With the development of Social Media, many people have begun sharing their photographs of their travels. And in this trend and whole industry of “influencers” arose; specifically travel bloggers and vloggers.
Another trend that developed was the bucket list, in which many people to make lists of things that they want to achieve by a certain age or before they pass away. This is an admirable concept, especially for those who want to experience more than what they perceive as an ordinary life. However, in trying to fulfill their bucket lists, some people have become insensitive to what is truly worthwhile in their surroundings and in life.
Here is my short guide to making a better bucket list for any traveler:
- Get to Know Your Home Town / Province
Most people have dreams to travel into far away destinations, and when they get there they would immerse themselves with knowing that place inside out. However, these same people often do know much of their home town or province. If they are aware of a certain local heritage site or place of cultural importance, they would never take the extra step to explore that place.
I was born and raised in Quezon City, and then moved to Marikina in my 20s. I never knew how rich the culture and history of both cities had, until I decided to walk their streets. Much of those histories are written in my blog:
https://lakansining.wordpress.com/
If you can plan an exotic getaway, why not also plan regular small trips to know your own place? Who knows what equally beautiful experiences you can have that are not so far from your residence?
- Walk the Talk
In all my travels in the Philippines and around the world, I have discovered many interesting this about the places I have visited by walking around these cities. You get to experience more while walking towards you destination, compared to just taking a ride towards your destination.
Now that I live in Cebu City, and during my walks I have discovered so many historical and cultural artifacts that some of the city’s tourism officials have missed.
Even visiting New York, I learned more about the Fashion District by walking around Manhattan, compared to what could be read in the internet then.
And in my walks, I have met so many wonderful people and listened to their stories.
And another bonus is that walking will give you a good cardiovascular exercise.
- Go to a quiet and beautiful place and don’t take pictures
I do take a lot of pictures, to document details of the artworks and historical sites I have seen and to do more research on them for my blog, with an occasional selfie to prove that I was there and not downloading images from the internet. I also take pictures of interesting stories that I find in the streets, and share them on my Instagram account on street photography:
https://www.instagram.com/lakandiwa_/?hl=en
But I have observed that some people are too obsessed in taking those perfect selfies about their vacations, yet they never actually experience the wealth all around them. That includes people taking too much photos of their food that it becomes cold.
Take time to experience a location in all its wonder, without the distraction of having to take a picture to upload to your social media account. Have a private and intimate experience that the whole world doesn’t have to know about.
In my younger years, I always carried a SLR camera (a 1980s Canon A-1), and I was too distracted by being worried about the camera’s safety when traveling, its weight, how much film exposures to use when documenting a scene, etc. When I decided not to bring my camera around, I began to truly enjoy the places I went to.
Now that I have a digital camera in my phone, weight and exposures are no longer an issue, but I still take just a few pictures so that I have more time to immerse. At the same time, I see so many people viewing the places they are visiting from behind their camera phones, or fiddling with their drones to get that perfect aerial shot, or even taking too many selfies instead of enjoying themselves.
- When visiting major cities or towns, sample the local food
There are some travelers who are too lazy to find out what is different in a new place, when it comes to food.
For example, in Baguio City, I have seen hundreds of tourists troop towards the mall, and eat at fastfood restaurants that they can find also in Manila. In the end, they end up paying more than what they would have if they only ate in a local restaurant. And there are many great restaurants that are very reasonably priced.
Do your research, and bon appetite!
Better yet, go ask the locals.
Or take a walk, as I had discovered many wonderful restaurants in Paris and Rome while just meandering in their streets.
- Get to know another culture, and respect it
Many travelers often take their own attitudes to the places they visit, and end up insulting the locals or even creating a negative influence on that society. These are some of the disrespectful things I have seen people do in my travels:
- feminist throwing her city girl weight around in a far flung community in the mountains
- an American demanding to be in front of the line while many locals were lined up patiently ahead of him
- a Filipina-American berating a local eatery in Palawan for not serving vegan food
- hundreds people marching to a remote mountain town to pay for an “authentic” tribal tattoo even if the tribe’s culture dictates that they should earn these marking by extraordinary feats of courage and compassion.
Keep your attitude to yourself, and respect the culture. Even if you disagree with some practices, keep it to yourself while you’re there. Maybe you might learn something.
Do your research about your destination, so that you may know how to conduct yourself properly.
- Participate in a cause oriented activity
Remember that you are an ambassador to your family, your home town, your school, your office, and your country each time you travel. Aside from acting respectfully to the people you meet, take time to know the people in the area.
Aside from participating in festivals, why not take a trip that is part of a local cause oriented activity. In these trips, you get to know the people and even the issues that they face.
Many of my travels have been work related, with many of these connected with causes. I may have seen the darkside of some towns and cities, but these experiences have given me a greater understanding and respect of the people living there.
One of the regular cause oriented travels I have had was climbing the Mount Iglit-Baco national Park in Mindoro, to help the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) forest rangers during the annual count of the critically endangered Tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis). Because of this I became close friends with many of the rangers, who also are very distrustful of mountaineers who join their climbs just to claim that they have scaled the mountains of Iglit-Baco.
- Flaunt the wealth of your heart, not your assets
I have seen many tourists trying hard to standout in a crowd:
- vloggers speaking loudly into their cameras while in a crowd, instead of enjoying the scene with everyone else
- tourists wearing skimpy outfits in very conservative communities
- tourists showing off their newest gadgets, which makes them a target for snatchers
- tourists flaunting their expensive branded clothes and accessories in poor communities
It doesn’t matter what privileges you have in life, but be mindful of how flaunting these can affect the locals and fellow travelers.
Instead, act humbly and interact respectfully with the people. Your experiences will grow by the stories to hear and see by these interactions.
And when sharing in social media, why not focus of enticing people to visit and experience the place for themselves, rather than using it as a means to brag how attractive you are, how much money you have, etc.
It is not my wish to belittle or berate people on their travels; however it is my advocacy to promote the culture and histories of the places that I have visited. And part of this advocacy is promoting an ethical way for tourists to have more meaningful experiences in the places that they visit.
All this traveling started in my youth as I deeply wanted to know the Filipino spirit that beyond the propaganda sold by media and government organizations. So I did vacation tours, worked in projects around the country and abroad, and visited friends and family in the provinces. And after years of exploring, I realized that I learned so much about these places, and decided to write a blog about the art, history and culture of the places I have been to, and promote positive travel habits.
Prof. Lakan Olivares
2021
Lakbay ng Lakan 