As it is still very early days here, I must avoid trying to act like an experienced old timer when talking about the experiences of other newly arrived foreigners; especially when it comes to being critical of them. After all, I would quickly be put in my place.
There will always be somebody who has been around for many more years; whom no matter how much of an arsehole they are or at least appear to be, will have an opinion that will probably carry much more weight than your own. Did they earn that privilege? That’s a different question altogether.
The above regarding the false hierarchy of opinions also applies in a world where it may seem that everybody is having the time of their lives, travelling around the world. Everybody has their own stories to tell but when you are often surrounded by similar people, most of these stories may start to sound the same. People playing with elephants, witnessing poverty (and no doubt feeling superior due to it) and some other crap about diversity that supposedly doesn’t exist in the most multi-cultural countries in the Western world, because those telling the story are too busy feeling oppressed to ever notice it.
Then again, one could also argue that every individual can only live their own life through their own eyes and their perception is therefore the only reality. Ultimately, this would mean that all opinions in life have equal value when standing alone; it would therefore be the job of the storyteller to make their tales of times gone by sound that little bit more interesting than those of the next guy at the table. Everything tends to get a little competitive, but maybe it need not be that way?
There was once a time when one would attempt to display their wealth off to the world via material items. Your house, car or even that trophy wife and a large family would be indicative of your perceived worth to others. Yet as most Millennials can not afford those two things or start a family, they seek not to acquire possessions but experiences.
These experiences can of course be documented on that toxic shitpit that is social media, but they’ll often by presented in the traditional way; by word of mouth. If material possessions went away, it can safely be said that the little thing called ‘bragging rights’ did not. Bragging rights are often traded for another currency: Attention from others.
To be fair, this is nothing new amongst those that like to travel. When I was a young university student, I used to feel rather envious towards those from wealthier families that could go backpacking or skiing during gap years or their summer vacations while I was forced to stick around my hometown, waiting for the next student loan. Living in a tourist town, I now see these same sorts of people and no longer feel that way.
The truth is that everybody can live a unique and exciting life, it just depends upon how they go about living it. Not all of us can travel all over the world, but we can take on different hobbies, read a different selection of books and view our victories and defeats how we see fit. Perhaps it will be those things that supposedly hold us back such as children or careers that truly give our lives meaning.
You can indeed go travelling around the world in a vain attempt to find yourself. However, more than simply travelling around aimlessly will be needed to be done in order to truly develop that understanding of who you really are and more importantly, become the person that you will eventually be.
“To be everywhere is to be nowhere. People who spend their whole life travelling abroad end up having plenty of places where they can find hospitality but no real friendships.“
– (Seneca 33-34) Letters from a Stoic
Your travel stories though? I’ve probably heard them from that other person sat at the bar last week. Want to enjoy something different? Try actually living and working in places rather than sticking around for just a day or two. Talk to locals in cafes and bars about normal mundane crap. Get to the point where you wonder how you ever ended up somewhere yet not allow yourself to feel too bad about it. Be thankful that it ever happened and carry on from there.
Đà Nẵng Diaries 