Which Travel?

Man since a certain time in history have oft said that the grass is always greener on the other side. A phrase commonly understood with negative connotations as it implies a certain amount of jealousy and envy. Moral lessons revolved around how we should learn to be contented with what we have, and if we were to keep looking at the grass in our neighbors' lawn we would always find it greener - even if it weren't the case.

It isn't surprising to hear people saying that Singaporeans are very pampered, that we don't know how privileged we are, and if we have travelled to other countries we would learn to appreciate life in Singapore. Perhaps that’s true. Perhaps as we head out of the confines and comforts of home, we realize that other countries aren't so 'Perfect'. When you have to wait many weeks for document processing or wait 45 minutes for a bus to work, you will learn to appreciate the efficiency in Singapore.

When you worry about your kids safety in school, or about walking home late at night, you will appreciate how safe the streets of Singapore are.

Us Singaporeans are a very protected bunch and have probably been used to the comforts of home, which makes it very easy to identify shortcomings while we are away from our comforts. When people say that after traveling they learn to appreciate home, it isn't wrong. It becomes a little more debatable when people say that we shouldn't compare, or shouldn't express our discontentment because we have it so much better. When they say, "I've travelled to many places, you don't know how privileged you are".

These people believe that the more you travel, the more you see what’s out there and you should appreciate things at home instead of complaining. I beg to differ and will slowly explain why as we go along.

I believe that the more we travel, the more our eyes are opened to a world of different societal norms, traditions, culture, and systems that may in certain cases be better. I believe that travel makes you aware of different ways things could have been. I believe that travel brings you closer to your knees, helps you to understand who you are and what you value. In the long run, travel provides you clearer perspectives on how the grass is sometimes indeed greener on the other side.

Before going futher, its essential to establish some clarity on what we mean when we say travel. The average Singaporean knows what it means to travel, we make at least one holiday trip abroad every year, and for some it may be several trips before the calendar year is up. We bottle up the stress of work and yearn for that well-deserved holiday. To put it plainly, holidays are part and parcel of an average Singaporean's life. The earlier premise about appreciating home once you see what's out there, that's mainly based upon this understanding of travel.

The other kind of travel is when you are really immersing yourself into a culture, living as a local and stripping away all the frills of a holiday. It is staying for a longer time in a place, learning to live with the comforts available to you and dealing with the discomforts that come along with it. It is about experiencing the stigma of being an outsider, the fear of the unknown and the vulnerability of being alone. It is about making friends with the locals, trying to learn a language, taking the effort to be part of where you're placed. This travel is the travel that not many of us are acclimatised to. This travel is the one that really enlightens and enriches you.

At this point, some would probably be wondering, isn't the second version of travel the one that would make you appreciate being Singaporean more? Let's put this thought on hold and we will come back to it later.

Disclaimer - there’s nothing wrong with taking holiday trips. Trust me when I say I enjoy traveling. As a Singaporean, the former version of travel still holds true. Going shopping in Bangkok or taking a trip to Hong Kong, if the time permits I would definitely love making those travel plans. At the same time I really enjoy the second version of travel too. Being part of a local culture and learning to enjoy a simple life.

So why isn’t the second version of travel the one that makes you appreciate Singapore more? I guess the answer is Yes and No. It holds true for certain things and for certain people, but it all boils down to what you value more. If you value comfort & riches, efficiency and advanced technology then you’d stand in the Yes camp. For a smaller group of people the system in Singapore is good but not the best. There are many things that we can learn from other countries but we as a nation choose to focus on all the things that create prosperity at the expense of sanity.

There’s much to learn and much to disagree about, but one things for certain - we could all open our eyes to see the real things when we travel and not just the “postcard” moments.