There are certain blameworthy aspects to the backpacking universe: a plethora of things damned with faint praise that become obvious at a deeper examination. There is room enough left for improvements and a serious awareness of the responsibility tourists bear for locals would be more than desirable.
Without the slightest intention of hurling criticism towards travelers, but utterly convinced that everything that Buddhism has taught me about life is perfectly applicable (if not necessary) to the travel ethics. And maybe taught is not the right word here. I would unremorsefully replace it with made me aware of. Hence, here is what, by applying the Buddhist logic, I have became aware of while traveling.
1. We need to be more tolerant in face of “lack of civilization”
Everything happens because of certain circumstances, the Buddhist says. Things come to life when the necessary circumstances are fulfilled and come to an end when those specific circumstances cease to exist. By regarding life through the lens of this indisputable truth, one risks becoming more tolerant, more unbiased seeing the life that’s taking place in front of one’s eyes, more humble and grateful for the circumstances thanks to which one is who one is.
By understanding that the given educational conditions, for example, that disciplined you to wait in queues, to not listen to music in public without headphones, to not speak loudly on the bus, to not make noise when there are people sleeping around you… well, these specific conditions were not available for everybody as they were growing up. It’s that simple! Accept these facts, without mumbling critical remarks and a great weight will be taken from your shoulders, enabling you to see the comic in uncomfortable situations, to regard the new environment in more insightful manner and — I would dare assert — even to cultivate understanding.
2. Avoid the race for intense sensory experiences
Buddhism states that people perceive life thanks to their six senses: the five we already know and a sixth. Unlike the Occidental belief, according to which the mind transcends all we are made of, the priceless gift we are dowered with and our essence as human beings, Buddhism sees the mind as just another sense organ. One that deciphers impulses, makes sense of the world around us and creates thoughts: nothing above the sight that captures images or the hearing that detects sounds.
Therefore, all six of these sensory experiences, as healthy and necessary as they are, ought not be allowed to become the ultimate purpose of our existence. We have all passed through that bitter after taste and nausea that follow the indulgence of adventure that are too rich, too intense and too effervescent. Moreover, the frantic rush for these kinds of experience strips us away from what is real, and the realness slips through our fingers.
But enough of abstraction. While on the road, you too might find yourself hunting intense experiences, deeming that the alcohol, the drugs, the music or the admiration of others are precisely the ingredients your recipe for happiness lacks. Blind to the consequences of chasing these experiences, you discover (or, at least, you intuit from afar) that you can’t draw satisfaction from them even while they are taking place, not to mention the anxiety and the suffering that are their prologue and their coda.
3. Sexual tourism can take subtle forms and leave deep scars behind
At this point, an issue extremely well camouflaged by the culture of superficiality, an ever-present greed for sensory experiences, comes into discussion. The more exotic, out of the ordinary, the better. Don’t be so naive as to infer that I am only alluding to the concrete, overt situations when one pays for sexual services at the holiday destination. Not in the least. Rather, I am rather to the apparently innocent adventures, built entirely upon the physical attraction to what is different from what one can possibly find at home.
But what’s the problem with that? you hasten to ask. Speaking wholly about what concerns me and invoking my own personal experience, I can assure you that by regarding people as mere objects, accessories, strictly in the light of potential benefits for you, stripping them from the rest of the aspects that compound them… well, this is an attitude that guarantees suffering. And not only to them. This is a mind’s subtle trap, a petty face, easily disguised in the shape of genuine interest. Allowing your mind to run wild in the land of seduction and greed, turning your back completely on empathy, generosity and altruism, leaves you empty. And not only literally. And when you dare to slow the pace and actually feel before rushing onto the next page of your trip, that bitter aftertaste becomes obvious.
And if you deem that we have no obligation for the wellbeing of others, no responsibility to protect them from ourselves, consider it twice! Are we really not responsible for what we leave behind us?
4. There is a mistaken belief that, between them and us, there is a significant difference
One of Buddha’s most valuable teachings — also stated by many after him, understood by most of us in certain moments of our lives, and applicable independently of the moment in time — is the following: despite the individual uniqueness, and paradoxically due to it, there is no essential difference between us. Seeing the world divided between us (us, the tourists; us, the Europeans; us, those here-today-gone-tomorrow; us, who came from the other side of the ocean) and them (them, the locals; them, the Americans; them, the youngest; them, of another skin color; them, who speak a different language) is not only a monumental error, but also the sure road to self-absorption.
