Monday, October 06, 2008 So you enjoy traveling? By Henrylito D. Tacio Regarding Henry
YOU never know what happens when you attend a workshop. I was attending a workshop for agricultural reporting in Los Baños, Laguna when I met veteran Juan Mercado (who would later on become one of my mentors as a journalist).
But the most surprising event (at least to me) was when organizer Vicente Tirol of Press Foundation of Asia asked me if I had already a passport.
I answered him affirmatively (although I had not traveled outside of the country yet, I thought of getting a passport because I was hoping that one day someone would invite me).
I asked him why. "Would you like to attend another workshop for Asian journalists in Bangkok?"
It was my first travel abroad. I was excited, not knowing what to do when I get there. How different is another country? What kind of people are Thais and what kind of food do they eat? How will I communicate with them?
I did learn so many things from that trip. My idea of what the world is broadened. My perspective about Asia and its culture was widened. I was able to understand why people do things and what makes them do those things.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Patrick Durst, a forestry officer who used to work in Bohol as Peace Corps volunteer, for the first time. Years later, we would work together as editors of one of most successful books to come out from the regional office of UN Food and Agriculture Organization entitled In Search of Excellence: Exemplary Forest Management in Asia and the Pacific Region.
"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go," Robert Louis Stevenson once said. "I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." Saint Augustine compared the world to a book. "And those who do not travel read only a page," he said.
Travel lengthens the conversation. "Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled," Mohammed urged. "I should like to spend the whole of my in life traveling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home," William Hazlitt pointed out.
Anything happens when you travel abroad. You may lose your luggage or your way. You have a hard time having a conversation with the locals (especially if they don't know how to speak English). You may be rip-offed or get mugged.
Traveling is also boring, especially when you are confined in an airplane for more than 12 hours (like when you are flying from Tokyo, Japan to Detroit, United States). "There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror," Orson Welles said.
But air travel can be exciting, especially if you hear those cabin announcements. All too rarely, airline attendants make an effort to make the in flight "safety lecture" and announcements a bit more entertaining. Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:
On a Continental Flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."
After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in Memphis, a flight attendant on a Northwest flight announced, "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted."
Finally, here's one from the Philippine Air Lines: "We're now preparing to land at San Francisco International Airport. Kindly straighten up your seats, turn off all electronic gadgets, pull up your window shades and buckle up for safety. We hope you enjoyed flying with us as much as we did."
When it should be translated to Philippine language, the flight attendant must have said these words: "Tayo po ay papalapag na sa paliparang pangkalawakang internasyonal ng San Francisco. Paalala po lamang sa ating mga kababayan - ang mga unan, kumot, headset at iba pang kagamitan sa eroplano ay di po kasama sa pasalubong. Huwag po lamang baklasin ang LCD-TV na nakadikit sa silya. Maraming salamat po."
