Check it out!
I’ve co-produced a 6-minute web film that offers a fast-paced glimpse of intentional travel in action.
What is “intentional” travel, you ask? (OK, you didn’t ask… but we writers like to put words in your mouth. Get used to it.)
Think of it as a field trip for adults. It’s travel that involves listening to and learning from people from different cultures. It’s travel that includes interaction beyond a country’s typical tourist zones.
It can include a volunteer work project, but it doesn’t have to… in fact, sometimes it’s more meaningful (at least to me) to not have a work assignment. Building a house or painting a building makes us feel good (it’s nice to feel useful), and it can genuinely help a community. But it makes it too easy to arrive in a different culture with the idea: “These people need my help.”
I’d rather arrive with the idea: “These people have something to teach me. I’m interested in them and want to get to know them a bit.”
There are many names for this type of travel:
I like “intentional” because the word focuses on the beginning rather than the end. Transformational assumes a result, while intentional only assumes, well, the intent. (As for the other two, they’re a bit dry.)
And for me, more and more, the intent is to have my eyes opened to anything outside my usual sphere of living.
I partnered with filmmaker and former news cameraman Dave Carstens to create a video that captures what this kind of travel feels like — moments of poignancy, lots of laughter, and always moving moving moving 🙂
And, maybe most important, the privilege of seeing levels of both despair and hope that we couldn’t possibly see without venturing beyond our own lives for just a few weeks.
Here’s a link to the video, in case it doesn’t load up above (I’ve spent the last few hours fighting with my website to try to get the video to load properly… and the site seems to be winning.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=N_h5Px_uuAM
If you’re looking for an unforgettable travel experience this summer, check out the volunteer trips to Guatemala organized by Good Neighbors.
https://goodneighbors.org/volunteer
I met the program coordinator at an event in LA a few weeks ago, and just interviewed him for an article I’m writing.
These sound like great experiences. If I hadn’t already blown through my travel budget, I’d be there 🙂
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