{"id":19294,"date":"2022-08-28T10:07:29","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T14:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=19294"},"modified":"2022-08-31T13:08:13","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T17:08:13","slug":"traveling-companionably","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=19294","title":{"rendered":"Traveling Companionably"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas<\/em> \u2013 I\u2019ve traveled a lot with my cats, Alex and Jack. John Steinbeck traveled with his French poodle, Charley. Mark Twain traveled with various folks in his lifetime, firm in his belief that \u201ctravel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Anthony Bourdain is the kind of companion I would choose to travel with; my favorite traveler of all time. What he has done, and seen, and filmed, and \u00a0written about is out there for all to see; his gritty, unflinching view of the world as it is, and his insistence on telling the truth about it. And he saw travel as a two-way ride; \u201ctravel changes you,\u201d he said. \u201cAs you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life \u2013 and travel \u2013 leaves marks on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I began considering a visit to Africa some years ago, I thought about how such a trip would change me, and, of what kind of companion might approach this venture with attitudes similar to mine. Most people I knew had no desire to go to Africa! I had friends who had been; one on a mission to change things there; a few on a mission to climb a mountain; a few daring to race across the desert. I wanted to go to experience Africa, to meet people who live there, and to go away understanding the world a little bit better.<\/p>\n

So I made a list, and whittled it down.<\/p>\n