Mindful Traveling
We Should All Travel Like Anthony Bourdain
Losing your ego and opening your eyes.
I think my favorite part of “Parts Unknown” is when Anthony Bourdain visits Shanghai. A massive city, he still travels around like a local. While meeting with a local hacker, the two end up at a bar drinking Moscow Mules. It seems like a setup from a Bond movie, but the premise is way more lighthearted. The two are going to sneak into an event. What event? A Chinese wedding between two working-class families. Anthony explains the plan, and the two enter the wedding. Later that night, they’re throwing back shots and laughing along with the families, even though Anthony can’t speak a word of Chinese.
Anthony Bourdain was one of the last great television personalities. Across multiple networks and shows, he created a wider, unpretentious view of the world. There seemed to be no place he wouldn’t visit at least once. He asked brave questions throughout his years on TV, traveled to unsung locations, and touched an extraordinary amount of people.
He was understanding, smart, and, maybe most importantly, personable. Stepping into a room and sitting down at a table with people he never met, making them smile, if not laugh, was always one of his goals.
Anthony Bourdain died in 2018, and it would be difficult for me to say his loss didn’t have a significant impact on me. Born in a small town for most of my life, I was always within a 100-mile radius of my house.
Bourdain opened me up to a new kind of travel, one unpretentious and always open to learning. Of taking in as much as possible and living in the experience.
So much of travel nowadays goes into planning, making the most out of every trip, and finding the best way to see all the sights. Of making the perfect line down Italy so you can see the Colosseum, Leaning Tower of Pisa, and Michaelangelo’s David all in one trip. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, but for me, it just doesn’t sit right. People tend to get stuck to the same places, the same sights, and never explore out from their hotel and the landmarks.
My best travel experiences came about when I made the wrong turn down a street in Florence and ended up at one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten. I ordered way too many plates because a friend told me they eat their food in multiple courses. I couldn’t speak Italian, and the waiter didn’t speak English, but there was enough of a mutual understanding between us, laughs shared as I tried to gesture that the food was spectacular.
He’s the reason I felt inspired to go off the beaten path, to explore the places I’ve been, rather than try to see as many things as possible. I take in every detail, trying to live my life as if this is the only place I will ever know. He showed me that there was beauty all around, and if there wasn’t any beauty, there was likely still something interesting to see out there. The world is full of stories, and they are just waiting for your discovery.
Anthony Bourdain is the reason I lean over to the table next to me and try to talk to the people sitting there. There’s no embarrassment once I realized I likely would never see them again. And if I do, I’m sure it will be as friends.
He’s the reason that I will (when travel is safe) still book a stay in a hostel. Because I remember the two friends, I made in Amsterdam that took me out to the bars for the entire night. I can hardly remember what I saw at the Van Gogh Museum, but that night will live in me forever. Of running around the canals, bar hopping, and ending the night with kabob and some Nutella-drenched dessert.
These are the moments we remember in life, the little detours. The moments when you wish you brought your camera (or maybe wished your phone wasn’t dead) so that you could take a picture. But in your mind, that place will always there. It doesn’t matter if you planned it or just happened to find it along the way. In my short time on this planet, I’ve learned that it only matters that you were there.
So much of my life is spent planning. It’s nice during travel to just say, “sure, why not?” I think of Anthony Bourdain every time.
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