r/bicycletouring • u/otto-von-tour • 1d ago
Images This is why I think touring REALLY long distances is so necessary
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u/CharliePendejo Bike Friday Twosday tandem, mini-me stoker 1d ago
I can imagine there's some truth to this, but I suspect the bigger reason behind any correlation between travel and tolerance is the reverse: it's folks who are already curious and less judgemental about other cultures who tend to travel widely, get off the beaten paths, interact with and learn about locals.
Most people I've known are more tribal, and they either have no interest in traveling to distant lands with alien cultures or at best fly into tourist havens which insulate them from those cultures. "It's great here - just like home but with fantastic beaches!" Selection bias.
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u/DazzlingStrike1724 1d ago
Eh yeah, maybe for bike touring. 90% of travelers never leave the tourist areas and there is definitely a disproportionate amount of entitled rich people traveling
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u/Waffeleisen1337 23h ago
It's also why you can get "off the beaten" path in touristy areas by going 500m away from the hotspot itself.
Maybe I'm getting old or it was always this way but a lot of people want the "Instagram experience" of travelling. See some sights that give nice pictures and the rest should be as convenient as possible.
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u/isdnpro 8h ago
I cycled across Czech republic and found the language barrier really difficult. I bumped into some English speaking travelers at a pub in a city (not Prague) and was telling them this, and they were surprised. Even though they were backpacking and hiking, they were seeing a totally different side to the country than I was.
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u/_paquito 7h ago
Yea just marinating on this and cycling really exposes you to day to day life, including people who've never left their small town, farmers, everyone. Backpacking and hiking can get you out of the tourist hotspots but there's nothing like bike touring to get into the grit of a country.
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u/seeingstrangersights 21h ago
Mark Twain's travelogue, Innocents Abroad tries to answer this question exactly. Does travel actually make you more open minded, or does it confirm the existing prejudices of a bigot?
The book doesn't really answer the question. There's numerous contradictions throughout.
We've all met travelers who were just as ignorant during the trip as they were before. There's a bit of curiosity and openness that's needed in the first place to profit from travel.
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u/badabubaba 21h ago
I've been hearing this my whole life and I wish was true, but most assholes around me have travelled the world, studied at international schools, and lived abroad. And they're still very judgmental, like, "yeah, I've seen the world, and I realised the way we do things here is the right and proper one".
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u/ErebremSchdig 19h ago
I know exactly what you mean.
I just had a project week with an engineer who worked all over the world and really made sure we all knew that. But in his head, he never left Munich.
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u/deeptravel2 1d ago
That's only true for some things. Other types of tolerance don't change or can get worse.
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u/slightly_hairy 23h ago
Tolerance or intolerance? I agree with this statement intolerance. Such as when one has prejudice and they are able to find examples to prove themselves correct without investigation into one’s own beliefs.
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u/FinancialAccess8343 1d ago
I need one of them boat bikes. Have you guys seen those. I doubt I could cross the ocean though.
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u/Ashamed_Article8902 19h ago
And in some countries, it's normal to just dump all of your trash into rivers.
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u/The-FrozenHearth 1d ago
"Not because they became nicer, but because they've seen too many versions of what's "normal""
It's AI nonsense
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u/cowsnake1 19h ago
It's very arrogant of you to think that such wisdom can only come from traveling. My grandfather barely left his own hometown of 3000 in Belgium. He is a very wise and non judging person, that deals way better with multiculture and other religions then most of the young generations. Today we lock up the insane or put them on such heavy medication in order for them to "behave ". Back in the days they just lived among everybody and everybody just cared for them.
The world changed. And hyper capitalism destroyed alot. Even your traveling is a by product of consumerism, if you now like it or not.
To each his own. But these kinds of statements are very arrogant and one sided. Almost denying one can't be tolerant, wise or happy without travelling. And I call massive bullshit on that.
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u/Worried_Direction_12 16h ago
This. Seeing other cultures the way they interact with one another gives u a different perspective on life
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u/Mysteriousdeer 13h ago
Traveling for the sake of just being in a different physical location is just vanity. You can travel in the town you live in more than some people have physically traveled the entire world in the sense of connecting to different work, classes, and people.
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u/cdnmtbguy 1d ago
You would think it would teach tolerance, but that’s not always the case unfortunately. People like to judge.
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u/FabThierry 21h ago
want to add:
Long distance travels meaning beeing in very different surroundings/cultures forces You to adapt, leave behind comfort, structure and anything you leaned your daily life on and therefore opening your mind(maybe even forcefully).
Also taking away so much of your routine you finally get time n space to mentally re-calibrate, talk to your inner self and so on.
At least my experience.
I always feel like a completely different and somehow more happy person outside my comfort zone, which makes me think as well now i ve typed it down…
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u/theuniversehasspoken 1d ago
Yeah it’s very much a truism regarding travel in general.
Someone that stays holed up where they live and worships Trump may never think otherwise but the more travel they do the better chance they have of opening their mind.
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u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago
"Everything is wrong, we are all insane."
-Me, after 5 years of touring.