Our best memories involve travel. For Craig, it鈥檚 climbing through the ruins of Machu Picchu, watching the rising sun illuminate walls that have remained standing for 600 years 鈥� without mortar to hold the stones together.
Craig鈥檚 guide shared his fear that the Peruvian government might someday prohibit visitors, to save the world heritage site from callous tourists who carve their names into the greatest artifact of the Incan Empire.
The proverbial rude tourist is as old as tourism itself. Even Vikings tagged monuments such as Istanbul鈥檚 Hagia Sophia. Apparently, we haven鈥檛 improved much over the centuries.
In the Instagram age, travel has become about building your own brand and leaving your mark 鈥斅爋ften literally 鈥� instead of letting the experience leave its mark on you. In the process, tourists are taking more than they give.
The Indonesian island of Bali just announced it will limit access to its famous temples because of an onslaught of bikini-clad tourists taking selfies seated atop holy shrines. Italians were outraged in August after two travellers went skinny dipping in the fountain of a war memorial in Rome.
Surely, we can muster more respect for others鈥� property than the Vikings did. Is defacing a centuries-old monument really how you want to achieve immortality?
Imagine a fellow traveller 100 years from now, seeing your name on an historic landmark and thinking: 鈥淲ow, what a jerk they must have been.鈥�
Beyond deliberate vandalism, tourists today are doing damage inadvertently as they try for that perfect selfie.
A Hamilton, Ont., sunflower farm had to ban all visitors this summer after it became a global mecca for Instagrammers seeking a shot amid golden blooms.
Hundreds of tourists were trampling the crops daily, even hurling abuse and threats at the farmer鈥檚 family.
Your photo isn鈥檛 worth ruining someone else鈥檚 day, or their livelihood.
Or, for that matter, their privacy. As fascinating as that Ecuadorian farmer鈥檚 colourful garb might be, get her permission before whipping out your mobile phone cam.
You wouldn鈥檛 want a busload of foreign tourists to come to your workplace and take pictures of you. She doesn鈥檛 either.
Showing respect for your host community isn鈥檛 just about what you shouldn鈥檛 do. Think about what you could do.
If you really want to get the most from your travel experience, give something back to the community that welcomed you.
Volunteer, even if it鈥檚 just a few hours between site-seeing or sunbathing to stack cans at a local food bank. What better way to see something off-the-beaten-path?
Donate to a charity in the community. And support the local economy by shopping and eating at neighbourhood establishments 鈥� and tipping well.
It also bears repeating: When going abroad, take time to research the customs and etiquette of the culture you鈥檒l be mingling with so you don鈥檛 make any social gaffes.
With winter settling in, 91原创s are already planning our escapes. Whether you鈥檙e headed far away or just shredding some powder a few provinces over, remember that travel should be about opening yourself up and giving back to the world, not taking from it.
Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of the WE movement, which includes WE Charity ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day. For more dispatches from WE, check out WE Stories.
