Travel narrows the mind
The corner of the Victoria Embankment and Westminster Bridge, just under Thornycroft's statue of Boadicea, with "Big Ben" across the road, at the height of the tourist season. Are any of these people enjoying themselves? If facial expression is our guide, no. Anxiety, exhaustion and strain are written on every countenance.
I've been abroad from time to time. It was pretty much like England, but with fewer foreigners. Travel, we are often reminded, broadens the mind. Can anyone agree with this proposition who thinks about it for a couple of minutes? Can anyone believe that he will broaden his understanding of anything (apart from the horrors of democratised travel) from a Club 18-30 holiday, a Eurostar Citybreak or an EasyJet package? Ease of communication has an homogenising effect, so that all places tend to become alike. The more we travel, the less reason there is to travel.
In recent years I have found myself working in an industry where 80% of the workforce is foreign. Many of my co-workers, after years in England, barely speak English. The natural tendency is to form expatriate communities, so that the need to interact with the "host" population is minimised. I do not imply a criticism ...this is natural human behaviour. No one can truly participate in a culture that he was not born into, though he may be surrounded by it for many years. I would rather know my own national civilisation deeply than try to ingest bite-size morsels of foreign culture picked up on holiday. I can thereby avoid becoming part of this shuffling, drooping, footsore, jet-lagged tide, save myself thousands of quid and put my feet up at home. If I want a "foreign" experience, all I have to do is go to work.
Travel narrows the mind
The corner of the Victoria Embankment and Westminster Bridge, just under Thornycroft's statue of Boadicea, with "Big Ben" across the road, at the height of the tourist season. Are any of these people enjoying themselves? If facial expression is our guide, no. Anxiety, exhaustion and strain are written on every countenance.
I've been abroad from time to time. It was pretty much like England, but with fewer foreigners. Travel, we are often reminded, broadens the mind. Can anyone agree with this proposition who thinks about it for a couple of minutes? Can anyone believe that he will broaden his understanding of anything (apart from the horrors of democratised travel) from a Club 18-30 holiday, a Eurostar Citybreak or an EasyJet package? Ease of communication has an homogenising effect, so that all places tend to become alike. The more we travel, the less reason there is to travel.
In recent years I have found myself working in an industry where 80% of the workforce is foreign. Many of my co-workers, after years in England, barely speak English. The natural tendency is to form expatriate communities, so that the need to interact with the "host" population is minimised. I do not imply a criticism ...this is natural human behaviour. No one can truly participate in a culture that he was not born into, though he may be surrounded by it for many years. I would rather know my own national civilisation deeply than try to ingest bite-size morsels of foreign culture picked up on holiday. I can thereby avoid becoming part of this shuffling, drooping, footsore, jet-lagged tide, save myself thousands of quid and put my feet up at home. If I want a "foreign" experience, all I have to do is go to work.