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