We all know that to travel inherently means the traveller has some kind of privilege to possess the money, resources and time to leave one’s home. No matter how much we’ve scrimped and saved, no matter if we are backpackers living in the cheapest, barest hostels around, or living out of a camper van, going to another country (or even travelling within our country of residence) for the sake of ‘travel’—to enjoy, to discover, to relax, to find adventure—is indeed a privilege.
I remember when I was in my twenties, in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the first time. While indulging in a massage, the woman massaging me asked if this was my first time in Thailand. I said yes and that I was from the US. The woman smiled and said she would love to go to the US someday. I asked if she was planning to go anytime soon. She laughed and said no, and in that moment, although I was just being polite and reciprocating her question, I felt a bit ashamed.
Of course I didn’t know her personal circumstances, but it’s pretty unlikely that a woman working as a masseuse in a massage parlour that only cost me 5 US dollars wasn’t going to be able to save up enough to travel to the US soon. Even though I was only in my first job out of grad school and not making a great deal, I still had the money to travel. And when I realised that my pay check would arrive a month later than I had planned, my Dad loaned me the money to continue on with my travels. That too was privilege.
But how do we write about privilege?
You might try telling one of your travel stories through the lens of privilege. Tell us about one or some of those moments when your privilege became apparent to you. Instead of taking for granted the fact that privilege is inherent in travel, we can bring this reality to light and name it, examine it. This doesn’t mean that we point out how poor everyone around us is, but that we examine ourselves, that we try not to take our privilege for granted, or use it unthinkingly. Doing this might help us be more aware of what others think and feel.
Writing about privilege is not about feeling ‘grateful’ for all that we have. While it is purely luck that we were born the people we are, the privilege we possess and often wield unknowingly comes from a long history of injustice perpetrated and perpetuated by our ancestors. We have to acknowledge this in our travel stories, and make it clear that we see our privilege, that the world is a complicated place and we are in complicated positions within it.
In your travel stories, try not to be blind to your privilege. Write about what it means to be aware of all the advantages you have, and how that awareness changes your worldview.
