My bag was packed for the journey. It was a long one and at 11 years old I really couldn’t comprehend the more than 11,000 kilometres we were about to travel.
“Now boarding.”
I walked onto the first leg of a flight from Vancouver, Canada to Cairns, Australia. Five weeks later my family and I landed back at YVR. Everything in Vancouver was the same, except me. My passion to see the world had been ignited.
Since then I have travelled to more countries than I can count on my fingers and toes, made friends with people from various cultures and learned phrases in languages most people don’t even know exist. These experiences have given me a new way of seeing my city, Vancouver.
Saint Augustine once said, “the world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.” By exploring the world beyond Vancouver we are able to see not only what makes this city beautiful, but also its blemishes.
Travelling, whether to the U.S., Morocco, Lithuania, France or Peru, provides a point of comparison. As you pile into the Parisian metro tighter than sardines into a can during the morning rush hour, you realize that many more people could fit on the Skytrain in Vancouver. Then, as you cruise along packed in tight enough to feel the pulse of the person next to you, it dawns on you that having some space wouldn’t be so bad.
When abroad – and when coming home – what becomes most striking are the little things. How long you spend eating dinner, what’s appropriate attire for daily life, how you resolve an issue at the bank or even what the most common topics of discussion are. None of these are fixed. The more places we go, the more pages we read, the clearer this becomes. It isn’t that one way is better than another, but by seeing this diversity you can engage with and appreciate it more.
The beautiful thing about travelling is that it opens you up to experience diversity in a way that nothing else can, even after you return home. It’s as if your sense of curiosity gets kicked into overdrive. By shattering your notion of the way the world, friendship, taxis, food, etc., works, everything can be seen anew.
Simply going away isn’t enough though. As American historian Daniel J. Boorstin writes: “The traveller was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes ‘sightseeing.’” This zealous search for excitement doesn’t end when you come home.
Shortly after I returned from living in Paris last year, where I spent the final year of my undergraduate degree studying international relations, I was waiting for the Seabus at Lonsdale Quay. I decided to get a slice of pizza and, while waiting for it, I asked the woman who was serving me where she was from.
“Romania,” she replied, “Do you know where that is?”
I did, and asked if she was from Bucharest, the capital. She was floored. I’ve never been there, but friends of mine have and they’ve all told me it’s a beautiful and interesting city. I asked her how to say thank you in Romanian: “mulţumesc.” I immediately put it in my phone as a note. Now every time I get a slice of pizza there, I tell her “mulţumesc” and the smile it gets is priceless.
But I’m no saint. My traveller spirit ebbs and flows like everything else in my life. It was undoubtedly at a high point when I learned how to say thank you in Romanian. I doubt I ever would have had that conversation if I hadn’t been abroad though.
People in Vancouver often brand their home as an international city. Strengthen and build this reputation, starting with yourself. Internationalize this city from the inside out. Many cities have people from around the world, but what can make a city truly international is the people who are able to connect the local with the global.
For me, by gaining international experience not only have I learned to see Vancouver in a new light, it’s also opened up a new side of the city that wasn’t accessible before, the international side. Whether it’s speaking with someone in French, talking to someone about his or her home country or saying a couple words in the person’s native tongue, it creates a sense of welcome, or so I’ve found.
Vancouver is a beautiful city with international character. Internationalize yourself, turn the pages of the world, as Saint Augustine would say, be Daniel J. Boorstin’s traveller and engage with what our city has to offer.
