The happiest man I ever met was standing on a street corner in Pecs, Hungary, in 1990. He was tall, straight-backed and resplendent in a forest-green military uniform bedecked with ribbons, his shock of white hair almost as brilliant as his wide smile. He greeted passersby with a handshake and nod, and virtually everyone who passed by paid him their respects. Fascinated, I asked my hostess about him.
"He's a hero of the revolution," she explained. Both of them, it turned out -- he'd been a decorated veteran of World War II; then took part in the aborted Hungarian uprising of 1956; then spent 10 years in "re-education" camps, and the rest of his working life as a school janitor, his scientific expertise disdained by the communists.
But then, just the year before, he had helped lead the largely peaceful Hungarian ouster of the Soviet-backed communist regime -- firing nary a single shot, but offering a conspicuous and vocal example of the value of freedom and faith in it.
My hostess introduced me, the visiting journalist from America. I shook his hand and told him how impressed I was by his life -- and I asked why he was so visibly happy. He said, gently, it was due to something I could not truly comprehend: He had lived long enough to see peace and freedom return to his land.
I trust I will indeed never have the experiences he had. But I got a vivid glimpse of what they mean that evening in Pecs, and it's one of the most memorable travel experiences of my life -- as was my whole trip to Hungary, whose people conducted a revolution in coffee shops and Roman baths, literally talking their way into freedom. The Hungarian welcome for visitors is legendarily warm; among other things, they enjoy the opportunity to help travelers understand their unique culture.
And that, I believe, is the key to peace. It's easy to lob insults and missiles at people who are faceless nonentities. It's much harder to do so with human beings you have met, shared food and conversation with, learned the color, depth and flavor of their lives. It's an instinctive human impulse to defend our neighbors and disdain strangers; were we all neighbors, at least in our hearts, it would probably be a much calmer world.
The troubled times we inhabit have, unfortunately, dampened international travel. Large sections of the globe are on watch and warning lists; other locales are being snubbed by travelers of this persuasion or that for artificial political reasons. I can't comprehend avoiding France simply because the country's leaders chose not to agree with ours -- and I can't imagine that most of the Americans who put France on their personal blacklists last spring have ever actually been there.
Nonetheless, huge numbers of people cross national boundaries for travel each year. According to the World Tourism Organization, there were 715 million international tourists in 2002, a 3 percent increase over 2001. Most experts believe travel is the largest industry on earth -- and I believe it is the most worthwhile.
My own travels have taught me myriad things. I encountered a vivid picture of the early ‘90s Asian economic boom when I visited Taiwan and was mesmerized by the dedication to commerce the Taiwanese practice. And I gained a much deeper understanding of the reason memories go back so far in Eastern Europe -- my dinner companion one night could directly trace his ancestry back, in his home village, to 1386!
I've encountered incomparable beauty -- the endless forests of northern Canada, the hazy islands of Japan, the glistening peaks of the Alps. And I've seen wretched ugliness -- an American tourist who spit on a Mexican waitress because she didn't understand his demand for a "cold beer."
I've learned much from the international visitors who've come to my own home, such as the many Russians who have patiently explained that, no, they didn't really support their own erstwhile empire -- and no, things aren't as bad there as the international media would have you believe.
It's not even necessary to travel overseas to gain cultural understanding. I'll never forget the powerful sensation I experienced when I found my own ancestors -- names inscribed on the wall at Ellis Island in New York.
Travel offers so much to human life that it is a gift, and the opportunity to enjoy it conveys responsibilities which actually enhance the gift. The International Institute for Peace Through Tourism promulgates the "Credo of the Peaceful Traveler," a series of principles which offer not only guidance but the keys to truly enjoying the journey. For more information on peaceful travel, please visit www.iipt.org.
I'm perpetually flummoxed by folks who, if they do travel, seek experiences that resemble their daily lives, eschewing the music, food, languages and lifestyles of the places they visit. Hamburgers in Bangkok? MTV in Morelia? That's like going to New York and ignoring delicatessens.
Aside from the ideas expressed in the credo, I practice a few of my own simple rules for travel:
- Learn how to say "please" and "thank you" in the native language of the place you go.
- Make a point of having a meal that you have no idea what it consists of (until afterward).
- Try to get out of the hotels and tourist facilities into the homes of residents.
- Always ask what distinguishes the place I'm in, what makes it special to visitors and residents alike.
And when I host visitors from overseas, I offer these experiences to them. Doing so, here and on the road, has enriched my life immeasurably.
This content is provided courtesy of OffPeakTraveler.com, which is dedicated to the clear and simple purpose of providing "Unique Vacation Values Online." OffPeakTraveler.com brings savvy leisure travelers the convenience and savings of an online marketplace dedicated to off-peak seasons and destinations. Writer/editor Eric Lucas is the executive producer for the OffPeakTraveler.com web site and is a widely published travel, business and natural history writer. He writes about OffPeakTraveler.com destinations in Europe, Russia, South America and the United States.