- Excerpt
Globetrotter Dogma
by Bruce Northam
INTRODUCTION
The excerpts, below, are taken from the new book, Globetrotter Dogma:
100 Canons for Escaping the Rat Race and Exploring the World, by
infamous "wild travel" writer Bruce Northam. The excerpts include practical
tips for what to pack, dealing with language barriers, and safety issues,
wrapped in Bruce's motivational therapy and unrepentant enthusiasm
for not leaving this world without getting a good look around.
Globetrotter Dogma contains 100 vignettes to inspire and instruct
would-be world travelers, drawn from wild travel adventures in New Guinea,
Morocco, Costa Rica, Tibet, Wales, Yugoslavia, Japan, Ireland, Manhattan,
and other exotic lands. At a time when parents everywhere are searching
for that perfect graduation gift, Northam's book offers an X-Games version
of Dr. Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go.
More information about Globetrotter Dogma and
author Bruce Northam follows the excerpt. Right now it's time to "awaken the quest within
you." Happy trails!
Summer Travel Tips
by Bruce Northam
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
From CANON #10:
Find out for yourself what a miraculous world we live in, contrary to
media portrayals. Realize that, sane or loony, we are all here together,
and like it or not, this is it. Boost your mental, physical, and spiritual
well-being -- take a recess from the nine-to-five habit and chart your
own authentic, unrefined, outward-bound escapade.
Take a time-out, attend the global university, and get your Ph.D. in results.
As the global village shrinks, we become increasingly aware of our interdependence.
Because we all play a part, however small, in the interlocking of our cultures,
our new objectives should include having firsthand interactions with the
staggering beauty and diversity of our planet.
From CANON #24:
Put your career guilt on hold. Don't postpone travel happiness indefinitely.
A life of excessive work can be dreadful. Escape while you can. Listen
to your heart and ignore the boss.
ON LANGUAGE
From CANON #34:
When you get there, what do you do to overcome language barriers and
break the ice in distant lands? Pantomime. Get creative. Imitate animals:
Trumpet like an elephant, caw like a raven, clap your feet and bark like
a seal, and you'll have a connection (with the kids, at least). Humor
lubricates the universe.
You can predict the length of your trip, but you must nurture the width
and depth of it.
From CANON #85:
Don't talk politics or religion, unless you are very good at it. Try
steering conversation inspired by newspeak toward music, hobbies, and
relationships -- editorials in which individuals are truly experts in
their opinions.
You get to know somebody faster when they speak from the heart. Engage
people in conversations about topics that are dear to them and not hotbeds
of contention influenced by the media. People enjoy talking about their
hobbies and the things they know best.
ON PACKING
From CANON #7:
The first thing to pack is yourself...and that should be an open, positive-thinking,
compassionate person.
Pack to give away: Kids love balloons. Photos of friends and family also
create a buzz. Pack a favorite music mix or two -- lost Brazilian villages
sometimes have generators that produce a few hours of juice a day.
Protect your ears. Along with safeguarding snore-stressed marriages, earplugs
are protection against blaring buses, trains, and obnoxious human beings.
Choose guidebooks that will support your mission -- whatever it may be.
A vital commodity to bring on any trip is an open mind.
From CANON #20:
Unexpected downpours are common in Irian Jaya, Indonesia's remote highland
valleys. One monsoon shower was especially enlightening. Betrayed by
flooded boots and soaked with sweat inside my rain gear, I caught sight
of Ruff, my guide, smiling under his temporal teepee -- a palm-leaf mat
resembling a flight-worthy nun's habit -- not one drop of water on him.
Pausing there in the downpour, I contemplated my departure from the essential
laws of human survival. He was Darwinian perfection and I was a mail-order
misfit, a defeated poster child of Western survival gear. Luxuries are
often not only dispensable, but frequently hindrances.
From CANON #43:
Don't become a sporting goods store conqueror. Do you really need a
personalized odometer/altimeter for that day hike in Norway? Although
K-Mart and Wal-Mart have crushed small-town intimacy, these retail coliseums
sell tents, hiking shorts, and other travel necessities priced far below
the mall-rat outfitters.
ON SAFETY
From CANON #58:
Be prudent. Monitor your partying.
Many misadventures occur when we're under the influence. "The major causes of problems are created by a drug
interaction between alcohol and testosterone." -- A Venezuelan Policeman
Ladies: There's safety in numbers. Women roving solo may want to band
with a pack of locals or fellow travelers before roaming into the unknown.
Hang out where the local women are. Heed no firsthand advice. Instead,
get a second or third opinion.
Apply the Traveler's Safety Code of Conduct: It's okay not to trust everyone
right away. Experienced travelers are not offended by cordial distrust
between new acquaintances, even if they share a room. Tote your valuables
with you every time you hit the toilet and store valuables in your pillowcase
while you sleep.
From CANON #60:
Disperse valuables wisely while mobile. That way if you lose something
-- or someone loses it for you -- you didn't part with all your essentials
in one swoop. Have a secret pocket sewn into your travel trousers and
shirts to balance out the goods in your money belt -- that thing that
wraps around your waist, under your clothes.
ON COMMUNICATIONS
From CANON #8:
When email stormed into our everyday 1990s existence and cybercafes
sprouted worldwide, many en-route travelers gradually segued from gone
to still connected. This took the necessity out of starting over socially.
When you detach, absolutely leaving home at its geographical point, the
task at hand becomes living in the present. Unwired, it's easier to discover
who you are and what you stand for.
From CANON #88:
Archiving is a timeless delight. If your computer doesn't come along
with you, a sturdy, pocket-sized, inconspicuous journal can be your best
friend. Journals larger than passports are easily lost and alert others
to your reporting.
To protect against documentation loss -- travelers who lose everything on
the road ultimately only regret losing their film and journal -- photocopy
and mail home or transfer your musings into cybercafe emails to yourself
and friends. Alternately, the emails you send can be perfect journal entries.
Later, your physical journal is an enduring backup in case of computer
meltdown.
STILL NOT SURE?
From CANON #78:
Long ago in the United States, probably during the Industrial Revolution,
the vocation gurus forgot to pencil in sufficient time off for their
workforce -- a hapless plan. The consequences prevent most of us from
exploring the secluded fringes of our planet.
Nevertheless, you can afford to sidestep the prescribed decorum of amassing
gadgetry that ultimately narrows your chance of ever venturing into remote
cultures. First of all, the following common but irrational traps need
to be sidestepped:
1. Fear of losing ground in your career.
2. Hesitancy about blazing your own expedition trail.
3. Inability to get some distance from your workday life to clearly recognize
what you do and do not value.
4. Reluctance to ease back on the lawnmower throttle.
5. Blind allegiance to the American lifestyles portrayed by fabric-softener
commercials.
From CANON #102:
If you haven't circled the globe
yet, maybe there's an umbilical cord attached to your TV convincing
you that the world is an unfriendly place. It's not. The "news" is
95 percent hyped, manipulated ghoul. You can do it.
Close your eyes and imagine that you are eighty-five years old, rocking
away, contemplating your life. How would you feel if you'd never had a
genuinely wild journey?
Globetrotting isn't for everyone, but here you are -- questioning what
lies beyond this prodigious land of mountain ranges, shopping malls, plains,
baseball stadiums, coastlines, drive-through restaurants, forests, lakes,
and 37 percent taxation. If you can't stand the thought of not taking a
big trip, start packing.
Copyright ©2002 by Bruce Northam. All rights
reserved. Please feel free to duplicate or distribute this file as long
as the contents are not changed and this copyright notice is intact.
Thank you.
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