“How many bottles did you bring back?”
“Bottles?” I ask.
“Booze Bob, booze! Didn’t you just return from Turkey? Do you know how much cheaper it is in Duty Free?”
“No,” I tell them, “I didn’t bring back any bottles! But I did spend most of my precious dollars!”
Yes I did, not in bringing back bottles, though I did give a second glance to the scotch which had been brewed in barrels of stout. But decided against it, because other things beckoned. Again, not things in Duty Free but outside the airport.
I realized that just as we charge big money to foreigners, they do to us also, and most of the Lira which my dollars were exchanged for, went in museums, guided tours, catacombs and countless other places where I gladly gave my money up.
Why? Because I came back armed with precious knowledge-first hand information, and reliving history, through actual visits to places of persecution, worship and freedom!
And then a lot of it went on food. Not for me, MacDonald’s and Starbucks, but places where I tasted original Turkish bread, meat and every other culinary delight I’d never have tasted outside the country.
I remember once traveling in Europe by train and instead of sitting cooped up in my compartment sat in the dining car, which had the best view, and the best food, and wine!
And when I left the waiter a handsome tip, I left a little piece of India there as the waiter looked at the money left for him and nodded in appreciation.
I know, most of us hardly tip, because we are thinking of the bottles in Duty Free! But, in our trips abroad we need to be ambassadors of our country, using our precious dollars in ways in which we can tell people abroad that we as a country have arrived.
Then, there’s other things you do abroad, you look at courteousness and politeness, you look at fairness and to a great extent truth. These are things money can’t buy, but which your stay there will teach you. Many of our leaders go abroad to study how flyovers and railways are built, but do not stop to wonder why there is more honesty and integrity there. Makes sense to know why honesty is indeed a good policy and can develop a nation and people.
The bottles in Duty Free stared at me as I walked into the airport, so did the chocolates and phones and latest laptops, but as they noticed my empty wallet and old travel bags, they turned away in scorn.
They did not see a bit of the outside world nestling in my head waiting for a restless pen to release the same bits to my readers..!
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and author. He blogs at www.bobsbanter.com and can be reached at bobsbanter@gmail.com
