leaving the comfort zone - the problem of everyone in the world

One day in Tarragona I went to the Santander bank. At the office of an employee to register for the service, he and I have exchanged a few sentences. Looking at his papers, found himself Vietnamese, he said, I have been to Asia many times, but only in the Philippines. Was not that in the past you married a Filipino woman should go there a dozen times. Only strangely, he went to the Philippines a dozen times but never traveled to any other country in Asia. I ask, he said that when traveling, she should have friends in that place, especially when traveling to a remote place like Asia (!).

The psychology of that banker, turns out to have been seen in a lot of Spaniards. For example, my boss. He plans to go to Thailand for vacation, but it is only Thailand. He said it was because he had a vacation there. He says he likes to go to sea, Thailand has beautiful beaches. I say he went to Vietnam to try to see, many beaches in Vietnam. He expressed suspicion, so I showed him the map of Asia, pointing to the coast stretching from north to south of Vietnam, told him that Vietnam has many beautiful beaches. He says oh well, that's cool. But I know you will never come to Vietnam. Because he has no friends there.

Another Wester was the old lady she had invited to play in the countryside in Reus under a tour program. She even has relatives in Japan, but never wants to travel to Japan or other Asian countries, even though she has traveled extensively throughout Europe. The reason she offered was unfamiliarity with Asian culture, fear of inadequacy, inability to eat food or to find a way out.

It turns out a lot of Europeans have such thoughts. Because they are Spanish, if they travel in Europe, they speak English / Western / Italian to them. Moreover, Europe is a place where they are familiar and knowledgeable so they are not afraid of anything. And Asia is too alien to them, and there are even certain risks. For example, someone told me that I heard that going out in some Asian countries was cheated or cheated.

Why? I once wondered. I thought that only Asians have such fearful thoughts. For example, Vietnamese people are often afraid to go alone abroad when they encounter trouble, or afraid to go without a guide can not find the way. You fear all kinds of things, though insisted that I love to travel abroad. I thought only the Vietnamese, too, turn out the British too.

This reminds me of one thing. I went to a conference in Bangkok. I met a Nigerian guy. I say, I'm also curious about Africa, but Africa is far from ever know how to get to. He said a sentence remind me of now: "you fly from Vietnam to Europe so far, but you still go there, even go twice," he said right! Since then I never said that Africa is too far away. The problem is not somewhere far away, but whether you want to go or not. I am also biased against Africa as the other friends are prejudiced against Asia. But where did I ever know?

When I write these things, I do not mean to criticize anyone's choice or travel, and just want to say a reality. When you travel, you will find many things that are not what you think. For example, when I go to Japan, I do not know a Japanese word, in my pocket only about 10 million VND spent in 10 days (AND a credit card hehehe), but I still have a trip Go sightseeing, visit almost full of the most interesting places in the city that you come. Or as I go to Italy, before the very afraid of being robbed robbery to hear how people tell how widespread this rampant in Italy. But when I came, I met many very good Italian, and I carefully watch every where so there is no problem.

I dare not say that if you go to India, or go to Nigeria, it will be as safe as going to Japan, I would say that you travel should give up your prejudices about the destination. You should be very careful about the destination, but not because of biases that comment as true then about where you have not yet. Where there are also crimes, travel is always risky. Europe seems safe, but there are also risks such as terrorism, picking, or simply being out of money (because Europe is very expensive, going to Europe is straight out of money, if You do not spend reasonably and keep the money and papers careful, you will be in trouble).

Of course, there are safer places than others, but it is not so scary or scary. Traveling is to go with open heart, with the desire to be discovered and to experience. Because the purpose of travel is like that: discover strange things, things you never knew, and leave the comfort zone.