Going Local – Daily Life Abroad (Cornwall Chronicles #24)

Recently I was asked by a friend if I cared to accompany him on a trip to Jordan. I did not ask why he wanted to go there, because I already knew. It was obvious as soon as he mentioned the destination. Any American travelling to Jordan on vacation will be visiting Petra, the world-famous ancient site with rock-cut architecture that attracts millions of tourists each year. I know next to nothing about Jordan, but I am keenly aware of Petra. Anyone I know who has been to Jordan went there. They spoke about it in glowing terms. Unlike other world-famous tourist destinations that have their dissenters, Petra is universally lauded except for the crowds. It is the destination in Jordan, nothing else comes close. I understood why my friend wanted to see it. Who doesn’t?

Maximum irritation - Tour of Duty

I have known this friend since grade school and always enjoy spending time with him. Combined with my love for overseas travel, a trip to Jordan sounded like a win-win situation. There were two big problems. The first was cost. My friend has the means to go on trips run by high quality tourism companies. Luxury is something I avoid, partly due to cost, but also because I prefer independent travel. I once spent almost two weeks in Turkey on a tour. While it was organized for maximum flexibility and much more to my liking than most organized tours for foreigners, I was irritated beyond belief less than a week after it began. Put twenty-five people together and someone is bound to drive everyone else crazy.

The tour only moved as fast as the slowest person. Meals were an excruciating exercise that tended towards the interminable. Those ten days were anything but a Turkish delight. Being part of a captive audience is not something I care to repeat in an overseas experience. Since then, my independent travels in Eastern Europe have exacerbated a need to avoid any organized tour experience. I will not be going to Jordan and certainly wish my friend well. Instead, I will be looking for another localized experience like the one I had in Cornwall. Far from the maddening crowds, micro-managed itineraries, and mediocre hotels, the best thing I did in Cornwall was staying with locals.

Subject to Scrutiny - Taking It All In

I would never have travelled to Cornwall if not for knowing someone who lived there. That ended up making all the difference, not only in having a reason to visit, but also in my experiences. For all the fascinating historic sites and transcendent natural beauty, the best part of the trip was getting a unique look at daily life. This is something I have become increasingly fixated upon in my travels. It started years ago in Kispest, a down at the heel, working class district in Budapest. While staying there I began to frequent a local shop, to the point that the women behind the counter started greeting me in the same manner as the regular customers. The items for?sale captured my interest. Higher prices compared to chain supermarket stores became noticeable. The nuances of shopping were apparent, in the same way they were at home.

I began to observe the comings and goings in that store. I did the same thing on the daily bus route to the metro. I found comfort in being an outsider watching people go about their daily business. The term usually given for this is people watching, but it goes much further than that for me. Sitting at bus stops, wandering around neighborhoods, scrutinizing signage, I cannot get enough of what most people would consider banal. There is a tourist’s experience and a local’s experience in a city. These two do not often coincide. The local’s experiences came to interest me as much as tourist sites in cities. I could not bear to tell my friend who wanted me to join him in Jordan, that I was much more interested in the quotidian in forgotten cities in Eastern Europe. And that impulse bled over into my Cornwall trip.

Tourism tends to skew perspectives. They provide a distinct experience of a country that is often the opposite of how people there really live. Take for instance museums. In foreign countries, museums are among the most popular attractions for tourists. I sometimes think that if it was not for foreigners, many museums I have visited overseas would be empty. Besides hyperactive schoolchildren, I see way fewer locals in museums than other places I visit. Unless a local is an aficionado of museums or has a specific interest in one, they are likely to avoid them. Museums take time and energy away from people busy with daily life. This is sad, but understandable.

I am no different than other tourists who flock to museums overseas. Back at home it is a different story. I generally avoid museums. Many are static, boring, and uncomfortable. Try standing on a concrete floor while reading an encyclopedia. That is a rough approximation of most museum experiences. If you want to see how locals live, then it is best to avoid museums. I can hardly blame the locals in Eastern European nations or Great Britain for their failure to frequent museums. During my time in Truro, I walked past the Royal Cornwall Museum on at least five separate occasions. Never once did I see anyone entering it. That does not mean its exhibits are lacking. Locals might find the museum of great interest, but they have better things to do with their time. It is a simple calculation and a brutal one to those of us who love history. Truth be told, many of us are guilty of the same behavior back home.

Paid To Smile – Putting On A Happy Face

Hotels are the one place where tourists spend most of their time on any visit. They are also the one place devoid of local life. At their best, hotels can never match the experience of staying in a local’s home overseas. This is especially true if you know the locals. Around friends, people tend to relax. That can make a home stay enthralling. This is not true with hotels which are impersonal by nature. No matter how hard they try to make their guests feel at home, hotels have an anonymity about them that is impossible to ignore. The rooms look alike, the halls are uniform, the front desk staff is polite because they are getting paid to be polite. I have stayed in hotels in Eastern Europe, as well as people’s homes. I am always shocked by the difference between the two experiences. The same thing would happen on this trip to Great Britain. In Cornwall, I experienced highly personalized hospitality. In London, I was pretty much ignored at a guest house. There was very little to interest me there. The opposite was true in Truro. That fascinating experience was largely due to my hosts.