Why TLC Gives Me Such a Headache

There are three kinds of people in America: those who aren’t interested in traveling, those who ARE interested in traveling, and those who want to see the world. What is the difference between the latter two? Allow me to explain myself.

One can travel for the sake of saying they’ve been somewhere. One can travel to a particular place with a tourist group to add the location to their Facebook albums upon returning, to buy souvenirs, eat the food, and maybe walk through a few museums with an ‘ooh/aah’ reaction.

But I want to see the world. Not just the landmarks, the food, the people, and the places. I was to SEE LIFE around the world. I want to get to know everything I can about the everyday plight of the citizens of wherever I go. Why? Because there are thousands of ways to live the same life, and I want to learn about how different people approach living. I want to go beyond the stereotypes and the touristy side of each place I see. I want to know the ‘why’ as well as the ‘what.’

Traveling as a hobby these days is getting such a bad reputation because all anyone ever thinks about is how awesome they are, visiting foreign places and flaunting the fact that they’re Americans, etc. I totally blame TLC for a lot of this, because of their reality shows. Every notice how every ‘oddball’ family that has a show on that channel always has ‘special’ episodes where they travel to foreign places and totally end up embarrassing their home country with their cluelessness? Duggars, I’m looking at you in particular.

None of these families are going abroad to experience. They are going to show the cameras that they can, and then end up eating at Mai Dan Lau (Mandarin for McDonald’s) instead of from a local restaurant. It’s essentially modern-day American Imperialism. And it is a disgrace. “The Learning Channel,” indeed.

Because really, what is the point of spending time exploring a foreign country if you aren’t going to immerse yourself fully in it? Why buy a hamburger in France if you can buy one down the street from your office? Because you don’t want to try the escargot? Have you ever actually tasted escargot? It’s actually tasty (and I’ve never been to France!). But even if it wasn’t, I’d want to sample it and any other dish France could offer me.

For the most part, Americans have gotten so rude and close-minded that it’s no wonder a lot of other countries hate us. We’re like that jerk on the playground who always stole the other kids’ desserts and then said that his mom’s pie was better. Why did you even bother snatching up my dessert?!

I guess the point of this mini-rant is that if you’re going to explore the world, you have to keep your mind open. Is it scary sometimes? Oh hell yes it is! But so was my first time eating sushi, and it’s one of my favorite foods now. You can’t get the full experience until you try it.

And TLC is as far from a real experience as you can possibly get.

And The Duggars are imperialist douchebags, but that is a post for another time. 

POSTCARD OF THE WEEK III: The Netherlands

I get a lot of flack for my mild obsession with the Royal Families of Europe. When I got this card, King Alexander was still only the heir apparent, so it’s in the earlier volumes of my collection.  This card came to me from Anja.

Why do I love following the Royal Families? After all, most of them aren’t even powerful. Like England, many of the royals these days are more of a symbolic presence, with maybe some influence over parliaments or politics. And it’s not even as if they are particularly fascinating people (aside from Diana Spencer or Sarah Ferguson). They mainly keep up their appearances and jobs, rear children away from the public eye (smart), and marry models or children of business people. Many do have charitable causes they work for, but few reach the level of notoriety that Diana Spencer did. I bet most people can’t even name the houses that each country’s royals belong to, other than perhaps Windsor or Amsburg.

I guess it’s one of those things even I can’t explain. But when I look at postcards like this one, especially looking at the three little girls, I just can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy….what spectacular lives they are going to lead one day! Every step they make will either be watched, documented, or at least noted by the general public. With that kind of influence, they could change the world without even trying! How amazing is that?

This card motivated me to look up the history of the House of Orange-Nassau van Amsburg, and now, thanks to that, I have three books on hold for me at my library on King Alexander’s mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. It’s a domino effect, and I bet once I read up on them, I’ll see another name dropped somewhere in the text that sparks my interest, etc. I am quite a biography enthusiast all around.

The Netherlands, funny enough, is on my bucket list of destinations to visit for a different reason: every year, The Netherlands plays host to Red Head Day…where over 7,000 gingers from around the world come together in celebration of red hair, freckles, and SPF-75 sunscreen (I assume). As a natural redhead, I feel obligated to make a pilgrimage to this gathering.