And This Is Why I Travel

As a kid and to this day even, one of my favourite games to play is the one where you spin a globe, plant your finger on any place at random and then imagine all the fun adventures that await you.  I would be shocked if you could honestly tell me that you have never once tried this in your entire life.  I know the first time I spun the globe and planted my finger on a random destination I was pretty young.   The globe I used was of the out-of-date vintage variety sitting in my grandparent’s living room that still listed Russia as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  I was severely disappointed to be told that I was about 57 years too late to visit Siam (which was renamed Thailand in 1939). 

Have you ever taken the time to look at a map of the world?  And I mean really look at it.  Have you noticed just how big the world is?  It has so many different countries of a variety of different sizes, geographic locations, climates, cultures, topography, and other distinct features that makes each place unlike anywhere else on the map including their close neighbours. 

And yet, at the same time, the world is also incredibly small.  Despite the vastness of the oceans, with modern technology, people can visit literally anywhere in the world in under 24 hours.  But somehow, only a few people will ever see more than a small fraction of it.  How many people live their life in their own little corner of the world and think they have experienced a different culture because they eat Chinese food every Thursday night?

I don’t travel anywhere near as often as I would like to.  My hit-list so to speak of places to see grows exponentially faster than I can check places off the list.  Some of my less “flighty” friends, pardon the pun, often wonder why it is that I love travelling and even the idea of travel so much.  There is no one single answer of course but I will try to explain it as best as I can.

Travelling is always a new experience that can never be duplicated.  I don’t care what country, city or continent you visit, but your second trip is never going to be like your first and your third is going to be even more eye opening.  Some people argue that this is true of any experience.  However, in defence of my argument, going to the theatre for the first time to see Mamma Mia was an experience.  The second time my mother dragged me, not so much. And by the third time, I felt an overwhelming urge to toss the soundtrack CD that she picked up as a souvenir out onto the freeway as we were speeding home.  Touring the world however never gets old.  I could visit Cuba every year for the rest of my life and always find something new and exciting to witness be it the art, the music, a new little hole-in-the-wall restaurant or the even the local people.

Travelling is beautiful.  Whether it is the bustling city with the street vendors or the vast hillsides out in the middle of nowhere, I am constantly amazed with the variety of landscapes and wonders that our world has to hold.  That might sound a little too sentimental for some people, but I really do find our world to be incredibly beautiful with all the intricate details be them man made or found in nature.  Everything is so unique, alive and colourful that as someone who has a background in art and an eye for design, I can’t help envy the world’s unique and complimentary sense of style.

Travelling is a learning experience.  Whether you classify yourself as a nerd, jock, prom queen or otherwise, I think everyone in the world has at least to some degree, a sense of curiosity and a hunger for knowledge.  People want to learn, discover, ask questions, get their hands dirty and find out what makes the world go round.  I have learned so much over the course of my travels.  The people I meet always have something new to share.  The different cultures I come across are always eye opening and expand my viewpoints, challenging my opinions on certain topics.  I’ve learned much about how other people perceive me and my own culture.  I’ve learn how to prioritize and how to relax when things don’t go according to plan.  I’ve learned how to communicate better.  I’ve learned that folded paper maps are better than the electronic ones because the batteries in a paper map will never die and that only when I forget my rain jacket at home will it rain the entire week.

People travel for a variety of different reasons.  Each person is motivated by different things.  Maybe you are motivated to travel because for once, you want Thursday night Chinese food to actually be served in China and not your living room couch.  Maybe you travel because as a child, you spun an old globe in your grandparent’s living room and decided that you needed to see as much of the world as you could.  Comment below and share why you love to travel.

Olympic Fever in Cuba

With the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games having officially launched on Friday, I couldn’t help but get caught up in the Olympic fever of watching newscasts and poring over articles celebrating triumphs and sympathizing with defeats.  As a Canadian, this is easy to understand as we are still winding down from the feeling of patriotism and excitement that was a national staple for the 2012 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.  But what about those other countries?  What about those countries that did not host the Games a couple years back? What about those countries that have never hosted the Games?  Are they still as enthusiastic about the whole process and the chance of competing (and winning) on the world stage?

