Talking Travel-The Magazine Spring, 2013 | Page 6

The other part of the eco-montra is to "take nothing with you", but you can still take… YOU were there to experience this one event in your own unique way. 1) Excitement, enthusiasm and a sense of wonderment by visiting a new destination. 8) Another country. For those countrycounters out there, you know that every country has its own unique characteristics. It is not just another number… or another country on a particular continent. It is not a faceless destination but it is actually someone’s home. Travel is a declaration against generalizing and stereotyping and should always be a celebration of the diversity of the planet. 2) Understanding and tolerance of different traditions, customs and ways of thinking. 3) Knowledge of culture, history and local dress, plus festivals, music and food. 4) Memorable smiles and photographs The view from the Castle, Cesky Krumlov, The Czech Republic 5) The flavour of the country—smells and tastes, indigenous to that society 6) A new friend. All of a sudden the country is not a place-name somewhere on the other side of the globe—it is a friend you once visited. This is what makes the world 'smaller' and creates the vision of a global community 7) A unique experience: Ponder that when you see something, whether it is sunrise on a mountain top, or a butterfly in a jungle or forest, or a child’s smile, or the profound thought that out of the 6 billion people on the earth—only 9) What you take with you is a feeling that even if it is your first-ever country visited, you have made a positive advance toward being a global citizen. 10) What you take with you? A sense that while our planet may be lonely in the context of being the only one that supports life (that we know of) in our galaxy, the planet is anything but, a sad, disconsolate place. It is a thriving, boisterous cacophony of life—and it is there for you to fulfill your dreams of discovery.