Everyone's first trip overseas is the most memorable. It is the first time you see something new, the culture shock, and the questioning of everything you thought you knew.
My first overseas trip was no different.
Getting on that plane was a mix of emotions. However, the culture shock of exploring a new country quickly replaced whatever feelings I was still processing when we landed in LA.
When people talk about culture shock and your judgemental side coming out, nothing compares to how your unconscious bias will kick you to the curb. Several times over.
And let me tell you, what came next was different from what I had been told about how tours worked in Europe.
We all experience culture shock on some level, even if we don’t admit it to ourselves. However, we need to acknowledge how culture shock affects us and how we respond to those situations. Whether because we are ashamed, embarrassed, or something deeper only we know. It shouldn't be something to shy away from. Acknowledging it will allow us to be more open to new experiences in the future. As I reflect on my adventures, I am sure you will see these moments come to light. While I think I handled some situations well, there will be some that I’m sure I could have handled better.
you can read more about how to navigate the currents of culture shock from Psychreg.org.
and unconscious bias, you can do so here:
Now, my first overseas trip was a culture shock, it wasn't the one that you would think.
My friend and I planned to tour the West Coast of America before we headed to Boston for our friend’s wedding. Through internet searching (2010 version), I found this amazing ten-day tour that hit all the places we had discussed wanting to see. San Diego, Los Angeles, Vegas, Hearst Castle and San Francisco. And it was only $800! For 2010/2011, that was a bargain! We also decided to book a helicopter tour, have breakfast at the Grand Canyon, and see the Lion King on stage in Las Vegas.
Yes, the trip would be epic (and for the record, it was). I was excited to meet new people. Many of my friends who had travelled Europe with tour groups spoke about the people they met and their new friendships.
After saying goodbye to my mum at the airport, my friend awkwardly, not knowing what to do with me while I fought back tears as we got on the plane. Seriously, it was like I had suddenly realised I was leaving and not coming back. But I got on that plane, and we flew to Los Angeles, where our tour group waited for us.
After spending three hours in customs, we stood at arrivals and started looking for our names on a sign so we could be taken to our hotel. We were informed that a driver from the tour would be waiting for us, but after five minutes of looking around, it dawned on us that maybe something wasn't quite right.
And what you may think it is right now I’m telling you; you are 100% wrong.
I can't remember how long we stood there, but after finally getting reception on my phone, I called the tour company to find out where our driver was. I thought maybe I had given the wrong arrival information or they were stuck in traffic. It turns out it was… well, I'm not sure, to be honest. I don't remember the conversation, but it was civil. The person on the phone listened and understood. Nothing about the conversation showed they didn't have us down or had forgotten us. They were super helpful and understanding. However, I still hung up from that call with this little voice in the back of my head saying that something still wasn't right. But I couldn't put my finger on what.
At this point, I told my mate that something felt off. Sure enough, not long after that conversation, our driver appeared. To this day, I have wondered if he does what many other pickup drivers do: hang around down the road and wait for you to have cleared customs so that they don't have to pay for parking at the airport longer than they required. It would explain why he got there so quickly after I had made that phone call. As we got into the car and drove to the hotel, we both had a strong feeling that something about this trip wasn't what we thought.
You would think that our first order of business would be a shower and food. But no, the first thing we did was search the tour website to make sure we were indeed on the right tour. And sure enough, we found something.
Again, it's not what you are thinking. Trust me.
It turns out, there was a link on the bottom left of the page neither of us had noticed before, so we clicked on it. It took us to another website—the tour company's primary site—but it wasn't in English but in Chinese.
We realised that the tour we had booked was for Chinese tourists. They had done what many other English sites do: build the same page in another language to find new customers and expand their business. And we were one of those people who had discovered their tour. (This also explained why I spoke to an Asian woman on the phone and an Asian man picked us up.)
Were we surprised? Yes.
Were we annoyed? No.
Seriously, why would we be annoyed? We both thought it was amazing. Travelling is all about making stories and memories, and this is definitely one of my favourite memories.
At best, everything that happened that first day challenged my biases and culture shock to last the rest of the trip. At worst, it was a strong taster to what was in store for the rest of the trip.
To understand what Unconsious bias is and how it impacts our day to day life you can watch An Introduction to Unconsious Bias form Robbie Short Illustration and Understanding Unconsious Bias from the Royal Society on Youtube.
This is what makes travelling so valuable: Opening your mind. My learnings from that first trip is that what you may think you know, there is always something else to learn to enlighten you.
Today, nothing really phases me when I travel to a new country. I'm always excited to meet new people and experience something ditfferent. I am even more excited to experience something that I hadn’t expected. It keeps me on my toes and allows me to constantly assess my opinions, beliefs and overall understanding of the world.
After we digested all the new information about our tour, we showered and had dinner. Discussing what this tour would be like and excited for tomorrow's trip to San Diego.
And let me tell you, what came next was different from what I had been told about how tours worked in Europe.
