Globalization can be seen in European tourism. Europe is hosting more wealthy Indian, Middle Eastern, and Asian travelers than ever.
I got an email recently from a man who said, “Thanks for the TV shows. They will provide a historical documentation of a time when Europe was white and not Muslim. Keep filming your beloved Europe before it’s gone.”
I thought again how feisty fear is these days in the USA. Fear. A fear of African Americans swept the USA in the ‘60s. Jews have been feared throughout European history. Today, Muslims are feared. A Sienese friend told me how his cathedral — with its distinct black and white stripes, mixing both Byzantine arches and French Gothic arches—symbolizes to him how Siena was a power in its day because it welcomed the merging of east and west without fear.
In Austria, I shared a table with a young man from Kobe. I said I was from Seattle. He became all high-fives, since Ichiro (the Mariners baseball superstar) was from Kobe. A single traveler, he was backpacking, but with a big, red, hard-sided suitcase. Surprising me, he asked the waiter if he could park his suitcase inside the restaurant’s door for a couple hours and hiked off to explore the ruined castle overlooking the Danube. It’s great to see Asian travelers gaining the confidence to explore Europe without the crutch of a big bus tour and guide. My Swiss friend, Fritz, earns money on the side by taking travelers tandem parasailing. Fritz says, “There are 20 million Indian millionaires. They know how to be big shots.” He tells of an obese patron he took tandem flying. With a good updraft and a normal-size passenger, you take two steps and you’re flying. On this particular day there was neither. Fritz asked his customer to help by running. His big Indian patron said, “I don’t run. I pay. You run.” It was a memorable flight, perhaps foreshadowing a harsh reality to come for Western cultures — American and European alike.
After a hailstorm in Interlaken that made all the Swiss papers, the National Guard came out with their clean-up gear. A heavy fog bank settled on the vast grazing ground that marks the center of town. The children of Saudi families were running in and out of the fog banks, disappearing and reappearing with glee as their parents photographed them. Fritz said that Arab travelers are also discovering the Alps. They come here for the fog and the rain. They love the rain.
In a strange little mental detour, I considered all the fuss over our visit to the Dordogne foie gras goose farm earlier on our trip, where I was so impressed at how decently the geese were being treated for our TV cameras. Then I wondered if that farm might be the Terezín Concentration Camp of foie gras — just set up for the media.
The discussion on this blog about candor in travel reporting got me thinking about the movie Koyaanisqatsi. There’s not a word in the entire movie until the end, when we see a printed Hopi Indian proverb about “life out of balance.” Half of the movie is insane “techno-fascism” traffic, tension, people embattled by urban sadness, spinning cranes, and ugly graffiti. The other half is soothing vistas of pristine nature as if from the eyes of a soaring eagle.
Standing in the lobby of Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace with piles of fan-waving tourists, it occurred to me that I could produce a TV special called “Koyaaturismos”: first the ugly reality of mass tourism on the road, then a pristine montage of all the glories — no words…just the rewards of exploring the natural and cultural wonders of Europe.
Very poignant, Rick. Thank you.
We are not Pollyannish about our travels, but there is really no place where we have visited in 70 countries and Islands that we would not be happy to revisit tomorrow. We are there to learn about their home and way of life, and we try not to tell everyone that our home and our culture is best, even though we are positive that it is.
If I want to see how the Mexicans live I will go to Mexico, not Van Nuys. If I want to know how the Algerians live, I will go to Algeria, not Paris. Remember, a country has two things, and two things only — a border and a culture, if you violate either, out you go.
Already too many foreigners want to live in the USA and in Western Europe, obeying all the tenets of their previous culture that they hated enough to leave. If it was so bad that you left, why bring it along? The rights, the duties, and the privileges protected and guaranteed by any Culture, do not, and must never include the right to destroy that Culture.
Mr. Humberd, I must say that I have enjoyed your comments almost as much as I have relished reading Rick’s blog. Love the RV–should do that myself. Will, (finally!), be in Italy next year for 3 weeks! Thanks, All, for your postings! Will read you next year! Keep on traveling! Leah
Leah,
Go to Rick’s Blog “Europhiles Get Defensive”
Find my Comment, click on Norway, and you will find my site with many stories about Italy. And Ricks headquarters, of course you have my permission to get rid of this comment, but leave it up a couple of days if you can. Leah, Email me as soon as you find it.
Thank you Rick(and Mr.Humberd) for a wonderful blog. Although it could get heated at times it was both educational and entertaining. My wife and I will be leaving for an 11 day trip to Vienna and Budapest in September. This will our first Europe trip and cannot wait.Hopefully we will have some exciting experiences to relay when we get back. God bless
So, make that documentary. It would play on PBS for a decade as a traveling political commentary. Would be good for attitude adjustment. A thread woven throughout could be “does wealth make us better travelers and better people” – i.e., it seems most of us enjoyed our excursions more when we were relatively poor, slung a back pack on filled with tuna and peanut butter, and took off without much of a clear destination in mind. I sleep in hotels nowadays, but I yearn for my sleeping bag under the stars too. My wife says I am too old for that now, but she is wrong.
Brian, maybe you are too old to sleep in a sleeping bag, I stopped that just as soon as I got out of the Army.
These days, if I want to “rough it†I turn the electric blanket on low!
Some people ask about our trips as if they must be a chore, at times unpleasant. A tennis partner said that he can’t imagine a visit to Paris without a night at the Ritz Hotel. Another commented that when he and his wife “rough it†they stay at a Holiday Inn instead of a more luxurious hotel.
To each his own! We certainly don’t “rough it,†we couldn’t be more comfortable.