Cuba definitely is. 

The Olympic Committee of Cuba or Comité Olímpico Cubano for those of you that speak Spanish, was formed in 1926 and recognized by the National Olympic Committee (NOC) in 1954.  Cuba first participated in the Paris Olympic Games in 1990.  They brought home two medals in total; one silver and one gold.   Since their first showing on the international stage, Cuba has brought home almost 200 hundred medals, most of which have been gold. 

At the Summer Games, Cuba is a dominant power in events such as boxing in which they have 32 gold medals and 19 and 12 silver and bronze medals respectively.  They are also regular contenders in sports such as track & field, wrestling and judo.

New to their list of Olympic successes however is baseball.  Baseball has been a symbol of pride for the people since the 19^th century, and enjoys immense popularity with the locals second only to their love of amateur boxing.  Baseball however, though unofficially a part of the Games in 1904, was not accepted as an official Olympic sport until 1992.  It was then that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted it medal status, allowing qualifying teams to compete in an eight team tournament that consisted of a round robin, semi-finals and finals. All players were required to be amateurs until the 2000 Sydney Summer Games which was first to allow professional players.

Since it became an Olympic event, the Cuban team has risen to the top of the sport and become a force to be reckoned with.  With the event only having been held five times, Cuba has medaled each and every year with gold finishes in 1992, 1996 and 2004, and silver finishes in 2000 and 2008.

Baseball is a great pastime for the people of Cuba.  You can always find a pick-up game going on in the streets, junior leagues competing at the local park, and at least a handful of locals willing to debate the greatest players, athletic feats of greatness and memorable moments.

Interested in playing with Cuban baseball players on your next trip to Cuba?  They’d be happy to have you.  Contact International Career Studies to find out more.    

Elephants on Parade with Edutourism

From 1957 to 1989, elephants in Thailand were primarily used in the logging industry.  They were domesticated and trained by local villagers to work and provide the family with an income.  By the end of 1989, the logging industry had grown so rapidly that the forests had been depleted to a point where only 20 percent of the forests remained forcing the government to ban the trade.  With the logging industry effectively shut down, many Thai families found themselves without a source of income, a situation made worse by the fact that they were still in possession of a very large animal with a very large appetite.  Some owners turned to illegal logging near Burma, while other mahouts train their animals to give rides to tourists or roam the city streets begging for money.

 

The lucky elephants however end up on reserves like the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand where they join a herd of domesticated animals, roam at will and enjoy leisurely baths down at the river with their mahout.

Unfortunately, despite the government’s ban on logging, the forests of Thailand are still slowly being depleted.  There is little natural habit left for elephants and only 5 percent of Thailand’s elephant population remains wild.  That is why the work the volunteers are doing at the Elephant Nature Park is so important.  In addition to providing a sanctuary for the elephants, food and nutrition, veterinary care, mental stimulation and a family environment, they also provide educational resources for guests and volunteers.

This is not just another “get your chance to ride an elephant” program. 

Conservation and raising awareness of the elephants’ situation is a vital part of what the nature park is about.  They invite tourists from around the world to come and interact with the elephants first hand.  Participants in this edutourism program can choose to volunteer for one or two weeks and be taught by the mahouts on staff about elephants, their habitat, herbal medicines, conservation efforts, and how they can help to save this endangered species.

Edutourism programs, such as the volunteer positions at the elephant park in Chiang Mai, are ideal for people and groups that want to get more out of their travels than a few photographs.  The programs are designed to be engaging, educational and informative; providing an experience and unique insight into another culture, another activity and even another social political issue such as the conservation of an endangered species.

If you are interested in participating in an edutourism program with elephants in Thailand, contact International Career Studies for more information.

Je ne parle pas le français... o español

Ok, so the title of this blog post might be a little confusing since in essence I am saying that I don’t speak French or Spanish in French and Spanish.  My secret?  About two years of high school French and the Google Translate web tool.  I figure being able to tell people I don’t speak their language is one of the first things in any language I should learn how to say just so that I am covered no matter where I travel.  Genius no?

