Prejudice is all around, walking hand-in-hand with us. For some it’s stronger, for some it’s less. Our exaggerated generalizations get a lot more intense when we travel abroad. We haven’t even visited the country but ‘we know’ many about its people. We heard that the French not for all the tea in China speak English, the Swiss will never be your best dudes, India is all a sizeable slum, the Africans are hungry and wild and fill in the blank.
We tend to live by preconceptions so much that even if we get to a place purely to enjoy we will make sure that all we were told, we read and heard about the country and its people are actually damn true. We will look out for things to attest ourselves and don’t stop until we found the proof in the society we know ‘so well’. We let these feelings and emotions accompany us throughout our journey hindering us to distract ourselves and enjoy at least one out of 24 hours without proudly repeating the “I told you so” self-justification statement.
So how can we overcome these stereotypes and hit the road once and for all with an open mind?
Go ahead and prepare from the country you are traveling to. Read their history, check out their art, listen to their songs. Read blogs from fellow visitors sharing their personal experience. Try to spot some local bloggers. The deeper you immerse yourself the more you’re gonna love your journey to wonderland and you’re never going to call the Scottish stingy anymore. Because no nation is superior or inferior, better or worse. We are all equal in the world, whether we live in a welfare society or in a tribal island. It’s all that easy.
journeyfiles musings & tidbits on travel:
- Solo traveling also has its pros, find out more about it
- Are we really waiting all our lives? When waiting takes over…
- Discover places through locals’ eyes in Worn down shoes do inspire
- Guests are not welcome? The most common hotel mistakes
- Think you are not gifted with skills? Trek the world and see it yourself
- Holiday is over? See how to overcome pain When the journey ends
- Get inspired how to pass time up in the skies Because great ideas are born above the clouds
- Life is a journey and sometimes you have to make that next step
