From The Dubois County Daily Herald
Tuesday, October 17, 1950

HARK THE HERALD

Why Do People Go Abroad?
By A. T. Rumbach

When the Queen Mary drove within sight of the American shores, past the Statue of Liberty with its brightly burning torch held on high, and up to her pier at the foot of the Fiftieth street in New York City, early Thursday morning (October, 1950), her two thousand passengers heaved a sigh and exclaimed:   “Gee it is good to be back in the good old U.S.A..”   The same sentiment has been expressed for many years by the passengers of other ocean liners and airplanes.

Still the rush for reservations for overseas voyages continues from year to year; and when future travelers shall have completed their trip and returned to home base, they will all echo the same sentiment.   And when they finally approach their own home, whether it is a hovel in the forest of Maine or a mansion in California, or a modest home in Indiana, the words of John Payne’s famous old song “Home, Sweet Home,” will rise from their hearts to their lips:   “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”

Why, then do people spend time, money and energy on travel abroad?   The answer is contained in another stock phrase invariably uttered by returning wanderers “I am glad it is over. I would not care to go through it all again, but I would not take a million for what I saw and learned.”

People usually refer to Europe as the Old Country.   It is exactly that. When one reflects that the earliest signs of civilization in Europe date back to the Roman Caesars, a century before the birth of Christ, where as our civilization is scarcely two hundred years old, and in most places the celebration of a centennial is a momentous occasion.   Even that owes its origin to one or another of the countries of Europe.

Touring Europe is, therefore, really a treat for an American, but the only practical way of doing so, is through a travel bureau, an organization which plans and systematizes the trip, arranging the itinerary, making hotel reservations far in advance, providing baggage handling facilities and providing guides to explain the history and traditions of the places on the schedule.   There are three classes of people who should never attempt to journey abroad, the lazy, the impatient and the intolerant.   The first will find the long rides, the hikes up endless stairways and hilly districts and the punctual schedules unbearable.   The second will “blow their tops” at the endless routine of official passport, visa customs and other formalities.   The third, while failing to broaden their own concept of life in the rest of the world, will antagonize their hosts, sowing the seeds of ill-will rather than those of good-will between nations.

Americans, who go in for foreign travel, should be ambassadors of good-will for their country to the nation which they visit.   For upon their conduct and deportment abroad depends largely the judgment the host countries will form of America.

There are in every group of travelers a few “super-patriots”   who spend their time in making comparisons between the Good Old U.S.A. and the country in which they happen to be sojourning – comparisons which are invariably unfavorable to the latter.   They persist in making “wise cracks,” harmless in themselves, and fundamentally true, but still remarks which are knife-stabs into the sentimental hearts of their hosts.   Such remarks as:   I would not give a dime a dozen for all the ancient ruins or the long-haired music, or the so-called dishes for gourmets in this God-forsaken country.   Or-why they are fifty or a hundred years behind the times, etc., such remarks are certainly not conducive to the strengthening of international relationship.

One should always bear in mind that to the people who live there, it is “Home, Sweet Home!” – the land which gave them birth – the land where they spent their happy childhood – the land where they learned from their mothers’ lips and their fathers’ example their traditions of patriotism, religion.   Whether their country or religion, their customs or traits appeal to one or not, the traveler owes it to his hosts to respect their way of life, and to see the better side of what the scene offers.

Having just returned from such a journey, the writer feels that he should share his good fortune with those who for one reason or another, cannot, or who are wise enough that they choose not to leave the leisure and convenience of their happy homes to go on a long tiresome trip abroad.   We shall try to avoid the tedious recitation of our itinerary and the obvious sights to be seen there, giving rather, our impressions of the conditions prevailing abroad and an interpretation of the habits, customs and way of life existing in the countries visited.