Minding your manners when traveling
September 21st, 2007, 3:18 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Brian
Did you read this week’s Border Crossings column? I know, it’s rather a touchy subject but every now and then we need to be reminded that when we cross borders, we frequently end up immersed in cultures entirely different than our own and need to be mindful of our manners. Go ahead, read it, and, as always, feel free to comment.
When traveling, especially when traveling abroad, I always recommend doing it on your own, free of the confines of the packaged tour. On the tours, you’re virtually isolated, experiencing the stops on your itinerary through a bubble of the tour bus, despite occasional stops to get out and stretch your legs or to take a group tour through a landmark before hopping back on the coach.
But even if you’re not traveling overseas, seeing new places by yourself or with just a companion (or two, but really, not many more than that) still offers the chance to wander off the beaten path and discover the real pulse of the places you visit.
Without the mob cruising on the Mercedes (or sometimes a Volvo) bus, you have more of an incentive to be more aware and respectful of the places you visit.
I once escorted a group to the Austrian Tirol for a winter holiday. One of the girls, who suffered from horrible bouts of ethnocentrism, said, “You gotta teach me some of that German so I can communicate with these people.” “These people” were our hosts. We were all appalled at her attitude, wondering if it was the same way she approached her hosts when she’d visit peoples’ homes back in her native Minnesota.
So we told her, “We’re sure you noticed how dining is such a nice, leisurely activity over here.” “Yeah,” she retorted. “It takes forever to get your food!” We tried in vain to explain to someone with a McDonald’s viewpoint on dining that meal times in most Germanic cultures are times to relax and converse. Meals can go on for hours, if you wish. Finally, since she insisted, we had to teach her to say, “I’m hungry!”
“Ich bin schwanger,” she rehearsed a few times, getting it down pretty admirably, in fact.
After a lively snowball fight in the street outside our Kitzbühel pensione late one afternoon, we tumbled into the wonderful café down the street to warm up over some hot cocoa and pastries. To hasten hers along, Carol declared to the dirndl-clad server, “Ich bin schwanger!” The waitress looked in amazement. Carol smiled and nodded. The server nodded.
We had taught Carol to say, “I am pregnant.”
I can’t recall if we ever corrected her. Probably not.
The point is, mind your manner when abroad—or even when traveling domestically. Innocent cultural and etiquette faux pas can be easily forgiven by your hosts, but ethnocentric arrogance reflects poorly not just on yourself, but on all Americans.
Keep crossing those borders!