Why am I writing about languages today?  Well, for the first and rather obvious reason is that this is a travel/education blog and language falls into both of those categories.  As much as we North Americans would like to believe that English is the dominant language everywhere in the world, we are quite often largely mistaken.  Yes, it is true that many larger tourist destinations will have some form of communication set up to cater to their English speaking guests but when you crunch the numbers, English is not the language with the highest number of first-language speakers on this planet.  In fact, it isn’t even the second.  It actually ranks third behind Mandarin Chinese and Spanish according to Ethnologue Languages of the World.

It is obvious that learning a second language can be beneficial when travelling.  Heck, picking up a common phrase book from your local Chapters.Indigo.ca would be more than useful though you are going to look like a complete tourist as you walk around with your nose buried in your phrase book hopelessly trying to ask for directions back to your hotel.

Some people enjoy learning a new language just because the study of languages interests them.  A 20 year old Oxford student named Alex Rawlings from the U.K. explains in this video how he became interested in learning new languages and eventually became fluent in eleven of them including Spanish, English, Greek and Russian.  Learning Arabic is next on his list.  Apparently is becomes easier over time and though I completely believe him, I am not worried about the ease at which I will learn language #12.  I am worried about the hassle that learning language #2 is going to be.

You’ll notice though that many of the languages that Rowlings learned first were languages that he was surrounded with and got to practice on a daily basis. 

Many people find it easier to pick up a language when they are forced to practice it on a daily basis.  High school students frequently choose to participate in a language exchange program because it is an exciting way to learn a new language at a much faster pace than they could in the classroom. But why do schools encourage students and offer incentives to those that choose to do exchange programs and take a second language all throughout high school instead of just for the first year which is often mandatory?

This question brings me to the second reason why I am writing about languages today.  Schools recognize that having a second language is extremely valuable to students as they mature and pursue a career.  Having a second language often opens up a variety of job positions that list multiple languages a requirement.  But why would a company want its employees to be able to communicate in multiple languages?  Globalization.  I’ve posted a few blogs in the past [ here and here ] that talk about this subject that you are free to refer to so that I won’t have to go in depth on the matter but the gist of it is that the workplace no longer fits in a neat little, local box.  Your suppliers, your partners, and your clients are all from diverse international backgrounds and it is important for a business to be able to communicate effectively and efficiently across all channels without having to use a third party.  Because as convenient as Google Translate is at times, its Mandarin and Thai leave a lot to be desired.

Having a second, third or fourth language makes you incredibly more valuable to an employer that is thinking on an international scale.  And even if they are not, having another language listed on your résumé communicates to employers that you have the dedicated work ethic and focus needed to learn a new language which favourably translates over into other aspects of your work.

Leading back up to the first point, learning a new language is easiest when you can practice on a daily basis and easier still if you can interact with people who also speak it fluently.  People who travel frequently often pick up bits of a language faster than others because their level of exposure is higher.  If you are serious about learning a new language, consider ditching the phrase book and participate in an international internship or exchange program.  Your age does not matter as there are a variety of programs out there that are not associated with any schools and are therefore open for anyone to participate in.  These programs range from 1 to 8 week educational travel programs and 3 to 12 month internships with many choices for combining and strengthening the language component in order to earn an individual certificate of completion.

A Logical Excuse to Participate in Edutourism

You have sold your soul to your company for the past six years and the ten vacation days that you were originally granted has been boosted up to fifteen in exchange for your continued loyalty (and your first born child).  You do the math and quickly realize that fifteen days basically amounts to three weeks as long as you include the weekends.  You haven’t had that much time off since Christmas vacation your final week of university!  You start to get excited.  Three entire weeks basking in the warm glow of the sun down on some beach in the middle of nowhere, far away from cell towers, internet connection, your e-mail inbox and the lady in your office that wears too much perfume sounds divine.  You just go on Expedia, book your trip and in no time at all you are sitting on that pristine beach (with about 5000 other tourists), enjoying the scent of the tropical breeze (and that big guy’s coconut suntan oil on your right) listening to absolutely nothing but the soothing waves against the shore (and the frat boys to your left shouting “chug, chug chug”).  All that aside, sitting back in a lawn chair is actually quite relaxing.  Until you get to day three and realize you are bored out of your mind and burnt to a crisp. Maybe you should ask that big guy if you can borrow his suntan lotion...

