In the Stellenbosch of today, being well-travelled is no longer a novelty. Rather, it has become the latest component of status and social standing in a world where image is everything and nothing means anything unless it is captured in an image. As the end of my studies near, I have been questioned about whether I plan on travelling next year, as though it is a given choice ordinary people make every day.
“Shall I jet off to Europe today? Rather not, maybe I’ll apply for a job instead. I can always quit if it gets boring.”
Granted, perhaps there are some for whom the decision is as simple as a conversation with their parents over the breakfast table, but to assume that the only free-spirits are those that pick up and leave on a whim, is deeply naïve and demonstrates a concerning level of ignorance.
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As a child one of my favourite pastimes was paging through my Mother’s travel-albums. In the pictures, she was thirty-three years old, beautiful and smiling as she backpacked through Europe with her elder sister and their mutual best friend. I cherished those photographs and the other worlds they represented. I would ask her, time and again, to tell me about the Parisian street cafés and the azure beaches of Greece; I could almost taste the stroopwafels (syrup waffles) of Amsterdam when she described their flavour. She told me that one day, if I worked very hard, I could also go and see the lavender fields of Provence and the bazaars of Istanbul.
Travelling has always been sacred to me, but as I’ve grown older, naturally, the world around me has changed. Social media has slowly enveloped every aspect of youth culture, including how we “brand” ourselves to the world. Exotic destinations have become two-dimensional, thumbnail-sized and, in some measure, cheap in their commercialisation.
Travel bloggers seem to be a dime a dozen these days, with Instagram being their primary traffic-driver due to its location-driven search feed. Whilst these images are aspirational and beautiful, they can often warp the reality of travelling for many people. PHOTO: Creative Commons
Seeing many of my friends working overseas and appearing to travel the world all before their twenty-fifth birthday has raised a question for me: How?
The answer is perhaps quite simple. One’s ability to travel and be mobile is directly linked to one’s level of privilege and this is not limited strictly to money. One’s race, physical ability, health, gender, religion and sexuality affect the ease with which one is able to travel unhindered through certain countries. Being female holds with it certain vulnerabilities, just as being heterosexual raises less conspicuousness.
Awareness of the fact that some cultural practices do not translate into different contexts is the first step in acknowledging a broad world with varying definitions of what is and isn’t acceptable. Those that adhere to customs prevalent across the world must acknowledge the privilege this affords them.
There are various ways to make travelling long distances more comfortable – here are just a few! Created with Canva by Kyra Tarr
Financial insecurity is, however, the primary reason many do not travel. This does not make them unadventurous or small-minded. In fact, to the majority of South Africans, survival consumes their entire monthly income and travelling cheaply is not as always feasible as some would lead you to believe. This is due to the fixed costs of acquiring a passport and the relevant visas, which take many hours of queueing and providing the correct, extensive documentation. That does not even begin to cover airfare and accommodation, which, pitched against an ever-weakening Rand, means that even the leanest traveler is looking at a startup fee greater than what many South Africans earn a year.
In Afrikaans there is an expression: Alles gewoond. It means “being used to everything” or boredom in the face of wonder. Many Stellenbosch students fall into this trap, where the luxury of travel is taken for granted, bolstered by the false perceptions social media cultivate.
For most, “finding oneself” is accompanied by student loans, the practicalities of family life and moving forward one step at a time. It is not accompanied by an all-expenses paid year-long holiday.