How to be a responsible Traveler?
- Apr 3, 2017
- 4 min read
Traveling is a pretty amazing boon to us. We can’t wait to be on vacation. And we are always so giddy about travel. But there are people who have to face consequences of our travel. Hence, we thought how about we increase their rewards? How awesome is it that we have ways to keep everybody happy. The travelers happy because well travel and the locals happy too. Here are a few things you just gotta do!
Keep your common sense and any other kind of sense alive and working. The thing is when we go touring a lot of us become numb. We get so involved in our own travel that we forget that this is someone’s home. And you’re pissing someone off. That’s right Andre I can still hear you! So I invite you all to be just a little bit more aware. And not crowd on the footpath, we have places to go too! Yes Mr. Patel and family Kem Cho this one’s for you!
2. Now that we’re done with that obvious one, let’s see what we can do to make this all easier for everybody. Yep, local shopping. That’s one thing that you can( and should do) For one, you get an authentic experience of local life if you do. And also Ramu has to go to school too, it ain’t just your son with his belly touching the ground. The people in such areas suffer so profusely. They do not have many resources and along with that they have to deal with our screaming and squealing. So by staying in a family home stay resort and having food in the local hotel and buying things from the local market, you’re helping out them and their families. Think of it as you helping India. Yeah! India needs your help!
3. Wildlife. We all love it don’t we. It is beautiful really. All around you is the calm place where the nature thrives and prospers. It’s serene and quiet. The ecosystem is all co-existing perfectly. And then in the middle of this calm, there is a fat, pot bellied man sitting on the elephant with his wife, calling out to tigers. I mean, why? Why do you insist on making such a big fool out of yourself. For one, can you imagine what the elephant must be saying . Ignoring all the cuss words, the poor animal must be going, ‘ Bro, I should be sitting on your back!’ So I plead you, very frantically, please think at least a 20 times before going through anything that might harm these poor animals who have not done anything to you( even though they all could). And if even after this you are still doing it, well then best of luck to your conscience for dealing with it! *Sorry I feel very strongly about this*
4 .Respect. Respect is the most important thing to dealing with life. Traveling opens us all up to so many, many cultures. It is quite wonderful really. But somewhere along the way, we forget to respect it. If it was someone disrespecting your culture, they’d be up in flames. So it’s time we learned this. We respect culture when we are wearing those Kashmir outfits and taking couple photos amidst the mountains, but we forget everything while donning our shorts( which are so, so short) to mandirs. Don’t get me wrong, everybody should wear exactly what they want to, and I know it’s really hot. But I’m sorry, but there has to be a little bit respect for the people. I’m not even saying do it cause god doesn’t like shorts. Do it because it matters to these people. Do it because even if you don’t, someone else believes in it. And we all want something to believe in. So all it takes is a little bit of caring and respect about other people’s choices and beliefs. It’s granted and okay if your opinions don’t match. But that isn’t a good enough reason to ditch them.
5. Waste is the burden of our existence. We cannot live without resulting in it. And that is understood. But if you think about this, I mean really think about this, how funny is it that we, evolved giants with our GPS and our 10000 inch flat screens, throw out the banana peel as soon as we’re done. I mean how much do you think we have really evolved? It’s like in appearances we are all sophisticated, but in our actions we are bandars. So take this up today, with me. Let us top being apes and become the homo sapiens that our genetics require us to be. If not, well I am starting zoo and guess who’s gonna be in there. Those who are with me, let us all avoid and boycott plastic. And recycle most of what we use. There are ways you can recycle products on travel. Like in wildlife resort you can take all of it and give it to the forest department. And if not aware of these ways, I suggest you open your mind to it.
6.‘ Bhaiyya 200 bohot hua 150 ko dedo.’ What does that sound like? Of course bargaining. So tell me the secret. What is bargaining really about? Because I’m sure it isn’t about those 50 bucks. You spend 500 times that in a day( hyperbole alert!) . No I want to know. What is it about? What kind of happiness do you get from cracking that poor guy trying to feed his family( and maybe buying a bottle of liquor) to get him to reduce 10 bucks off the price. I mean, he deserves a little bit of profit. You won’t say a word giving it to Zara because bro standard. So this guy who’s entire life depends on that money is not worth it? So today I’m gonna start a petition. ‘ Give him those 50 bucks’ petition. Who’s with me? If you aren’t I suggest you stay away from those markets.
Sooo! That’s the basic minimum requirement I feel one should complete to be a responsible traveler. I mean there are advanced settings. But if you can’t do these , I don’t think you’d be able to reduce your carbon footprint.
So do you think you can do these? What are the things that you feel make a responsible traveler? Do you consider yourself a responsible traveler? If so, revert back! It’s a close knit circle of us travellers. So until next time Adios! Have a great day!
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