Daniel Dubois: Top 12 Ways to Experience Everywhere You Go Like a Local


How can we use emotional intelligence, attitudes, and sharing to better immerse ourselves in another culture? From tourist to integration.

 

I had the chance to sit down with one of the directors of an Austrian international development organization who was generous enough to issue me a grant for conducting research on the European sharing economy and study out of a Fachhochschule (University of Applied Sciences). When we talked about my ambitious plans for my stay in Europe he reminded me that the primary reason I’m here is for school. I disagree. The reason I’m here is for education. I’m conducting research on the sharing economy and going to a great school but the sole purpose of this trip is based around adventure, experiential learning, and most of all awareness.

 

I think there’s no better way of traveling and learning than to experience your surroundings everywhere you go like a local. From my experiences, I’ve put together what I believe to be the top 12 ways anyone can travel on a different level than the typical eat, sleep, sightsee, repeat. If you’re open-minded and like to be challenged you’ll quickly find you’ll learn much more about life, culture and most of all yourself than any textbook could ever teach you.

 

 

1.     Share

Share experiences, opinions, items, language, skills, knowledge, ideas, events… share and borrow anything and everything. I borrowed snowshoes off someone in Zurich and climbed a mountain in the Swizz Alp that I would have never made it to without the knowledge and advice of a local. 

 

A local outside of Vienna picked us up tickets for a Carnival Ball, lent me a white dress shirt, let us stay at his house, and showed us a truly authentic Austrian night. I borrowed yoga mats off another local that showed us a roof top lounge. There is so much benefit to sharing that I created a group for students to connect and share in Vienna. Thanks to simple sharing we’ve stayed at a cabin in Tirol with 10+ Austrians while playing Wolverine in a German. When you share and borrow you instantly move from being a mere observer to a community member.

 

2.     Make it hard

If you want something truly genuine you have to work for it. It’s easy to get looked after. What’s hard is having an experience that’s sincerely authentic. When you travel you often hit a wall and there’s usually an easy way out. By pushing through fatigue, fear or anything else that’s holding you back you’re really able to step out of the typical tourist traps and step into the culture you traveled so far to see. It’s a lot easier to check into a room at a hostel than it is to knock on a stranger’s door that you’ve never met before. Remember, if you want something you’ve never had, you need to do something you’ve never done.

 

3.     Ask locals for advice instead of asking Google

This is such an essential yet disregarded point that it could easily be the only point on this list. Ask the locals because they know about hidden gems that often don’t even make it online. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast run by a mom and daughter duo that a local Roman recommended to us. When we left we asked if she has a website or card and she said they only have a personal email address. It’s amazing that such a goldmine of an accommodation isn’t even online. We felt so fortunate to have connected with locals to ask for advice for a place to stay instead of relying on the typical Google search.

 

4.     Use the internet to connect with locals

The rise of the sharing economy and website communities has really made connecting with others easy. Couchsurfing is a great way to connect with locals beyond the incentive of a free place to stay. If you want a meal cooked by a local in hundreds of different locations, check out mealsharing.com.

Want to ask a local for advice: asknative.com

Local reviews on dining out: www.localeats.com, www.yelp.com,

Discussion board on local food: www.chowhound.chow.com/boards

Rent a local vacation house: vrbo.com, www.homeaway.com

Rent a shared room, apartment or even a castle: www.airbnb.com

Share experiences and be hosted free: www.bewelcome.org

Connect and share items and skills: www.ShareShed.org

Someone who I hosted over couchsurfing even uses Reddit to connect with locals and find a place to stay: http://www.reddit.com/

Get a ride from a local: http://www.blablacar.com

 

5.     Think outside of the box

When I was traveling in Australia we weren’t able to travel to the next town by bus and so we asked a stranger for a ride. The outcome was a scenic tour from one area to the other. I know a group who were in a small town in China on a 12-hour layover and asked a local if they were to buy some groceries could they come over and make a meal with them. Next thing they knew they were singing karaoke and having a dinner party at a locals place.

Mattersburg Rocks Austrian basketball finals
 

6.     Live Curiously

Go to the area’s that are not overly promoted to tourists, jump on a bus to see where it ends up, go for a run in a direction that looks good and constantly adventure to really get to know the area you’re in.

 

7.     Live on a shoestring

Traveling on a budget is a blessing in disguise. Often money creates an unintentional barrier between you and the culture you traveled so far to see. When you spend money on fancy dinners and hostels you usually aren’t experiencing anything sincerely authentic. Actively seek experiences that don’t require much money, you’ll be one step closer to a genuine journey.

 

8.     Learn the language/dialect and don’t be shy

Saying Guten Tag in Vienna is about as odd as someone saying G’Day Mate to you in Vancouver. When you use the dialect of the location you’re in you’ll notice people instantly lighten up to you.

 


in Triol eating a traditional Austrian pancake


9.     Don’t look for commonalities to connect with others

It’s easy to connect with people that you have things in common with but true learning comes from an understanding of different views and backgrounds. I enjoy spending time with people I have commonalities with but it’s even more rewarding to connect with someone who opens your mind to a whole new way of seeing the world.

 

10.Don’t get through, get from

When you travel you’ll find times when you just want to get through a certain situation. As challenging as it may be, make the mental effort not to just make it through situations but rather try to grow from all of your experiences. Education is from developing a heightened awareness of other cultures and life as a whole. No one is going to experience profound growth in their awareness if they are only trying to get through uncomfortable situations.

 


Lucy and Daniel in Rome


11.Get out of the city

Going to the countryside of any country is always a great way to have an authentic experience. Last night we went an hour outside of Vienna to a small town to watch the Austrian national basketball league finals. One of the players set us up with a ride there and back as well as connected us with other fans and organizers. The small town basketball community had more hospitality than any sports team I’ve heard of.

 

12.Integration over imitation

To be clear, experiencing everywhere you go like a local doesn’t mean trying to fully imitate other cultures and disguise yourself as being a foreigner (unless you need to for safety reasons). Traveling like a local means having diverse experiences that most travelers are never even aware exist. When you’re living in another country and really seeking to understand another society and respect their norms you not only adapt to their culture but you intentionally integrate your culture with a new style of living anywhere in the world.

 

Baden Ball
 

Traveling like a local requires increased empathy towards different cultures, lifestyles, opinions and norms. Increased empathy can be developed with increased emotional intelligence and applying a conscious effort to develop as an individual while seeing the world from a new perspective. Real education is not as much about knowledge, but rather simple awareness not only about your own world but the world of those around you.

 

I hope these 13 tips help you experience everywhere you go as a local. Please feel free to comment, post new tips, or share this article.

 
Daniel is a third year Bachelor of Business Administration student studying abroad at FHWien University of Applied Sciences in Vienna, Austria. 

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