Tentative Steps

Many of us are part of a generation raised on gap years, fast food, low budget travel, the internet, mobile phones, and are at the beginnings of adulthood. The other end of the continuum are fit, healthy babyboomers entering retirement, ready to turn their hands to some independent travel around a world that has opened up drastically during their lifetime. If we are not to trample upon and destroy the very delicate nature of the people, the places and the economies that we seek to experience, our journeys must be made with very tentative and respectful steps, approached with an almost academic concern for their preservation and positive advancement. Similarly, our everyday consumption of food, goods and resources requires closer examination and mediation in order to harmonise our global future.

Make Travel Fair was setup in May 2006 to help educate people on the issues that they should be aware of when embarking on a trip abroad, and even when staying at home. We live in an increasingly well networked world of consumerism, and we do not have to travel far before our actions can influence the livelihood of someone on the other side of the world and have a huge impact on the state of our natural world. Make Travel Fair is not a campaign or an instruction but an education, an inspiration to help us move forward in the right direction and to encourage us to think more carefully and clearly about the footprints we leave behind us.

Interview: Ian Mackenzie On The Importance Of Travel

MTF: What is your background and what initially inspired you to set up your own online travel magazine?

My own background is in Communication and Journalism, though I’ve always had an interest in travel and web design.  With the advent of blogging, of course, it wasn’t long before I jumped on the bandwagon and starting publishing my thoughts to the world.  Unfortunately, I quickly ran out of material – or at least thoughts that I cared sharing with other people.  So after a year-long hiatus, I returned to the blogging scene with the idea of creating a group blog about the nature of travel.  Hence, Brave New Traveler was born.

MTF: How would you describe the content that Brave New Traveler publishes?

I would describe our material as essays/tips/and opinions about the “nature of travel.”  So rather than destination specific travel stories or fluff pieces about the best hotels and attractions to visit, BNT attempts to explore why and how we travel.  Travel today is also undergoing large changes with the advent of technology and travel blogging, so we include tips and tricks as well.  But by far, the most unique and rewarding articles we publish are the ones that challenge what it means to leave your life behind and hit the open road.

MTF: Can you explain a bit more about what you mean by ‘Exploring the inner journey through the outer world’, and how do you think travel is changing?

That tagline came to me as I was searching for something appropriate that set us apart from other travel mags – and I think I was able to capture it.  Basically, it relates to what the great travelers have told us since the beginning: travel isn’t about exploring new lands.  It’s about exploring yourself, and opening you mind.  It’s about the journey rather than the destination.  And it’s about leaving home only to return and see it anew once again.  On that note, travel hasn’t changed much since the first explorers pushed the boundaries of the known world.  As much as you research your trip before-hand, real travel will shatter your expectations…if you’re open enough to experience it.

MTF: Do you think that more young people could benefit from taking time out to travel before studying for a college degree?

Absolutely, I think everyone should travel extensively before heading into college. I made the mistake of entering University right out of high school, which resulted in a few years of disinterestedly wandering through courses that I hated.  About halfway through my program, I took off for Australia – working a variety of low skilled jobs and traveling for 8 months.  When I came back, I knew more about myself and the life I wanted to lead.  This gave me direction and motivation to complete my degree and start living.

There is a video on YouTube of you doing a shot of vodka at 7.19am when BNT passed 100 subscribers. What’s you next milestone and what sort of celebration can we expect?

The next milestone is 1000 subscribers.  I’m not quite sure how to celebrate, but rest assured, it will likely involve more alcohol.  And perhaps nudity…well okay, maybe just more alcohol.

MTF: What advice would you give to someone going off travelling for the first time?

Be prepared for the unknown. If you are truly traveling,  open your mind, and don’t be afraid to say ‘yes’ to situations outside of your comfort zone.  No doubt you will be miserable some of the time, but as for the rest, you will find yourself marveling at the most beautiful moments of your life.

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Independent Travel To Last A Lifetime

Stand out from the crowd

Leaving school is a milestone in all our lives, a time of liberation from structured days and a temporary end to intensive learning. Finally we are left to walk unsupported, bestowed with the burden of unrelenting decision making.

Travelling the world was never presented as an alternative when I left school, just before the idea of gap-years had really taken off; everything had to have structure and a clearly defined purpose whether it was university, a placement on an overseas program or a proper job. I left the five months after my final A-level exam bound for Australia with a working holiday visa, the sense of adventure and rebellion I felt was a real inspiration to me.

Independent travel is not something we all feel comfortable with but it was my salvation, a leap towards greater understanding of the world and the development of a healthy cynicism towards the media and politics. Often slated purely as an opportunity for hedonism and debauchery, it is not always the case and the eventual outcome is often an experience incredibly rich in life lessons, and an important period of time spent forming personal opinions and world views that can hold-fast for a lifetime. An education in the western world may provide strong academic credentials but it does not provide an alternative point of view on the world. It does not teach us the politics of Latin America from the point of view of a Guatemalan. It does not teach us about the stolen generation of Australian aborigines, and it does not teach us about the lasting impact of the Vietnam War over 30 years later. To really get away from it all and learn about history and politics from a new angle we must severe ties with all that is familiar, break new ground for ourselves and experience the world.

I spent two years travelling around Australia, South East Asia and South America, sometimes I’d be alone, sometimes I’d make friends and travel for extended periods with others, having different experiences as a result. The flexibility and freedom of being alone in foreign lands is a heady cocktail of possibility and opportunity, a fantastic asset to anyone’s development. It is often a direct result of extended periods away from home that we return and decide to make changes to our lives. The recent rise in social enterprise is a likely outcome of the early ‘gap-year generation’ translating their travel experiences into ethical employment opportunites.

It was only after I started to travel that I began to eat better food, that I became interested in social and political affairs, and that I really learnt how best to deal with the multitude of decisions we have to make every single day. Travelling is far from an escape, and may even be the most challenging of options facing a school leaver but it is certainly jam-packed with rewards and lessons to last a lifetime. Despite the competition for employment opportunities that we all face; being able to impress on paper by qualifying all of our days with relevant experience isn’t what we should be striving for. Self fulfilment and worldly wisdom will shine through on every occasion.