Discovery is magic. It is. Think of another word to describe the word discover and I am not sure if anything comes closer to convey the emotion of the word other than magic.
As a traveller, one is a discoverer. The person has embarked on a journey to find something- a new place, a new flavour, a new person, an experience or maybe just some peace. Every single step of that process can be a new lesson. Take for example, my first ever trip to US. It was the first time I was being abroad and there were a thousand things that were going to be my first. In an email that VM wrote to me just before I was about to leave and on knowing that I was terribly nervous, he said, that I should enjoy every bit of it.
My first trip to the international airport, the first time I would be interviewed by the immigration department, the first time on an international flight and the list went on. I think discovering that the word ‘keluar’ means ‘exit’ in Malaysia, or that ‘tandas’ means toilet is also part of the journey.
However, there are some people on your trip who would like to do the discovery for you. Does that happen to you or does it happen to only travelers like me who allow others to walk all over their, ahem, journey? There are those who will jump in and tell you what the dish tastes like without you asking, those telling you exactly where to go to find a souvenir that you’re looking for or just telling you how at home they are in a foreign country.
This person is not a local, mind you, it is your fellow traveller.
There are so many sides to this and I understand that some people are very protective and help out because they genuinely mean well. However, there are those who literally trample over your process of discovery. Sometimes I think the attempt is to tell the other bungling traveller that indeed by the time you figure out which train you want to take I will have reached the destination or just to show off- as they say knowledge is power. And power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. The point is, that knowledge in this context is not really being used for communal gain, is it? I am a slow person. I take one step at a time. I get on the escalator and then figure out what to do. I do not hold ten papers in my hand because I will need them in the entire journey. I am the person who will cross the bridge when I get to it. Or the escalator.
I am ok being the tortoise. I am ok being slow. I am not ok with someone spilling the beans… You cannot blow the candles off of someone else’s birthday cake, nor can you fit into someone else’s shoe. Some things are meant for someone else. Next time you have the urge to lead the way, try and stop and hold the person’s hand instead. But wait for them to extend it first.
Travellers need companions. Not Leaders.
As a traveller, one is a discoverer. The person has embarked on a journey to find something- a new place, a new flavour, a new person, an experience or maybe just some peace. Every single step of that process can be a new lesson. Take for example, my first ever trip to US. It was the first time I was being abroad and there were a thousand things that were going to be my first. In an email that VM wrote to me just before I was about to leave and on knowing that I was terribly nervous, he said, that I should enjoy every bit of it.
My first trip to the international airport, the first time I would be interviewed by the immigration department, the first time on an international flight and the list went on. I think discovering that the word ‘keluar’ means ‘exit’ in Malaysia, or that ‘tandas’ means toilet is also part of the journey.
However, there are some people on your trip who would like to do the discovery for you. Does that happen to you or does it happen to only travelers like me who allow others to walk all over their, ahem, journey? There are those who will jump in and tell you what the dish tastes like without you asking, those telling you exactly where to go to find a souvenir that you’re looking for or just telling you how at home they are in a foreign country.
This person is not a local, mind you, it is your fellow traveller.
There are so many sides to this and I understand that some people are very protective and help out because they genuinely mean well. However, there are those who literally trample over your process of discovery. Sometimes I think the attempt is to tell the other bungling traveller that indeed by the time you figure out which train you want to take I will have reached the destination or just to show off- as they say knowledge is power. And power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. The point is, that knowledge in this context is not really being used for communal gain, is it? I am a slow person. I take one step at a time. I get on the escalator and then figure out what to do. I do not hold ten papers in my hand because I will need them in the entire journey. I am the person who will cross the bridge when I get to it. Or the escalator.
I am ok being the tortoise. I am ok being slow. I am not ok with someone spilling the beans… You cannot blow the candles off of someone else’s birthday cake, nor can you fit into someone else’s shoe. Some things are meant for someone else. Next time you have the urge to lead the way, try and stop and hold the person’s hand instead. But wait for them to extend it first.
Travellers need companions. Not Leaders.
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