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Friday, June 26, 2009


Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. ~Mark Twain


My family are all keen travellers and when I was younger, we would regularly jet off on exotic trips. These memories remain some of my most enduring - experiencing different cultures first hand and trying to navigate that occasionally daunting, often mystifying gulf that lays between cultures and identifying those small, common things that allow us to us to communicate wherever we go. My impression is that every culture is different - sometimes in significant, but often in subtle ways that are not immediately obvious. Yet common experiences and natural curiosity about the world lead (most) people to leap over those boundaries.

In one of the numerous studies I have read, scientists discovered that familiarity - rather than breeding contempt - breeds homogeny. The more time people spend with like-minded people, the more convinced they become that their own opinions are correct. While a little bit of ego-stroking and confirmation can be good for one's self-esteem, overall I don't think it's a terribly good idea to spend your time with people who only cement your view of things. Just imagine what you're missing!

Travelling helps you to avoid this, so long as you remain open to the culture and its people. If you go to a place with pre-conceived notions and refuse to bend, those opinions cannot be changed. Even if you get out there and see all the attractions a traveller is 'supposed' to see, you can end up missing the soul of a place. Varied friendships and social relationships are also positive, as is removing yourself from your comfort zone on occasion. What this means for every person, of course, is different. For some it might mean plucking up their courage and talking to a stranger in a bar or on the street - for others it might mean backpacking round the world!

I feel personally that working at HolidayCheck, being an international company, and spending my time with people from so many different countries and cultures, is a great experience. Commercially, to be able to rely on the expertise of so many different people is great, but for me, personally, just learning first-hand is great. I have to admit, I love finding out what stereotypes they all have about English people! (TeamUK is, in fact, little more than a walking stereotype: as I write, we are drinking tea and have an actual teapot on the desk in front of us.)

Anyway, this blog will hopefully be a learning experience for both me and you. Joining me in posting will be Mark, the other half of TeamUK, and my friend the Stowaway Cat, so watch out for them.

Please write comments, questions and suggestions often - I plan on being very active in responding.


- Kat

holidaycheck.co.uk