Suzy Guese

Arriving to a destination, there are unfamiliar sounds that quickly transition into the familiar. In Italy, the noises that wake me up in the morning are those of street sweepers that resonate more like that of a tsunami blowing through town. At around 5AM the garbage trucks arrive. If you live near a dumpster, you hear what sounds like a million bottles crashing to the ground just in time for sunrise. No need for roasters or alarm clocks. Italy has garbage men and women and diligent street sweepers.

These sounds become familiar after a time. You don’t notice the garbage trucks at 5AM. The old woman that comes to sweep the terrace every single day muffles with dream-like states. I won’t miss those sounds. I won’t miss waking up to the shuffling of feet followed by sweeping. I won’t miss the screaming baby at an apartment nearby that seemed to have arrived into the world in the middle of my three months in Florence. Daily life goes on in Florence with those sounds I am no longer apart.

As I lugged my luggage to the train station, over some of the most beautiful sites of the city, I remember nothing of that walk. All I can recall is my determination to get to the station early, with plenty of time to catch my train to Rome. My goodbye with Florence never really came for I never stopped to smell the roses or appreciate the sounds no longer filling my life.

Somehow I doubt they sell "very Italian pizza". Time to go home. I'm being too cynical.

Travel is a way of change. You are introduced to these places and then you must part with them, if you so choose. A routine establishes and before you know it, travel is over and you are headed home. Yes, I know some never head home, but I contend a visit home in between travel is a necessary part of the travel process. The sweet sounds you may find annoying throughout travel might actually be appreciated after a stint at home.

I am headed home to Colorado, with no plane ticket after today’s flight. I have no travel plans after spending three months traveling almost every week. I saw parts of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Spain and Italy from the top of its boot right down to the heel. I’m exhausted. While some may keep traveling and scoff at my measly three months of travel, squeezing in a trip home just might make your next travels all the better.

Instilling The Want To Travel Again

As I sit on this never-ending flight to Chicago, being on a plane in the near future does not appeal to me. However, once I go home, I know I will want to travel. That want to travel may take a backseat after European town after European town. You forget about the thrill. Then, home hits you. Life is back to a set routine and you want to travel again. For me, that want usually only comes  after a stint at home.

Appreciating Comfort

For some reason, Italians don’t believe in drug stores, selling all manner of beauty products, hair care, contact cleaner, etc. I can’t tell you how thrilling it was to walk into a beauty supply store that had everything I needed without astronomical price tags. Being at home makes you appreciate the comforts you don’t have when you travel. Those comforts not found in travel are what make the process interesting. We have to distinguish home from travel. Roughing it on the road is key toward building an appreciative person.

Sleep, Sleep and More Sleep

Travel had worn me thin. In between the fast paced lifestyle of waking up in a new place every few days, fatigue presents and travel is not always welcome. To be rested and ready for my next travels away from home, a little time spent lounging around and sleeping is more than necessary.

Time For Reflection

Being home allows me to reflect on my travels in the clearest sense. As I look through photos from Portugal to Norway, I am reminded of my experience. Not to say you can’t reflect as you travel, but being in the backdrop of home, surrounded by all that is familiar, lends a sense of reflection on the experiences I have had and the people I have met while traveling this summer that is unlike any other. Perhaps it is the sentiment of being away from the unknown amidst the known that allows for mediation and rumination on travel itself.

Time to reflect on travel and think of new cheesy photo opportunities

Do you like to go home in between travels? Do you think it is important or not vital to the travel process?

I keep making eye contact with the waiter. Eventually our eyes meet, mine of a more hopeful nature and his of avoidance. He comes around to every table of native Italians asking how their food is, making sure everything is up to par. For me, I am not so lucky. He comes by to take my order, bring me my food, and our relationship ends for the evening. Getting the check is a whole different story. After asking several times and no slip of white paper with Italian scribble produced, I am left with getting up and being “that diner” who heads up front to pay for no one will acknowledge their wishes.

As my three months in Europe quickly wind down to just one more month in Europe, I started to reflect on my time here. Filled with visits to new countries and eye opening experiences, there is only one aspect to travel that always leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, the mistreatment of travelers. In a country like Italy, struggling financially, my business is keeping many businesses open this summer. Without people like myself, Florence would be a ghost town in summer just as it is in winter. Is my presence appreciated? Not entirely.