During our private travels we have spent 200 to 300 nights in maybe 130 hotels (a guess), in perhaps 40 states, from Prague in Europe, to Saipan in the South Pacific. But only 23 were hotel nights in Europe, out of 968 total. During business travel, I spent maybe another 900 nights in 70 cities in 37 States, in maybe 150 to 200 different hotels (a guess). Another hotel is not high on our destination priorities.
OK Jim, I really have to call BS this time. Culture is not a static entity, it is in a constant state of change and development. France, or Germany, or Zimbabwe are have a completely different culture today than 200 years ago. Like in the USA immigrants bring their cultures and add them to the host nation–be it French Huegonauts in Berlin (thanks for the beer and the boulette) or Mexicans in the US (thanks for the taco). Each new wave earns their right to stay by enduring the hatred and disdain of the group that came before them. To this end Algerians in Paris are just as much a part of French culture as Victor Hugo and to deny this is to hinder their integration and justify their isolation. As an immigrant myself (from the USA), hardly any of us hate their original home and most of us do integrate into their new cultures–that doesn’t mean that I don’t want a Rootbeer float right about now. We adapt–it is the only way for a culture to move forward.
Well said, Rick! Happy travels!
Mr. Humberd: “Already too many foreigners want to live in the USA and in Western Europe, obeying all the tenets of their previous culture that they hated enough to leave. If it was so bad that you left, why bring it along?” My thoughts: I believe most foreigners do NOT leave their birth country due to hatred of the culture back home but rather for other reasons…usually related to political persecution or economic conditions. Their birth country culture is what gave them their values and made them who they are. And most are proud of it. I just finished watching the documentary, “God Grew Tired of Us’ and was reminded of this. The lost boys of the Sudan who immigrated to the U.S. missed their native Dinka culture tremendously. But they certainly did not miss the daily ordeal of trying to stay alive. Watching this powerful movie was like seeing our own culture through “fresh eyes”. Our culture is good but I am not certain that it is “the best”.
Christopher and Mary,
I had no intention of getting off Rick’s subject, and there is no space to answer, but just a comment.
The reason people come to the US and Europe is because of our culture versus theirs. Name me one item of culture in the so-called eastern world that you would like to replace something we have already?
Try this
Most passengers on our cruise tended to congregate with others their countrymen. The English are different then Germans, who are different then French, who are different then Italians, who are different then Greeks, who are different then — whoever. Viva La Difference! That’s diversity as it is intended to be, from country to country, not the phony diversity of people going to another country, and taking their culture with them.
The tour director said when passengers were mainly Americans, they were so much friendlier, and so much easier to get along with, than the European passengers.
I just have to add this.
If these people are so great why is the place they left such a mess? What if Georgie Washington, Tommy Jefferson, and Benny Franklin had said, “This place is a mess, let’s go to Canada.â€
If they love their home country so much, after they live here a while, and learn how we live, why don’t they go home and fix up the home place?
Where I lived a few years ago, so many of the doctors, who were trained in the US, were from the Middle East, so I said to one, “What do people in Iran do when they need to see a doctor?â€
I firmly believe that any non-citizen who attends college in the USA, must spend at least 10 years in their home country before they are allowed to re-enter the USA. Why leave the rest of the world a mess, just because others want to sneak into the US.
(Sorry Rick, but a comment was needed.)
Please let’s get back to what the purpose of this site is – Rick’s blog! Thanks. I pray that Rick’s dad is doing well as well as the rest of his family. Didn’t Anne join you on this trip? Safe travels home to you all.
Muslims are feared for good reason. Terror in Madrid, London, attempted attacks in Italy, murder in Amsterdam, rioting in France, attacks on Jews in France, attacks on gays in Amsterdam… European values of free speech are lost when newspaper editors fear publishing cartoons spoofing Mohammed or when Politicians in Holland have to go into hiding if they say something that displeases the Muslim population. Recently a bishop in the Netherlands said that the Dutch should stop saying ‘God’ and should start calling God “Allah” so as not to offend the Muslims. The Taliban destroyed the ancient Buddhas in Afghanistan, because they have no tolerance for diversity of faiths and freedom of religion. When they take over Europe, how long will Notre Dame last?
It’s fascinating to see the waves of cultural influence in Europe and how people take to it. I do think some people don’t see the physical historical presence of what other cultures have brought to Europe. Maybe if people did they might not make such short-sighted comments.
Rick: Your shows and books are great. I just wanted you to give credit to Philip Glass, who wrote the music for “Koyaanisqatsi,” an interesting film. Thanks. Bill.
A fear of African Americans swept the USA in the ‘60s. Jews have been feared throughout European history. Today, Muslims are feared. The difference is that Jews & African Americans never blew anybody up. Today Muslims are feared because they have an actualy recorded history of hijacking airplanes and ramming them into buildings. Don’t forget the subway bombings in London & Madrid, bombing embassies, bombing ships, stabbing Theo Van Gough in broad daylight & issuing death warrants for people who draw/publish cartoons. Our fear is not without REASON.
The reason people come to the US and Europe is because of our culture versus theirs. Name me one item of culture in the so-called eastern world that you would like to replace something we have already? That’s not true. At all. An ‘economy’ is not equated with a culture. People come to the US and Western Europe because of the economy, not culture. American ‘culture’ is more and more limited to Hollywood, guns, and sports. And I can name you plenty of ‘items of culture in the so-called eastern world’ that I would like to replace something we have already. A sense of harmony with the environment, a sense of peace and tolerance with ‘conflicting’ religious beliefs, and a sense of honor, something lost in much of the West. “Muslims are feared for good reason.” All ignorant extremists are feared for good reason. Christians are guilty of deplorable violence historically as well, far moreso than any other religion in fact. It’s ‘fundamentalist religion’ that should be feared.