Is it immoral to be a tourist?
A few weeks ago we returned from spending a week long vacation in Cuba. You may have even read my last post with suggestions for anyone else who might be interested in traveling there.
So, why, out of the blue, am I asking you about the morality of tourism?
Well, it’s probably because of Jamaica Kincaid and her book, A Small Place.
Posted in business, Economy, Europe, history, money, morality, politics, Travel
Tagged A Small Place, Antigua and Barbuda, beaches, check your privilege, colonialism, colonization, Corruption, economy, ethical tourism, ethical traveler, ethics, finances, gender, government, Jamaica Kincaid, money, morality, opportunity, race, relaxation, school, sexual orientation, slavery, social classes, social justice, social stratification, Tourism, travel, university
As you probably remember from last week, John and I just went on our belated honeymoon to Cuba.
And yes, there were awesome old cars everywhere.
We only went for one week, but we had a blast. The beaches were just as warm and beautiful as I’d been picturing. There were cigars available everywhere, just like John had been hoping. And the architecture in Old Havana was just as beautifully eclectic as you’d imagine for a country with such a fascinating history.
The only problem was, I really didn’t plan out our trip at all. Our entire summer was one crazy adventure after another and this was our final journey, so I was too busy planning other things to do much more than book an all-inclusive. While we did love our little escape, there are a few things we learned along the way that I wish I had known beforehand. Continue reading
Posted in Canada, government, language, Travel
Tagged airport tax, all-inclusive, barter, beachfront, broken tiles, Casa Particular, credit card, Cuba, Cuba Libre, food, gifts, guidebook, Havana, Hemingway Marina, hotel, hotel reviews, internet, money, Pina Colata, resort, rum, Santa Maria Beach, socialism, Spanish, Sunwing, swimming, tip, tips, tobacco, Tourism, tourist, tours, travel, travel agent, United States, vintage cars, vitamin r
Guess where I am right now?
That’s right, Quebec! (Sorry, you don’t get a prize because I already gave you the answer in the title of the post).
Look how far away I am from home!!
Those of you who follow the blog (or know me in person) will know that I live in British Columbia. Anyone who saw my excited Facebook announcement will know why I am here, but for anyone who didn’t, I want to give you an outline of where I am exactly and why.
This past year John and I both applied for a program called Explore. It’s a bursary provided by the Canadian government that pays for English students to experience French immersion (and vice versa for French students). The bursary covers room and board along with the cost of the classes, the majority of extra curricular activities and textbooks. Students just need to find their own way to the school they’ve chosen. The bursary covers a wide variety of schools; some provide a credited program and some do not. John and I both applied for the language program in a small town called Trois Pistoles. Since it’s pretty easy to find pockets of English in both Montreal and Quebec City, we chose somewhere small that would (ideally) force us to use French as much as possible.
A couple days ago, I came across Primer, an online magazine declaring itself “A guy’s post-college guide to growing up.” At first glance, it appears to share a lot of similarities with another publication I reviewed, The Art of Manliness, and while I’d like (and intend) to do a full-on compare/contrast piece, I’ve still got some research to do. As of yet, though, the primary distinction between Primer and Art of Manliness is that the former appears to be a lot more validating of the millennial generation, who are more commonly accused of laziness, selfishness, and naivety.
And let the debate rage on…
Posted in education, money, Youth
Tagged 20s, 30 is not the new 20, 30s, adventure, apartment, Art of Manliness, career, change, charity, childhood, debt, Dominic Preston, economic crisis, economy, Education, extended adolescence, Generation Y, graduate, job, lazy, lecture, Meg Jay, millennial, millennials, naive, non profit, primer, purpose, review, selfish, student loans, TED Talks, teens, travel, undergarduate, volunteer
GORDON: Well people, we did, at long last and after many a tearful plea, get suggestions for this week’s topic.
It was all of a whoppin’ two, but hey- progress is progress.
