Over the last few weeks I made several travels, including day trips and longer vacations. I also greeted some members of my family where I live at the moment. These different experiences made me realize how much our vision of traveling depends largely on our perceptions, would it be regarding time, money or culture.

First my family came to London, which was the opportunity to show them where I live and what I do here.

What really struck me is the way they looked at things, which could have been mine a couple of years ago. They found London being a very unique place, but reproaches against the city appeared quite quickly: expensive, smelly, crowded, bad public transport… but nothing about the food came out. England is usually portrayed as the land of miserable food, which is quite unfair in London as it has a high diversity of cuisine that offers genuine culinary experiences.

My relatives did truly loved the food here, probably because I brought them to the places I like.

So they saw the city through my eyes, which changed their perception of both the London cuisine and the city itself. Unfortunately it did not affect all their habits as they had trouble to understand the concept of tips.

After that I went back home with my girlfriend who is American and then I rediscovered everything I knew through her eyes: traditions, habits, food, landscapes and even people. The contrast was quite important as we switched from London to a place of 5,000 inhabitants in France.

She was quite enthusiastic about viewing it as a proper break whereas at the beginning I just saw it as a “normal” weekend. But she made me realize all the things that are valuable there and that I took for granted. It is a bit weird to think of this like that, but I had the feeling, to some extent, that it was a trip to a different place, a place I already saw but where I missed some parts.

Recently I went to the US to visit her family, which in a way seems to complete the circle. I saw the place through her eyes and mine, curious about many things, asking questions all the time. This cannot be considered as a trip because the whole point of it was not sightseeing but meeting people. However, that was a proper experience as it was my first time in this country, which of course changed my perception on America (regarding obesity and customer service especially), but also made me aware of how French and European I am.

The US has always been associated with the idea of modernity, but nothing I saw there seems to be oriented toward the 21st century: the mantra “bigger is better” is outdated and things are moving towards sustainability and environmental friendliness, which are more European values. Leaving Europe is always a reminder of my European identity and how proud of that I am.

So what is it my point? I ask you to think about this as you travel: ditch everything you have on mind before going there. Would it be for going home, going to another part of the city or landing on another continent, please bring new eyes with you. As technology makes the world increasingly smaller and less magic, the only element that can help us to experience traveling again is a change of our perceptions.

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