Comment by traceroute66 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by traceroute66 | Hacker News Reader

To me this long rambling blog post smells unfortunately like self-indulgent over-generalisation based on an unscientific sample of one.

I'm afraid there is much truth in the old adage "Travel broadens the mind".

The average American famously provides an example as to why travelling exclusively within the borders of your own country, no matter how expansive it may be and how awesome you feel it will be, will always be no substitute for true cross-border travel.

You can't appreciate other cultures, other cuisines, other ways of thinking simply by reading books or watching YouTube videos about far-off places. The only way you'll ever broaden your mind to truly understand why your fellow humans elsewhere on this planet behave in a manner you perceive so differently to your own is to go there and smell it, hear it and feel it for yourself.

I fully appreciate that frequent and varied cross-border travel is somwhat a luxury, but equally its a case of some is better than none.

The article sounded like self-indulgent dreck.

I see so much romanticization of travel and “broadening one’s horizons” but most of the time I see that the travelers focused entirely on the surface and missed many truly significant details.

My wife is from Thailand so we travel there often. Every time we go there I am reminded how lucky we are in the US. Not just in the economic sense- that’s more superficiality. Natives of many Asian countries are usually very racist by our standards, and homophobic, and you name it. Not in the trivial “disagree on policy” way that the epithets are thrown around in the west. If you spend a lot of time around people you’ll find that they dislike dark skinned people and favor light skinned people. Gay people are socially held up to ridicule; in popular culture they usually play the role of comic relief.

You can’t go two blocks without seeing a picture of the king. There are propaganda videos playing on displays in the airport extolling his virtues. Again, real propaganda, not just political speech that you might disagree with. Don’t get me started on lese majeste laws; you have to know people really well before they’ll open up to you how they really feel.

I say all this because all I see from these wanderlust expand-your-horizons types is trivial - the beauty of the scenery, how good the authentic food was, how nice the people were (did it ever occur to you that being nice is a strategy to extract money from rich western tourists)?

They never bring home the perspective that things in the west are way better than they are in much of the world because of our values.

> Every time we go there I am reminded how lucky we are in the US. Not just in the economic sense- that’s more superficiality. Natives of many Asian countries are usually very racist by our standards, and homophobic, and you name it. Not in the trivial “disagree on policy” way that the epithets are thrown around in the west. If you spend a lot of time around people you’ll find that they dislike dark skinned people and favor light skinned people. Gay people are socially held up to ridicule; in popular culture they usually play the role of comic relief.

> You can’t go two blocks without seeing a picture of the king. There are propaganda videos playing on displays in the airport extolling his virtues. Again, real propaganda, not just political speech that you might disagree with.

Is that luck or a conscious choice by Americans to evolve our culture?

After all, the territories which ended up forming the United States and the first few presidents to rule it democratically once were themselves ruled by a king and certainly had no free speech.

> Natives of many Asian countries are usually very racist by our standards, and homophobic, and you name it.

I seem to recall there are parts of the US where if you go around waving a rainbow pride flag at best you'll get verbal abuse and at worst you'll get shot.

There is also the sort of thing Trevor Noah highlights on occasion, the veiled racism in the US. (I can't locate in on YouTube but there was a video doing the rounds of him answering a question from a school teacher in the audience on the subject, he cited an example of getting a mortgage for a house).

Racism is everywhere. Sure in some countries it may be more "in your face", but ultimately if you go looking for it you'll find it everywhere.

I agree. It’s externalizing vague and poorly analyzed discomfort as something happening outside himself.

Golden age of travel is over because countries are opening up and closing down for the foreseeable future. It effects passport holders unequally based on country of origin. Even if your argument is that countries are rarely closing their borders now there is always the risk of becoming trapped.

Also, keeping up with the vaccine schedule (i.e supported vaccines, ability to add them to your existing vaccine card or cert) is difficult. How to get an EU Digital Covid Certificate as an American or other nationality?

1.) No EU country requires vaccination or testing requirements for entry anymore. 2.) It's very easy to get a EU cert from a US one (I did it through Switzerland, took about... 10 minutes?). 3.) Countries have always been able to close their borders, especially if you're from the global south. I don't think this is right, but it's not different.

> It effects passport holders unequally based on country of origin. This has always been the case. Maybe you didn't feel it if you have a US or French passport, but try being Bosnian and visiting NYC. If you're Polish, even until just a few years ago, despite them being in the EU, you needed an embassy in-person appointment, to get a US visa since Polish citizens weren't eligible for ESTA. Thankfully that stupid thing was changed.

> 1.) No EU country requires vaccination or testing requirements for entry anymore.

False. Portugal, Spain, Netherlands:

https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/visiti...

> An EU entry ban is in effect for people from countries outside the European Union/Schengen area. There are exemptions to the entry ban, for example for people travelling from a safe country or people with proof of vaccination or proof of recovery. This proof of vaccination or recovery must meet certain requirements. From 23 March 2022 people travelling to the Netherlands no longer need to show a negative test result.

More: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2022/06/08/europe-tr...

> Countries have always been able to close their borders, especially if you're from the global south. I don't think this is right, but it's not different.

You're comparing Covid-19 to business as usual pre-pandemic? You must be joking.

Visa service is way behind.

> 2.) It's very easy to get a EU cert from a US one (I did it through Switzerland, took about... 10 minutes?).

Yeah, but what if I'm not in the US? What if I'm traveling in Latam?

> This has always been the case. Maybe you didn't feel it if you have a US or French passport, but try being Bosnian and visiting NYC.

Portugal opened for US citizens not several South American countries. It has now changed but point remains.

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