Globetrotters Writer Spotlight — Paul Gardner
A traveler and not a tourist
Hello to travelers:
I’m 72 and retired in 2018 from teaching politics for 35 years at an American college. My last official duty for Luther College was to co-direct, along with my partner Rebecca, Luther’s semester program in Malta. The picture above was from one of our group’s trips. You can see the famous Stari Most bridge over Wyatt’s right shoulder.
I loved classroom teaching but traveling with student groups was the most rewarding experiences of my career. In addition to Malta, I co-directed Luther’s year-long program in Nottingham, England in 1999 and lead five three-week January term groups to Northern Ireland to study the peace and reconciliation process between Protestants and Catholics.
In 2019, Rebecca and I planned and co-hosted an alumni trip to Northern Ireland and Ireland.
In the spring of 2020 and the fall of 2021, I taught American politics at West University in Timișoara, Romania as a Fulbright Scholar. Rebecca’s two-year study of Romanian helped us communicate with Romanians.
My younger-self would be surprised by how my academic career evolved. Traveling and teaching outside the United States were the high points.
Somehow — luck? fate?— I landed at a college that valued faculty travel and delivered mentors who showed the way. And helped me scratch an itch I didn’t know I had.
One of those mentors, Jon, just walked by my house on the way to work this morning. Probably on the way to an early morning meeting with an unsuspecting faculty member who doesn’t know it but her life is about to be enriched.
Now, about those Globetrotters’ prompts. I don’t want to overstay my welcome so I’ll be brief.
I love to travel because
Traveling does not come naturally to me. It’s hard, like writing. Like writing, what I love is the completion of something that challenges me. And that teaches me something.
Jerry Dwyer writes about how he reads about a place and then travels. That makes sense. And aided my answer to the next prompt.
My number one travel activity is
Planning. This includes studying about the place(s) and thinking about how to get from A to B. And what A & B destinations should be. My number two activity are the memories that come from travel. Number three is the travel itself. Weird, I know.
I come from
Iowa, in the middle of the USA. Mom and dad in the 1950s & 60s took us (three sons) on summer vacations around the country: Colorado & the Rockies, Mississippi & the Gulf of Mexico, New York City & Washington, DC., Missouri & Ozarks. Curiosity, particularly from my dad, was seeded and sprouted later in me.
I worked as
See above. I work as a writer. Anne Bonfert below wrote that “traveling has made me a writer.” She’s onto something. The sky diving? Not so sure.
The best place I’ve been is
Terry Dip below said it best: “Too many wonderful places in the world.” However, we just returned from four months in Romania where we were based in Timișoara, the European Capital of Culture 2023. Phenomenal city in a beautiful country with a powerful historical story. And inexpensive.
In my spare time I
Write, read and with Rebecca plan our next travel adventure. We want to keep this deal going as long as we can.
If I could live somewhere else, I’d live
Somewhere affordable outside London, for a few weeks.
My favorite way to travel is
With a tour guide who connects us with locals and who talks just enough but not too much. Guides like Mohammed in Morocco, Nino in Italy, Michael & Steven in Northern Ireland, and Sergiu, Florin, & Ludovic in Romania.
Three lessons I’ve learned from traveling are
- “Be a traveler and not a tourist. Travelers get to know local people.” (Mohammed Oujrid, Morocco)
- “Don’t neglect a country’s traditional ways.” (Sergiu Dănilă, Romania)
- Patience, flexibility, & how to pack.