Throughout my travels this summer at some point or another I am mistreated due to my foreigner status. Whether it is the simple snub of a shop owner not saying hello after I greet them when the local behind me gets a warm welcome or those waiters that stick you at a table that isn’t really a table and the Italians after you at the best seat in the house. These are not instances of cultural misunderstandings and quirks, but rather obvious attempts to differentiate one human being from another, treating one better than the other. I don’t mean to Italy bash or anywhere bash for that matter, but why do travelers, tourists, or whatever you call yourself need to be mistreated ever so simply?

Dreaming of being treated like a medieval princess while traveling through Switzerland

I suppose mistreatment comes in all areas of life even when travel is not taking place. We are driving down a road of speeding cars with everyone speeding, yet you get pulled over for the ticket.  You are the one singled out. In a travel scenario, you are the foreigner. You are already singled out. The mistreatment appears to be heightened for nothing and no one around you is familiar. You are the different one. Culturally, you don’t fit in exactly.

I am polite, respectful, and I make attempts to speak the local tongue wherever I may be. I don’t make large demands. I don’t ask for much. Despite being a loud person, I am not loud here in Italy. I keep quiet so as not to be “overly American”. Then I realize. It’s not the Americans being loud, but the Italians yelling outside my window that wake me up at night.

A foreigner by definition is someone coming from a country other than one’s own, a stranger or outsider. In Italy, I am that redheaded stranger. I am left with only a string of travel scenarios I wish I wasn’t and then again I hold countless I am fortunate to have. However, those exchanges of discrimination need to be reversed. The scamming of travelers and tourists needs to end.

The only answer I can give is to never treat a foreigner in my home state or country as though they are a lesser human being. There is a cycle of connection that at some point or another, we are all the outsiders trying to be accepted. That connection and commonality should be so strong that travelers are welcome. They should not be individuals to avoid, as we all will be in that position at some point or another. Perhaps if we all start treating travelers with respect, those waiters that don’t make eye contact will.

Why do think this unwarranted mistreatment of travelers occurs? What is the answer to quieting the problem? Everyone has their story of being mistreated while traveling due to their foreigner status. Feel free to share/vent in the comment box below. We need all the support we can get.

One by one, they line up to pay their respects to an old man. Forming a snaking line, each person has their time to say hello and goodbye. What sounds like a normal funeral is somewhat different today. No one at this funeral knew the man behind the glass case. In fact, no one on the planet knew him. They don’t know his name. They don’t know the content of his character, the life he lived, or even why they are paying respects besides the fact that this man is 5,000 years old.

The story of Ötzi, the Iceman, technically began between 3350 B.C. and 3100 B.C., before Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt, before modern day travel with airplanes, spiffy backpacks, and travel gear. The modern world did not know the story of Ötzi until September of 1991. Two hikers decided to stray off of the trail in hopes of cutting their time with the ever-attractive shortcut. Walking in the Ötztal Alps, bordering Italy and Austria, the two stumbled upon an archaeological sensation. What they thought was just a fallen hiker turned out to be a fallen hiker of 5,000 years ago, one of the oldest mummies in the entire world.

The South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology

The South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy puts on Ötzi’s funeral daily. Behind a glass case, visitors walk up, standing in probably the only respected and unhurried line in all of Italy. They peer inside a tiny window at the Iceman, quiet and in awe of his preservation. What makes Ötzi so special is not that he is a mummy, but an accidental one at that, preserved along with his belongings due to his placement at death in a glacier wrapped in ice.

The strange aspect to my visit was that I nearly missed my time with Ötzi. I scoured all of his clothing and equipment displays, admired his modern day apparel of leggings and topped things off with a look at the man’s hat, completely intact. Seeing all of Ötzi’s belongings had me considering how this Iceman from 5,000 years ago had more in common with travelers today than one might think.

In It For The Long Haul

Ötzi carried with him all necessary items, an extensive kit. The reason behind his hoarding was not merely for survival but also for travel and experience. Ötzi packed his backpack full of items that would allow him to be away from home for a long period of time. He didn’t need anyone. His kit made him self reliant, much like most solo travelers today.