EVAN: That being said, today we are going to turn our sights on a topic presented by Hannah, one that all three of us in particular can relate to:
I’d like to hear your take on what it’s like to be a TCK, whether it’s possible to really be a “global citizen”, and how you make judgements (if you can) across cultures.
For those of you who didn’t know, “TCK” stands for “third culture kid,” a little something we know about seeing as a) we were from one culture before b) being implanted into another culture and c) not finding ourselves fitting fully into either created a third.
That’s sort of the dictionary definition of things, anyway.
Posted in America, Asia, Canada, Evan and Gordon Talk, Youth
Tagged America, American, Canada, Canadian, Chinese New Year, Cross Cultural, Cultural, Culture, David Pollock, East, elderly, gloabl citizen, global citizen, Honor, Hospitality, irish, Italian, Italian-American, middle-east, New Year, Philippines, Relatvism, St. Patrick's Day, subculture, Syria, TCK, Thailand, Third Culture Kid, travel, west
I found the worst thing.
Gary Arndt, the blogger at Everything Everywhere, posted about a new site called Miss Travel.
[youtube.com=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JLSiy4nUvnc”%5DSo, as you see, attractive women are paid by rich (mostly married, it seems) men to be “companions” during travel.
I’m tired, so I’m going to let you all think about this and come to your own snarky conclusions.
The site was founded by Brandon Wade, who founded the similarly designed and also terrible whatsyourprice.com.
So obviously, I signed up for the site (which was free) so I could look more into it. The process itself was unsettling – I guess it’s just because I’ve never signed up for a dating site before. It was eerie when they asked my eye and hair color, but then when I saw the options for “relationship status,”
Adventures in creating a fake dating website profile
I remembered that this was a dating website. Very odd. Also, the displayed option of having an internet-sanctioned marital affair was a weird thing to see. I guess I just haven’t had many internet affairs.
So once I filled out – with not a small amount of shame – my fake account, I went and looked at some of the featured “Generous donors”. Jezebel was right – a large amount of married men, most of them (at least reportedly) millionaires (I didn’t even KNOW that there were that many millionaires in the world). Their profiles ranged from the obvious (photos in front of expensive cars – and one that was just a helicopter) to the sort of sad (a 34-year-old, “little bit on the shy side with women. but confident when working,” whose profile photo was just him in an empty white room taking a picture with his iPhone in a mirror) to the amusing (“Want to travel the world before 12/21/12 … all the girls I know have jobs and arent willing to quit there jobs”).
The relationship-seeking options on MissTravel.com
And yes, people are looking for sex. I mean, I’m not surprised – people are often looking for sex. But the sex-looking is just so official and thinly veiled. One Generous traveler, under his description of his desired “Attractive traveler”, wrote “I hope my companion is also sensual and affectionate.”.
There is also the option for Generous travelers to just gift frequent flier miles to Attractive travelers – the dubiousness of the “gift” nature of this is described tactfully: “So why would a Travel Sponsor give you miles? For many reasons. Some may want an online friend.” The lesson is: pictures of your boobs (which most of the profile pictures of Attractive travelers are anyways) will be rewarded.
One odd aside is that MissTravel.com linked the Jezebel article under their media coverage, which is called The Dating Website Where Rich People Take Pretty People on Fancy Vacations, Which Is 100% Definitely Not Prostitutey at All. I guess any publicity is good publicity and all that. But really – the article described the site as having “a F***TON of gross married dudes.”
Also, Gary Arndt was wrong about one thing: he said that “Most of the women in the system seem like very normal women.” If normal women pose in bikinis on their knees on their beds in front of cheap webcams and use profile pictures that cut off their heads so to better display their cleavage, then yes, most of the women on Miss Travel are very normal women.
So, for your weekend meditation, I ask you to consider the impressive ability of the internet to bring all of the bad ideas and unscrupulous people into one place.
Posted in bizarreness
Tagged affairs, Boy this is rambly boy am I tired, gold digging, Miss Travel, online dating, prostitution, sex, social networks, sugar daddies, travel
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