A Mindful Tourist’s Guide to Travel By

Traveling to a new, faraway place, is both exhilarating and nerve racking. Before you leave, you spend so much time preparing for accommodations such as a daily itinerary of tourist sites, restaurants to dine at, transportation, hotel fees… and the list continues. You start to experience that feeling of pure excitement to explore an unknown area, but that is ensued by a twang of anxiety about adjusting to the way of life of a brand new society and culture. You may worry about interacting with locals, looking like the typical American tourist and language barriers. Sometimes these thoughts do not cross your mind until you are on the plane there, or already there. We compiled three critical things to remember in order to be a respectful traveler since we must all educate ourselves about other countries’ ways of living:

1. Language Barriers - Don’t expect everyone to speak English

Although many people around the world learn and know English, you must not assume everyone speaks the language. It is challenging, even annoying at times, to walk around and try to speak to locals when a language barrier exists. This is definitely not something to take out on anyone, the locals especially, because part of respectful and responsible traveling is to take strides to adjust. So, how do you best prevent situations like this?

First, before your trip, search and write down (i.e. in the Notes section of your phone) everyday phrases such as, “Do you speak English?”, “Where is… (substitute a place, like “the bathroom”)?. The key is politeness -- the kinder you are, the more likely a local will be patient and attempt to help you, or answer your question. Also, if you know you are going abroad next semester, or traveling to a country in the future, there are plenty of apps you can download to learn the basics of a language -- the most well known being Duolingo.

2. Fashion - Dress appropriately like the locals

Everyday American fashion is very different than it is in other countries. Our daily go-to Lululemon Align Tank, paired with yoga pants and Nike AirForces does not fly when you hit the streets of Europe. Globally, many countries have a more traditional dress code. For example, some places (like churches or sacred memorials) may require you to cover certain parts of your body. Although this would maybe not be as common in the United States for us, it is the duty of the respectful and responsible traveler to do so.

3. Etiquette - Learn the local customs

It is so easy to find yourself caught up in the excitement of traveling into an area unknown to you, that you forget to delve into research on local customs of the country’s society and culture. Without doing research, you may find yourself playing the role of the ignorant tourist -- and no one wants to be that. One way to learn the local customs is to understand the area’s etiquette. Simple acts or gestures that may seem common, even positive, to us in the United States may be incredibly rude and disrespectful in a particular country’s culture. For example, here, giving someone a “thumb’s up” is encouraging, yet somewhere else this may equivocate to a symbol of swearing.

When it comes down to it, educating yourself is the most significant step in becoming a respectful and responsible traveler. However, mistakes happen, but you can always ask questions and learn from them. What is important is that the effort is there!

Make sure to tag us @theedgemag in all your travel photos!