Travel For Escapism

Ötzi died due to a flint arrowhead lodged in his shoulder along with experiencing some sort of fall. Archeologists could tell he was in a hand-to-hand combat the night before he died. Perhaps Ötzi was traveling to escape something or someone, heading for the hills so to speak to get away. Whether travelers want to admit it or not, there is usually some escape travel lends, whether it is a 9 to 5 job you can’t see an end to or a quest for adventure.

You Are Never Too Old

Ötzi was 45 years old when he died. Today, that is still relatively young. In Ötzi’s time, travel would not have been something for an “old” man. I often say travel is not limited to age, that physical and mental travel can be experienced no matter your year. Ötzi’s alpine journey proves he was doing something outside the norms of his Copper Age. Why can’t you?

What You Carry Carries You

As I wandered the museum, all of Ötzi’s possessions scatter about displays. A modest first aid kit, a backpack and a copper axe are among the finds. The copper axe noted Ötzi’s status of the time, indicating he was probably a chief, village representative or cattle owner. These items found with Ötzi all ended up defining his life. At the risk of sounding morbid, I look at my partially unpacked suitcase, spilling out with train tickets, tank tops and a curling iron. If I were to fall into a glacier with my travel pack and be found 5,000 years later, what would define me? Whatever you carry with you, not just physical items but also travel experiences defines you. Ötzi is “somewhat” living proof of that fact.

Ötzi, The Iceman

After viewing all of Ötzi’s belongings and learning about the man, I started to head upstairs. Ötzi had to be around here somewhere. My sister quickly motioned me down, that we had skipped the actual mummy viewing. I was so preoccupied with what Ötzi had with him and his story, I forgot to meet him. Walking up to Ötzi, I noticed similarities in our flat feet as a gripping sensation came over me. The hikers that stumbled upon him could have easily skipped that shortcut. Who knows if I would have ever had this moment with Ötzi. Despite how small the world may seem at times, I can’t help but wonder how many other icemen and ice-women are out there, travelers forever frozen in time.

The moment you all have been waiting for is here. On June 2^nd, I invited readers to answer one simple question to be entered to win an Ultimate Adventures Rough Guide supplied by Hostelbookers. Fifteen readers answered the following question:

Where would you go on your next great travel adventure and why?

I was really impressed with the responses I received and started kicking myself that I didn’t make the decision one at random. Please don’t be offended if I didn’t select you as the winner. All of the answers were winners to me.

And the winner is….

Laura W.

If you put ‘adventure’ into Google it brings up lots of adventure travel companies. For me, safe adventures organized by experts is the exact opposite of what it should be. My ideal would be to go somewhere I’ve never been before where I get to have new experiences I don’t even know exist yet (please no to the organized “see a traditional village tour” where they call them in advance on a mobile) – why can’t I just turn up to a remote village and, being mindful of local customs, get to meet real people and learn about them and their culture, add something to their lives if I can. Let’s get back to the pioneering spirit of true adventure, not knowing where you’re going, making it up as you go along. You know the really exciting thing? I’m starting this adventure for real in September. I know I’m starting in Central America, but haven’t a clue what will happen after that. Seat of your pants, scary but exciting experiences – that’s what adventure means to me and I can’t wait.

Thank you everyone that submitted and congratulations Laura W. for your creative response. I enjoyed her unique definition of adventure and that she will be imploring this way of travel beginning in September. Here are some of my favorite responses also submitted to the contest:

JoAnna From Kaledoscopic Wandering

For my next travel adventure, I want to take several weeks and bike around the perimeter of Ireland. I don’t want to be confined by time but rather pedal for a bit, stop at a pub for lunch and a drink, then hop back on the road for the afternoon. I would stop when I wanted to take pictures and write, chat with whoever might happen in my direction and enjoy the countryside. Though it’s not an adventure along the lines of zip lining, white water rafting or mountain climbing, it would still take physical exertion and force me to slow down to play hide-and-seek with my thoughts and surroundings.

