motives, no aims, made the former trip one of my happiest moments of my life
every day of travel I experienced was amazing and fulfilling and nothing in my life since or before could even come close. Then one day my travel cup became full, I reached all my experiences I guess I needed, and then i never had the desire again. Nothing wrong with that. Once you achieve what you wanted, you now just have a new dream to achieve.
I just took my first solo trip in December (Zurich, Basel, Strasbourg and Luxembourg City) and every time someone asks me which one I prefer, I don't have an answer. It was the best decision I've ever made, but mostly because I travelled alone, met some cool people in hostels and gained so much confidence for managing it all by myself (I'm a 21 yo female). So I'd say travelling for me is more about the experience of breaking your routine and gaining new experiences, and less about the place. I could be wrong though, since I'm from Serbia and so far only travelled in Europe.
I feel like this connects to this feeling that people have when they arent happy where they live and they think that moving to another country is going to solve all their problems. Like Americans wanting to move to Europe because of the glory of it but in reality you get their and you live the same life just in a different place. idk just a thought.
Wow this was so interesting and on point! Having been to Europe twice I had a similar experience like I liked all 3 countries but when asked which one i liked the most I couldn’t say there was one that stood out more than the other.
Theres soooo much cultural diversity within latin america and among the dif regions you mentioned. Sure, the vibes may be similar in some places due to being colonized by the same ppl, but each place has a distinct history, dialects (& many indigenous languages), foods, etc that make it unique
I totally get that humans are alike in many ways, but there are unique details about one's culture and country that are important to recognize and celebrate
Still, latam is a "nation" even more so than most other regions, we share a common history, language (for the most part), even political trends and cultural views that mix panhispanism/south-south cooperation/regional sovereignty... I think it's a good thing and one of the defining traits of this area of the world! For example, we are a region of peace (no internal wars) bc of this unity. Even with our differences and annoyances within us :)
as an Indonesian, your section about Bali was honestly soooooooo true. I feel the way you felt after I moved here for work a few months ago. if you plan on going back here, I’d wholly recommend West Nusa Tenggara!
i know you're unique and have your own perspective, having this conversation and share it to others it's really good, you should do this more often with your own way. 👍
I am planning my australia trip right now and I traveled to Southeast Asia before. I realized that traveling made me more sad than it made me happy because I started to see the differences between the countries.
It's also super important to know your travel partners well. That can make or break a trip since you're with them 24hrs a day. I made the mistake of traveling to Italy for my 40th birthday with someone I didn't know very well, an acquaintance from years ago who I knew was interested in Italy. I was going to do a solo trip but I thought, oh what the heck, why not. This person was mentally UNWELL and there were times I felt physically unsafe, in addition to the whole thing being insufferable. He hated the food, was allergic to the sun, hated the beach, damaged the rental car that was on my credit card, etc. etc. It was wild. I'm travelin' ALONE from now on, LOL.
I live in Nashville and I 100P get what you mean. Nashville is a HUGE tourist city, and guess what we do for fun? Go to the mall, go to the movies, walk in our neighborhood, and YES, we go to Starbucks! All the “popular” places are completely flooded with tourists. There is a HUGE divide. They don’t come where we go, and we don’t go where they are. 😅
I think it makes total sense for any group to want to protect and gate keep their culture. As we’ve seen throughout the history of human civilization, to welcome every one with open arms into your culture and resources can backfire tremendously. Hospitality has been a gift and a curse. This mindset wouldn’t fly for White Americans because… well… White Americans aren’t indigenous to the US? The history of America particularly in relation to its indigenous peoples is one of many vivid examples of why some cultures aren’t open to complete foreign integration. So I completely disagree with that one point but you ate everything else and I love your channel❤🫶🏾
Was just talking about this with someone the other day. The more you travel, nothing is new and novel anymore, you've seen and done all this before. It's kind of sad to lose that sense of excitement and wonder.
Everything you said is exactly right. I felt this way in Tunisia. I just didnt like it personally and my experience was very negative when it came to the people there. I came across so many rude people in Tunisia and i told my experience online and I never gotten so much Hate. Its like people get offended over everything in today's time. Like my experience cant be valid...i can only say "positive" OR ELSE....which proved my point in the way tunisian people acted while I was there...the comments were backing up my point.
Totally get everything you talk about. I am Australian and I have a house in Ubud (Lodtunduh which is 20 minutes south of Ubud central) which we will live in for the next 30 years but we do NOT hang around Australians. We do not crave to be in the built up tourist areas with fellow Ozzies. We, like you, love to explore and enjoy local food, areas, culture etc and truly learn something doing it. I’m lucky enough to have been traveling to Bali since 1987 when it was nothing like it is now but also at the same time very much the same depending on where you go. I’ve traveled to many different countries through Asia, Europe, America, Canada, Russia, India etc etc and will continue to travel to the places I’ve loved and discover new ones but Bali has my heart and where we are retiring to. It’s a place of contradictions, ying and yang, good and bad and is rarely dull for me anyway. Love your philosophy on life. 🥰
Totally agree with that feeling of being underwhelmed which is not only confusing to articulate but also when you're experiencing it is super confusing. Having been to a lot of the countries along the Mediterranean sea (European side), travelling east to west in no particular order, when I visited Portugal it did feel underwhelming, maybe it was travel fatigue but also I wanted a completely new experience and Portugal wasn't that at all... Cue my recent trip to Estonia which i feel in love with instantly because of how new the country and region was to me.
In academia about Japan there was this idea called 'Nihonjinron' - that japanese people posess a unique 'japaneseness', something different to all other countries. Scholars moved away from the idea eventually with new literature, its something to dive into if you want. Your point about people essentially being the same reminded me of this ^^ So many good points here, I really agree on the traveling with a purpose unique to you!
OH THANK YOU DAMON! I went hitchhiking and doing Workaways around Europe/ Africa for a year last year and the decision to finally go home was because I was feeling burnout on traveling. Got home and I'm feeling burnout on life and I couldn't put it into words exactly why because I had an extremely intense(men being men stuff during hitchhikes, fever & diarrhea in 50 degrees desert in a sardine packed train for 10+hrs, getting detained/ refused/ removed by the UK multiple times, etc.) BUT full of life year. I FEEL every single word you said in this video, every point I'm like YESSSSSSS. I was thinking why didn't I figure all this out and had a moment when I got to the point of 'Your experiences helps you understand others' experiences'' realising that the reason I'm understating and relating to this video is because I just had a year of travelling that I did not understand. Thanks again for putting it into words Damon!
