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Dear Responsible W.O.R.L.D. Traveler
What an exciting month!
We’re getting ready to greet summer with exciting travel, entertainment and
information for you, our much valued Responsible W.O.R.L.D. Traveler reader!
We’ve been writing and talking far and wide about our upcoming Italian
Riviera Wine Harvest and EcoTour, coming in September. That beautiful
picture to the right is a shot of the coastline of Vernazza, our
home-away-from-home during this unforgettable eco-adventure from September
11-19.
What an exciting opportunity to become part of the ancient wine-making process
in the Cinque Terre of the Italian Riviera! In the next weeks, you’ll be
receiving a lot more info about this fabulous tour — including an exciting
opportunity to save hundreds of $$$$ on your trip!
If you haven’t yet checked out the
Italian Riviera Wine Harvest and EcoTour on our website, please come and see
our video of the beautiful Riviera and your day-to-day
itinerary! You can
click right here to see this fabulous responsible travel adventure.
In addition, we’re getting ready to launch our new venture: Peace
Through Travel Radio! This exciting Internet station will deliver to
your computer outstanding World Music, 24/7…with music from
Africa, Latin America, Brazil, Europe, Asia—as well as jazz, folk-rock, blues
and R&B from North America!
And that’s not all. Coming soon, Peace Through Travel Radio
will bring you insightful and helpful interviews with
leaders in the sustainable travel movement: the experts on the how’s,
where’s and why’s of responsible travel. These are folks who will help you
sharpen your new global mindset—the subject of this month’s
Feature Article.
We think you’ll love our line-up! Of course, we’ll keep you posted as we move
forward.
Happy reading!
Love and Peace,
Linda
Peace Through Travel
6 Steps to a Global Mindset
Without a doubt, in
today’s world an essential component of responsible travel is a broad and
flexible mindset that anticipates, embraces, and interacts constructively with
world views very different from our own. Only with a global mindset—or our best
attempt at it—will we experience the deeper understanding and magical
connections that are ours for the living when we travel responsibly.
In our last article, “What is a Global Mindset? And Why Should You Want One?” we
defined a global mindset as a mental attitude or inclination—or a fixed state of
mind—oriented to or involving the entire world.
So a global mindset is an attitude. It’s a
way of thinking.
How do we achieve that?
Frankly, it isn’t so easy to change our
way of thinking…but with some desire and focused attention, we can do it. Here
are six steps to expand your own attitudes, or mindset, toward a more global
view.
1. Be Aware
Being human, we all have natural resistance built in when it comes to change.
Our resistance, while natural, will work against us if we’re not aware of its
pull. We want to pay attention and be beware of our own behavior, specifically:
• Our tendency to assume that the way
we do it at home is the same way others do it elsewhere;
• Our own ethnocentricity: our
tendency to believe that the way we do it is better. Whether or not we recognize
this, many of us feel this way.
• Our natural tendency to seek out
people who feel comfortable and familiar to us: they look like us, dress like
us, speak the same language, and/or think the way we do.
2. Take Action
Developing a global mindset requires
action, not just thinking or watching. We can’t read our way into a global
mindset. That’s great for learning about something or someone, but then we need
to get out and interact with people who are (or seem) very different from us to
really absorb—to the best of our ability—the world view they experience.
3. Sharpen Your Curiosity
Curiosity starts in your mind, and it
starts at home. Be curious about —and open to — diversity: diversity of
appearance, race, religion, language. Remember: you’re cultivating a new
mindset! Realize that most of the world is different from you. Start exploring
that idea now, while you’re still at home…and your next trip with repay you with
richness in personal growth and inter-cultural communication.
4. Seek
the New
Seek experiences that are culturally
different from your own, even before you travel. Expand your awareness and
cultural “literacy” through international experiences with others. For example,
use the arts as a vehicle for your cultural expansion: look for international
cultural organizations, international exchange forums on the Internet, foreign
film venues, international book clubs.
5. Join in
Become part of a global information and
opinion exchange through forums, discussion groups, and professional
organizations. Communicate with others who are different from you and learn how
they think, perceive problems, and create solutions. If you’re traveling, seek
experiences that bring you into the heart of a new culture, a new way of seeing
the world around us. While these encounters don’t need to be long in duration,
they do need to be authentic and of high quality. Remember your goal: you’re
trying to absorb a new mentality!...so you need some focused international,
cross-cultural interaction.
6. Expect to Squirm
Understand that you’ll be outside your
comfort zone. Growth is impossible as long as you’re cozy. You need to step into
a brand new mental and emotional space, and that's not so comfortable. But
you'll be glad you did…because the personal and inter-personal rewards are
enormous.
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Do you want to use this article in your E-zine or website? You can! Just leave
it unaltered and include the contact information below—and please send me a link
or copy at info@peacethroughtravel.net. Thanks!
Linda Rivero, President of Peace Through Travel LLC and Women Travel for Peace,
publishes Responsible W.O.R.L.D. Traveler, a FREE monthly
e-zine on green and culturally authentic travel that protects our world and all
who live in it. Get your FREE Special Report on
Language-Learning for Travel and your FREE downloadable mp3 on
Responsible Travel Planning at www.peacethroughtravel.net.
Italian Riviera Wine Harvest and EcoTour
September 11-19 2009
Eight days in the vineyards and hills of the Northern Italian Coast:
Green hills, tourquoise waters, exquisite food
You squint in the Mediterranean sun, laughing with your new Italian friends and
delightful travel companions as you take in the aroma of the fragrant black
earth. Artfully clipping voluptuous grapes from their vines, you’re moved to be
part of the ancient harvesting tradition of the Italian coast. To your joy, the
Italian you learned before you left home is paying off. You toss a comment to
the charming Italian woman working a few feet from you, and she throws her head
back, giggling in delight.
You’re proud that you’ll return home, the only cook in your neighborhood to know
the secret to preparing true, authentic pasta al pesto, thanks to your
private cooking lesson. And your sensitive wine palate will be the talk of the
town, given the local wine tastings and numerous samplings you've enjoyed.
You realize that this trip is diferent: the Cinque Terre are revealing their
centuries-old culture, cuisine and charm to you during this deeply personal,
cross-cultural travel experience. You know in your heart you would have never
experienced Italy like this if you had traveled here any other way.
This once-in-a-lifetime travel experience is yours for only $2895, plus air,
with all your expenses included.
Only 8 spots are available. Isn’t your name on one of them?
Call today to reserve your place! 703.835.9378.
Italian Riviera Wine Harvest and EcoTour: September
11-19, 2009.
See the sights and your day-to-day itinerary right here.
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About Linda
Linda Rivero is President and Founder of Peace Through Travel LLC
and Women Travel for Peace, a non-profit travel company. Both
organizations are based on the principles of responsible travel and devoted to
helping travelers discover deep and joyful aspects of their own humanity through
unexpected connections with others very unlike themselves.
If you enjoyed this issue of Responsible W.O.R.L.D. Traveler, you'll love
Linda's outstanding tours; the intriguing videos you'll find on her
websites; the language-learning tools in her TraveLang
program; and, coming soon, the musical richness and intellectual stimulation of
Peace Through Travel Radio.
Linda is a veteran travel
business owner and foreign language professor whose creative travel programs
have been noted by the press for their originality, culturally authentic
experiences, and strong connection between visitor and local community. She is
committed to creating travel for very small groups, having witnessed the
powerful experience this exclusive travel style offers travelers, and having
understood that small groups gently yet persuasively nurture strong connection
between visitors and local residents.
You can learn more about
Linda and her unique travel and educational offerings at
www.peacethroughtravel.net.
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