Keith From The Traveling Savage

My next travel adventure will take me to Argentina for a month without my ardent travel companion and wife, Sarah. It will be an adventure of finding and understanding self and the culture around me. From the congested streets of Buenos Aires to the white-tipped mountains of the Andes, I will be pursuing a new path in life. Why Argentina? Better to ask why travel. It’s the only path I can see.

Colin Burns From Our Travel Lifestyle

Although I am still on my current adventure with my wife and two young children (currently in Vietnam), I am already planning my next BIG adventure. I plan on buying an old truck and converting it into an Expedition vehicle like this one (http://www.overlandcamperforsale.com/) or if can some how make 35,000 pound in the next 12 months I’ll buy this one to head overland. From London to China, then down through Laos making our way to Singapore to put the truck onto a container to ship it to South America and travel around. My aim would be to do this for a few years while the kids are still relatively young and homeschooling won’t be too difficult. Oh the hours I have spent looking for expedition vehicles already. Maybe I should concentrate on making some money so I can just buy one already

Vincent From Midwestern Wanderer

I am thinking India for the simple fact that I hear it can break even the most experienced travelers.

Gillian From That’s G

This is a tough one, but I’d have to say I’d go on a whirlwind trip trying to do as many zip-lines as possible – from the canopies in Costa Rica, to Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles California, to an urban zipline or two. It’d be a fun way to see some really cool cities, and something I’d be a little bit scared to try.

The room I now occupy in Florence functions as a bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen and closet all in one. The studio apartment combines all areas of living. Coffee is just two feet from the bed. My new desk where work will take place merges with the relaxation  a couch and TV provide. There are no walls keeping one room’s role out from the other. As I chatted with my landlord about the space with 24 hours of no sleep hanging over, she told me how it served as the library of her old family villa. She recounted just where all of the books were stacked against the walls. Today, books like Eat Pray Love and War and Peace lean on each other for support in this space, left over from previous tenants with seemingly diverse tastes. A room that once served as an inspirational read is now my place of inspiration.

When traveling, you end up staying in hotels, hostels, apartments or now the norm of residing on stranger’s couches. You become accustomed to living in a small space. Bare bones, just the necessities, these spaces often serve merely as resting places after a day of traipsing through a destination. While stories lurk outside the confines of a room, often times where we stay is overlooked as just a place to rest your head.

Family photographs dress the walls of my room. A villa seated where medieval Florence came about presents countless stories. Even as I sit in this corner of the city, writing this measly post, I am reminded of the thoughts still swirling through the hot air. Taking a trip back in time, I now reside where the powerful Medici family would have been my neighbors years ago. The old city walls of Florence can be seen from my terrace. Cars whiz on by in a chaotic roundabout as though this is normal.

Perhaps it is my American dominance showing through, but to be surrounded by these historical creations and thoughts never ceases to amaze me. Often times we select the hotel or hostel for its price, but not usually for whether it inspires you when you leave its doors. Not until I set foot in this former library did I realize how important my living space is towards creating that overall picture I seek out of my destinations. While this was not planned or expected, sometimes where we stay while traveling can say more than the honking horns and loud Italian chatter outside.

My three months in Italy begin in an old library. All I can do is imagine this area’s past, creating stories in my mind while understanding Florence on a more personal level. What to see in the city may be loudly looming outside, but within these walls a story lurks. And that story has just added me to its list of authors.

Have you ever felt this way about a place you stayed at on your travels? Do you ever feel more inspired on your travels by where you are resting up at night?

As I set out on my travel adventure to Italy on Tuesday, I reasoned it was a good time to get readers thinking about going on their own travel adventures. HostelBookers is supplying me with a book giveaway as part of my first contest.

The company that boasts the lowest price guaranteed and 8.7% cheaper than HostelWorld, is giving me a Ultimate Adventures Rough Guide to give to one reader. The Rough Guide to Adventure Travel features 30 different adventure sections. Priced at a whopping $24.99 originally, this contest may be the biggest in travel site history. In all seriousness, who doesn’t love receiving a travel book for free?

To win this Ultimate Adventures Rough Guide, all you have to do is leave a comment here answering this question:

Where would you go on your next great travel adventure and why?

