More Than a Tourist #3

June 5, 2015September 21, 2015 / Professional Nomads / 7 Comments

I love Gene’s take on this theme. As a historical interpreter, his role is to breathe life into a place and help visitors draw meaning from their experience. The result gives Gene a different vantage point to consider the meaning of “More Than a Tourist.”

New photo journals in this series are being posted every other day. Come back Sunday, June 7th to see installment #4!

Click on the first photo to read Gene’s story!

: In considering the moment when someone becomes “more than a tourist”, I decided to look at this from a different perspective. As a historical interpreter, I have given presentations at historic sites, state parks, and national parks, interacting with guests and other interpreters. As my occupation, I daily portray a prominent Atlanta businessman in 1930.

: The goal of an interpreter, regardless of where they may be located, is to help the guest form a personal connection with the site and what it represents. In other words, cause them to feel like they are “more than a tourist”.

: This is done by including the guest in the interpretation. Instead of talking “at” them, I talk “with” them, weaving the facts with personal stories they can identify with. I can throw specific details at them all day long and they may retain part of what they hear, but it will be the personal aspect they identify with.

: If they can identify with the site, or some aspect of it, they will care beyond being a tourist visiting a spot on the map. They will spread the word and in so doing, will bring others looking for their own experience.

: Everyone has feelings and emotions which can be tapped into or personal memories waiting to be rekindled. When these sparks burst into flame, they no longer feel as if they are just a tourist.

Return to More than a Tourist #2, (or #1)

Adventures in Aperture is a monthly call for submissions. Check out last month’s reader-based photo collage: Show Us Your Playground! Details for our next contest will be announced next week!

More Than a Tourist #2

June 3, 2015September 21, 2015 / Professional Nomads / 5 Comments

We continue our exploration into what it means to be “More Than a Tourist” with a submission from Patrick Kelly! After graduating with a master’s degree in outdoor and environmental education at Alaska Pacific University, Patrick seized an opportunity to participate in a week-long cultural exchange in the village of Tatitlek. In this piece, Patrick shares details from his impactful experience, and reflects on the greater importance of adventure, especially when juxtaposed against insulated, cruise ship tourism.

Want more from Adventures in Aperture? Check back Friday, June 5th for the next installment of “More Than a Tourist,” or click “follow” in the sidebar and let us remind you. New photo journals from readers like you will be published every other day for the next two weeks!

Click on the first photo to expand Patrick’s photo journal into a storybook!

: Leaving Whittier, my contingent from Alaska Pacific University embarked for the village of Tatitlek to teach kayaking for the Peksulineq Cultural Heritage Week.

: Over the course of the week we got dozens of new kayakers, Alaska Native and non-Native, onto the water.

: A theme of the week was traditional subsistence food. The seal was hunted, skinned, and cleaned. The meat from the seal was eaten later in the week. Two visiting Alaska Native artists collected the bladder for a traditional bladder ceremony and gave the seal a drink of water to assist in its return to the spiritual realm. This beautiful tradition of giving thanks has been lost in many villages today.

: The land of the midnight sun extends to Prince William Sound as well. The village is a breathtakingly beautiful place, with its scattered children’s bicycles and distinguished dogs adding a flare of the pragmatic.

: After the bladder ceremony, releasing the bladder of the seal back into the ocean, we had signs of its spirit as free once more. That evening, two seals were spotted off of the ferry dock, an extreme rarity, and later that night, the Aurora came out full-bore. The lights danced for an hour beginning at exactly midnight. The lights whipping across the sky, seemingly erupting from Copper Mountain, made the night like nothing I have seen before. At one point, the lights gathered together and formed what looked like an ethereal seal in the sky. It may seem coincidental or like confirmation bias, but even in reflection the only way I can think of the events of that night, after that powerful ceremony, was incredible and appropriate.

: As the lights grew dimmer, we remained by the fire, keeping watch for more aurora, and speaking to each other about what it all means.

: The next day a sea lion was hunted and brought on the beach. Local children had never seen one up close before. Their reactions were mixed, between two little boys poking the body with their feet, and one little girl who kept asking if it was dead, and why.

: Eventually, the sea lion was harvested, and the remains were left off of Dead Dog Point, where eagles swarmed the carcass to feed for days.

: Leaving Tatitlek with an expanded group of friends, we were all taken aback by the splendor of Prince William Sound. Our group came to Tatitlek separate—as kayakers, artists, musicians, dancers, and storytellers—but left embodying all of these traits and passions. The power of travel, of embarking on a genuine adventure, is in the discovery of passion. What drives people? What do they have to share? What do you have to share?

: After nine hours on the ferry, we arrived back in Whittier to beautiful vistas, and the Grand Princess cruise ship. The difference between the adventures of us, and the “Princess people” became palpable, even from a distance. We had just spent the past week, and even the last several hours, outside and in the fresh air. We were sunburned, exhausted, and yet energized by the adventure we had all been a part of. We were not whisked away from one insulated boat to another insulated train car, just to make it to our insulated hotel rooms. Adventure is about more than spending money to look outside of a window for a week, it’s about spending time actually in a place, and learning to see beyond the dichotomy of self and place. Tourism let’s one take pictures of their self being in a place. Adventure allows one to let the place become a part of their self.

Continue to More Than a Tourist #1 and learn about Becky Kusar’s transition from tourist, to outsider, to local in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands!

More Than a Tourist #1

June 1, 2015September 21, 2015 / Professional Nomads / 8 Comments

Professional Nomads is proud to announce the first installment in the reader-submission photo journal series, “More Than a Tourist!”

You showed us that ProNo readers deeply value authentic travel experiences with cross-cultural connections. Beyond manicured tourism and away from the guise of business, political, and religious agendas, lies the stuff that genuine connections are made of: people. From transplants, to cultural exchange programs, to befriending locals abroad, the ProNos featured in this series each experienced genuine human connection that still resonates today.

Perhaps no one’s story echoes as loudly as Becky Kusar’s. Becky currently lives as “more than a tourist” in St. Thomas. Her photo journal invites us to understand her meaningful progression from tourist, to outsider, to local, and sets the standard for the rest of the series.

We’ll continue posting new photo journals every other day for the next two weeks so check back Wednesday, June 3rd, for the next installment. Better yet, click “follow” from the sidebar and we’ll help you remember!