As we go to press, I’m about to leave on a trip to Thailand with
EVA Airlines. As I’ve been preparing for this trip (and doing the
many little things one needs to do before leaving), I realized how
much the excitement and nervous energy of traveling has its roots
in the thrill of discovery of not knowing exactly what will happen
tomorrow, of not knowing what you may wake up to see. It’s a
feeling that’s in direct opposition to the way most of us live our
everyday lives.
It seems to me that this confronting of the unknown is an
important part of what makes travel such a great adventure. For
those of us in the industry, it’s easy to forget or overlook that
excitement, but I believe appreciating that thrill is essential to
helping your clients have the best trip possible.
This issue’s cover story, “The Other Europe” (page 20), is all
about discovery. This is not the Europe we’ve visited, read about
and seen in movies all our lives. This is the Europe of castles and
mosques, of counts and grand bazaars, of green rolling hills that
seem unconcerned with modern life. It is the Europe that many
American families came from the Old Country we used to hear our
grandparents and great-grandparents reminisce about when we were
children. It is more exotic than many parts of Western Europe; less
expensive; less commercialized; and, perhaps most important, more
inviting to the imagination and open to the thrill of
discovery.
For all these reasons, and undoubtedly many more, tourism to
this region is growing dramatically, and it is certainly time to
take a closer look at the Other Europe. K.S.
