Just renewed my passport for the fourth time. Although it takes just a little effort to obtain a passport and even less time to renew one, I wanted to reflect on why I even have a passport.
According to social travel start-up Tripl, 115 million Americans currently have passports. That may sound like a lot, but it’s only about 37 percent of the population. To put that number into perspective, 155 million Americans, or 50 percent of the population, have an account on Facebook (RushMyPassport). That is up from 11 percent since the 1990’s.
So why travel internationally?
Having a passport is one thing, using it is quite another. I recently returned from my fourth trip to Europe, visiting Hungary, Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic. Seeking to understand another culture increases awareness of what a people have faced throughout their history.
Some of my experiences while traveling even helped me add more interest to my leadership classes. In fact, when I returned, I taught one such class just two days later and used several of my travel stories in my presentation. (You may read more about my stories in future blogs.)
I find there is something magical about walking the cobblestone streets surrounded by houses and structures hundreds and in a few cases, thousands of years old. The people’s faces, clothes, food and smiles often offer insight into a country that traces its history back to the days of the Roman Empire.
A rugged endurance and perseverance is evident in the way a small shop that sells only felt managed their business. I asked the owner how long the business had been in existence. She said the shop is 182 years old and that her family has owned the shop that entire time. We celebrate ten or twenty years but, imagine a celebration of 182 years! The owner knew her stuff, too. She shared with me the many types of felt. The colors were vibrant, and I could not resist buying several small blocks of a variety of shades of blue felt. The shop was buzzing with people coming and going, placing and picking up orders. I left wishing I could sew and make some of the items displayed on the large bulletin board inside the store.
A few doors down from the felt shop, stood a small umbrella shop. The umbrellas were so unusual. Many of the umbrellas had beautiful designs printed on them, inside and out. I talked with the owner about his business. Although they have sold only umbrellas for decades, he is expanding and adding a few other items. He sensed the market for umbrellas was very strong and that his inventory had to be displayed so customers could select an umbrella based on their hobbies and interests. I could have stayed at that store for hours.
Sitting on the train from Munich to Prague, I met a couple of professors from UCLA/Davis. The man, Hawaiian, taught math. His wife, born and raised in China, was a Biogenetics professor. We began to converse and noticed how we were able to build a sense of community in our small railroad car within minutes. We then found ourselves discussing the stages of team development! I explained to them that Team Development was one of the subjects I facilitate with companies experiencing dysfunction and that Team behavior is one of Tuckman and Jensen’s Four Stages of Team Development. The Math Professor asked if he could use this information for his class, because, he said, he always places the students in teams to work on a project and that some teams function better than others. I shared with him that when teams understand the Four Stages of Team Development and know what normal behavior for each stage is, they relax and just move through the stages. He was fascinated by the theory.
When we talked with the Professor of Biogenetics, we discussed GMO and what the impact will be on GMO foods on our overall health. She shared studies of GMO. Then the topic moved to environmental change and global warming. Her opinion was the world’s weather is indeed changing. We talked about China and its pollution and the impact that it has on its citizens. We discussed her experiences growing up in communist China. We also discussed the U. S. tariffs and the impact the tariffs had on China. She said the Chinese are long-term planners. The Chinese are patient. They will just sit tight and wait for another President and try to work on a trade deal with the new President.
The Professor was surprised when I told her my high school teacher at St. Joseph Commercial High School in Dayton spent almost an entire year sharing information about the Chinese dynasties and that we had to memorize the dynasties and what each dynasty was identified with in the arts, militarily and otherwise.
Later, after a concert of Mozart and Vivaldi, we found ourselves in a small pizza restaurant with a brick oven. As we enjoyed our pizza, we talked with a young patent attorney form Chicago. He said he was in Budapest for a conference on International Patent Law. He remarked how the attorneys from China pressed the American lawyers, seeking information about the tariffs. Since they do not live in a free and open society, the trade war between China and the United States was unfamiliar to them. The Chinese wanted to know how America was feeling about the tariffs and if the tariffs had affected the American consumer. Then, the patent attorney told us the number of patents being filed in China have been less the past year. He wondered aloud if there were a connection.
Where would we ever get that perspective had it not been for our travel to Budapest?
My message is: renew that passport or apply for one and then plan a trip to another country. The memories will enrich your life and the life of those around you…and it may be good for business!
In a future blog, I will share some stories about visiting the City Museum in Munich, the Socialist Museum in Austria, the Communist Museum in Budapest and the House of Terror in Hungary. Just a little tease though, the strong oratorical skills of Hitler played a role in his ability to lead a nation to its demise in World War II.