Be creative. Don’t contests always say that? I will be selecting the best response. In my post announcing the winner, I will also feature my favorite responses with links back to your blog or website (if you have one). You have until 11:59 PM (US Mountain Time) on June 10, 2010 to leave your comment to be considered for this giveaway. The winner will be announced on June 15, 2010.

And finally, thank you to those that enter. This is my first contest after all. Hopefully the next one will be a trip for two to Maui.

HostelBookers is also running a price comparison competition right now. The grand prize is a Travelex Cash Passport preloaded with $1,000 (or whatever currency you want). All you have to do is answer one (simple) question and submit your email address. The last drawing is on June 9th so head on over and enter this week.

When traveling, you may encounter a few cheaters, but not in the traditional sense. Well, there are those too, but I’m talking about those travelers that stay committed to one place. They set up camp in one city for 3 months, 6 months, a year, or 10 years. These travelers settle into one location. Many fall in love with a place and never leave. They become experts about that one destination. Twenty-Something Travel recently wrote a post about revisiting the same place or trying out new locations. Stephanie mentions the schools of both ideas. Do you head to a place you already know and love or do you try somewhere new and different?

In exactly one week, I will make my way to Italy, a country I know almost better than my home of Colorado. Shame on me I know, but I love Italy. In college I lived in the country for over a year. I return yet again to live three months in Italy. Am I a travel cheater?

Sure, I could have selected a new location to start my three-month travels, truly traveling to a new place or stopping in a new city every few days. For some reason, I didn’t. I stuck with Florence, a city on the surface I know all too well, but yet I don’t think I do. If you are faced these same worries about frequenting the same country or city for a long period of time, here are some reasons you are not a travel cheater. You may remain in one spot, adoring it to pieces, but you are still a traveler through and through.

1.    You never really a know a place fully, but you can certainly try.

Just like in a relationship, no matter how much time you may spend with your adoring country or city, you don’t know it fully. Spending exorbitant amounts of time in one spot alleviates this problem somewhat. While some may visit a destination and say, “I’ve seen it all”, they never have. It may be a change in the season that transforms a city or a new turn of the corner presents a surprise find. Out of the places I have lived in Italy, whenever I return, there were changes. There were things I didn’t notice the first time around. You may not know the places completely as a local would, but you certainly come close.

Fitting in with the local models in Florence

2.    You learn a new language in the process.

To learn a language, its chatter must surround you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You must live and breathe your destination’s language. Maybe it is British quips you discover while living in England. Or perhaps you become conversational in German while living in the Black Forest. For me, part of why I love Italy to such a degree comes through its language. I can’t get enough of the exaggerations and gestures. At home, the most Italian I hear is pizza and pasta for dinner. If you keep returning and living in the same place, you have a better shot at understanding a place on a whole new level through the sounds of its people.

Learning Italian graffiti

3.    Sticking to one geographic area develops personal loyalty.

Being loyal to Italy perhaps makes me more loyal in my everyday life. Then again, I did just up and leave Colorado in the dust. I am always quick to defend the country if someone says something out of turn or without knowledge pertaining to Italy. I have noticed this loyalty has grown so strong, that I have become stronger in my daily convictions.

Sure! I can make that dinner date.

4.    You become a master at looking for changes and details.

If you frequent a new destination every few days, you probably don’t notice how the place changes on you. Why are these changes important? Once again, it all boils down to understanding a place to its fullest degree. Often times we travel throughout our daily lives, never stopping to smell the roses. While I am guilty of this, when I travel to my favorite country, I become engrossed in every little detail, appreciating each turn of the corner or long stare from the elderly about my bright red hair.

Stopping to smell the roses

Should anyone call you a travel cheater, remind them you are just faithful to one place. That makes you the ultimate devoted partner in this relationship. You are still a traveler. You are still experiencing something new and different. You just tend to linger longer than the others, wanting to discover ever facet of a place rather than just going home with a few photos and a passport stamp. In fact, you might say those that only stay in places for a few days are the travel cheaters, the lifelong bachelors and bachelorettes that aren’t satisfied with just one place. They never settle down or commit. However, the stationary travelers for long or short term seldom cheat on their locales with others.

Do you think returning to the same place makes you a travel cheater? Are you a travel cheater like me?