Now before you go and do the rational thing like splitting up for vacation time into three different getaways and booking your hotel during hurricane season to avoid the crowds, consider another equally rational option.  Edutourism.

My last post attempted to explain the new concept of what edutourism is exactly so I encourage you to go back and take a quick look at it so that you are all up to speed.  I’ll wait right here.

...

Back?  Perfect.  Moving on.  Edutourism experiences can range anywhere from one to four weeks depending on your specific program but the reason I bring it up is because these informal learning programs are perfect to keep you A-type personalities busy during your vacation.  I don’t mean run you off your feet busy, but adequately involved in the culture and local surroundings of your destination so that the boredom doesn’t sink in after three days of doing absolutely nothing but shaking sand out of your underwear towel.

Benefits for Your Vacation Experience

I’ve probably mentioned most of these already but I will quickly recap just because I think they are worth mentioning and are probably some of the more convincing reasons to participate in edutourism.

• Whether it is informal or formal learning, edutourism programs are a stimulating alternative to sitting on a lawn chair that will keep your mind occupied and your body moving.
• Many tourists come, they see and they go.  If you are going to travel abroad, you should make the most of the opportunity to take something more out of your trip beyond some nice photos.  Your destination is going to offer up a whole new culture and perspective for you to explore and the best way to experience this is to actually become involved with the people.
• Learning a new skill such as silk weaving, glass blowing, cigar rolling or any other is going to provide you with a unique vacation experience that you can brag about when you get back to reality.  And let’s face it, if we are going to take three weeks of vacation, we had better come back with a better story than “the resort was so beautiful”.

Benefits for the Destination Country

Maybe you aren’t really into the idea of edutourism for the “learning” part of the available programs but you are interested in what edutourism can actually provide for the region itself.  Few tourists are actually aware of the high impact that their vacation has on the economy and development of a particular location.  There are a few countries that base their economy heavily upon the revenue brought in by tourism.  But at the same time, these countries suffer because they are losing what makes them culturally unique as they seek to provide “westerners” with all the comforts of home and must conform their societal structure to be more accommodating and familiar.  Listed below are some of the ways that edutourism benefits the country.

• Attracts a wide base of consumers who are less satisfied with “package” vacations
• Has the potential to create a socially and economically sustainable tourism product that benefits both the region and its visitors.
• Edutourism can help rejuvenate tourism throughout the world, celebrating cultures and the intermingling of residents and visitors.
• It can provide great support for preservation and conversation of the local environment and culture and provide more meaningful opportunities for residents and visitors.
• Once of the most obvious benefits of edutourism is the sustainability aspect of it in that the local population is being more actively involved in the direct and indirect benefits of tourism.

Benefits for Your Career & Resume

Hold the phone.  I can’t be serious.  How does a vacation look good on a resume?  Well, to be specific, a vacation doesn’t but an edutourism program quite possibly could. 

• Choose an edutourism program that relates to your career.  Are you in the fashion industry? Learning to weave silk in Thailand could be a differentiating and noteworthy experience to put on your resume.  Or if you are in into sports journalism, travelling to Cuba to play baseball might also spark some interest from potential employers.
• International perspective is always a good thing to weave into your resume.  With the marketplace expanding to encompass the entire globe, employers often want proof that you will be able to adapt if you are put in a situation where you have to interact with a different culture.  Demonstrating that you were fully engaged in Japanese culture for three weeks while completing an in depth tour of temples, shrines and symbolic gardens proves that you have an interest in broadening your horizons and understanding of another peoples’ heritage.
• And at the very least, put your edutourism experience under you list of skills and interests and it will make for a good conversation piece during your next interview.  Everyone puts that they love to travel, read, play sports, etc.  You toss Elephant Mahout in there and people are going to take a second glance just to make sure they did not misread that.

http://www.edutourismconference.org/whatisedutourism.html

http://www.english360.ca/edutourism

http://entplanet.blogspot.com/2010/11/edutourism.html

Edu-What?