Try better to become aware of all those differences between languages, colors, lifestyles, aspirations, vocabulary, life histories, life environments, and see them as they really are: a superficial carapace which hides a much more solid nucleus: shared humanity. Because regardless of the shape differences, deep inside, we all long for security, yearn for belonging, desperately crave for happiness and, for all of us, true happiness is, most of the times, unreachable and incomprehensible. We all make mistakes driven by hatred, ignorance and greed. And then we suffer. And we all pass through moments when generosity, empathy and altruism sprout and reverberate in acts and thoughts.
5. There is travel burnout from from the rapacity for ticking off as many things as possible
This is a more obvious trap into which you might fall during the first steps of your travels, while receiving the first recommendations of what is to be seen, saw, and done. There is a natural, almost innate desire to see everything and to make the most out of the money spent on flights and all-too-limited travel time. There is a tension and stress that come right after the first flickers of this itching thought, which have the potential to cast a shadow over your enthusiasm. You can easily identify it in the accelerated pulse, or the anxious avalanche of plans demanding execution as soon as possible, or the feeling of helplessness and despair. (How on earth could I ever see them all in one trip?)
Please remember this is just a trap and nothing more. There is no need to see everything because the rewards of your travels do not depend on it. The art of being present in the middle of any experience (whether hiking, tour walking, unwinding at the edge of the ocean, shopping in a local market, dining with a new acquaintance…) and enjoy it in all its aspects, skillfully avoiding the thought of what’s next, and gently postponing it for a more apposite future moment so that it does not sour the flavor of the present moment… This is infinitely more satisfying than the length of the ticked off ‘to do’ list.
Let alone the exhaustion that follows the hustle and bustle of sticking tightly to an overloaded travel plan, which constrains rather than supports. Choose instead to spend as much time as possible in one single place. Get to know its food, history, its societal canvas, try to get closer to the locals, understand their problems, values, aspirations, day-to-day joys. Indulge in their hospitality and show them a part of what you call home, thus becoming their window on your world.
6. Let the generosity replace the fear of being cheated, tricked or ripped off
As dangerous as the aforementioned are, there is also the ever-present fear of being strung along: a fear that can get under your skin and become the bedrock of many of your attitude, shadowing your mental state unimpeded and inhibiting the kind attitude you might naturally have toward others. It is so easy to fall into the clutches of paranoia, in an everlasting defiant attitude, sempre on the defensive, constantly suspicious, always poised to defend tooth and claw, under the false tutelage of correctness, a bunch of coins.
Is this really necessary? Is it really worth the pain? Will the effort of paying the least possible to a cab driver, a street vendor or a craftsman really make a significant difference to your life? Or in theirs? Very probably. In a similar manner, your hot and strong refusal to tip a waiter, under the argument that he earns a salary or he is not polite enough, impoverishes you rather than the waiter himself.
7. Don’t allow yourself to become conceited — it’s easy to be flattered into feeling superior
When the locals, through their openness and outspoken way of being, flatter you from the bottom of their hearts, and make you feel as if you have just descended from the throne and are deigning to pay them a visit, it is easy to have your attitude distorted — as if your ego has been offered a line of cocaine.
Remain conscious of your real merits and retain as much genuine interest for the others as for your own being. Listen more than you speak and ask as many questions as you are asked. Whatever the circumstances, when you meet someone, treat them as your equal, be tolerant and don’t be stingy with your smiles.
8. It goes without saying, but keep an eye on the footprints you leave on the environment
And things can get more complicated and go further from the classic “collect your trash when you camp outdoors” or “buy a reusable bottle so that you don’t need to buy a plastic one each day”. Sun cream, for instance, applied with one’s best intentions before sinking into a closed aquatic ecosystem, cause a great harm and dreadful imbalance through the mere contact between the fragile environment and external chemical substances.
Also, by refusing the daily cleaning service in your hotel room, you save the water and electricity required for washing the sheets, the towel, to vacuum the floor, etc. Think twice before jumping into a motorboat and consider the oil it leaves behind, all so destructive for the aquatic fauna and for the birds that leave out of the namely H2O live on the aforementioned H2O. Check if there is any possibility of choosing an electric powered boat or a sail instead.