If you follow me on Twitter or have bothered to check out my company’s website, then you have probably noticed that I toss the term “edutourism” around quite frequently.  No, it is not a spelling error that I keep making over and over again thank-you- very-much Microsoft spellchecker so you can put away your little red squiggly line that I find rude and obnoxious every time I type out my middle name.

“Edutourism” was born through a quirk of marketing activity.  Having developed a new kind of travel program, and failing to find a word that currently existed in the Webster dictionary to describe it, “edutourism” was invented.  A basic definition of edutourism is when someone travels to a unique location for the purpose of formal or informal learning.  If Webster was to pick up this new word though, I imagine the entry would look something like this:

Edutourism - [ej-oo-toor-iz-uhm]

Derived from the Latin word ēducātiōn from which English gets its’ word for education and the combination of the Greek word tómos meaning circle from which comes the word tour and Greek suffix –ism which when used with a noun denotes an action, edu-tour-ism is the action of travelling with the intended purpose of learning a new skill or engaging in an activity that is otherwise unfamiliar with the goal of gaining educational and cultural insight into the occupation.

And for those of you who do not enjoy etymology (the study of words), here is the Urban dictionary definition:

Edutourism - [ej-oo-toor-iz-uhm]

The act of being a tourist and actually learning something about a skill or activity found locally in your destination instead of walking around completely oblivious to the culture that surrounds you.

Examples of Edutourism

•          ecotourism
•          agricultural tourism
•          medical tourism
•          cultural/historic tours
•          language courses
•          culinary training
•          short/long term academic programs
•          internships
•          courses, conferences, seminars, colloquiums
•          sabbaticals or employee exchanges
•          sports tourism
•          special interest tours

Edutourism, though it sounds similar to “ecotourism” is actually quite different since people who choose one type of travel program over the other have very different outcomes in mind.  Ecotourism focuses on travelling in a green conscious manner in order to enjoy the scenery and landscape while leaving behind the lowest ecological footprint possible.   Edutourism, while it can involved ecotourism, is all about engaging in the local culture and activities.  It is about travelling abroad in order to gain new skills and insights.  Instead of being a passive observer with a camera ready to take snap shots of whatever happens to come along, edutourism is about digging in and getting your hands dirty metaphorically and literally speaking to create photo worthy moments that you can remember for all times as you go back home and proudly demonstrate to your friends and family just how to do the “crane” as part of the water ballet routine you learn while down in Cuba alongside professional synchronized swimmers.

Now, since it is a made up word that has yet to entirely catch on (I think I am the only one who uses it frequently and my efforts to make it a trending topic on Twitter failed miserably) there are very few travel companies that offer edutourism programs. 

But for those companies that do, here is what you can expect. 

• Choose your destination. Destinations can be anywhere in the world that you were already planning on visiting so it isn’t like you are going to have to make a special, unplanned trip to participate.

• Choose the skill you would like to learn.  Skills vary by country and typically feature activities that are local to that area such as silk making in Thailand, porcelain making in Japan and mixed drink artist in Cuba.

• Choose your program length.  You need to spend at least a week completing your program as most programs go deep into the cultural traditions and history behind the skill that you are learning.  In Thailand for example, you won’t just make the silk, you will learn how the silk worm hatcheries work, how the material is harvested, dyed, woven and then sewn into elaborate kimonos. 

• Expect to spend the first few days in your destination country learning some of the language basics just so that you will be able to get around the country without too much trouble and random hand gestures.

• And do expect some down time where you will get to play the role of tourist.  Edutourism programs are designed to allow you plenty of opportunity to be a tourist and engage in the local customs, culture, eat the local cuisine, meet the people and relax.

 What types of edutourism programs would you be interested in participating in?  Have you ever participated in a similar program?  I’d love to hear about your experiences so drop me a comment.  We might get “edutourism” into the Webster dictionary after all.

http://www.edutourismconference.org/whatisedutourism.html

http://www.english360.ca/edutourism

http://entplanet.blogspot.com/2010/11/edutourism.html

[ Edited: "Edutourism" has officially been added to the Urban Dictionary.  The definition for edutourism can now be found here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=edutourism ]