Traveling with a non-tckid?
Hi guys!
I’ve got a question: have you ever traveled to other countries with a non-tckid?
Well, I live in Germany, my mom in Damascus. As I work for an Airline, I’d like to take a friend of mine to my mom’s place. But I have never travelled with a non-tckid. I mean. Well you know how it is. You get out of the plane, an nowbody will ever notice that you actually are a foreigner in that country. You adapt, you speak the language etc…
But this time it’ll be different…
Have you had any experiences??? Any clues, what I have to look after???
Gosh! this situation makes me nervous!
Antonie
You are not at home, where you live, but where you feel at home!
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5 Comments to “Traveling with a non-tckid?”
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I’ve travelled with non-TCKs a few times. The only problem is that it’s easy to slip into sort of a babysitter role, since you know the ropes and they don’t — especially if they haven’t travelled internationally before. I usually have to decide ahead of time whether to do that or not, otherwise it’ll automatically happen. Some people like to have things done for them in a foreign country, and other people like to try to negotiate things on their own. There are certain things it might be a good idea to tell them, like not to joke with the customs officers about smuggling drugs, and a few culture-specific things that you know and they don’t. Other than that, it shouldn’t be a problem. Every travelling companion is different, but I’ve always enjoyed it.
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February 24th, 2008 at 5:47 am
The thing I’ve found was a personal difficulty was the inflexibility of my non-TCK traveling companion, as far as new experiences.
Whereas I tended to accept differences in a different country as unique to that country (as in, yeah it’s different than I’m used to in my daily life, but hey, when in Rome…) without really thinking too much about it, my traveling companion found it more difficult to “roll with the punches.”
I found myself feeling almost scornful, which wasn’t very gracious, or understanding. After all, they were getting used to a lot. It’s a fine line between being the “babysitter”, as Ingrid said, and letting them “figure it out”. Just some thoughts to be aware of…
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February 24th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Hi thanks!
Yeah! I think it’ll give me a hard time… I’m not only a TCK, but I’m an airliner… That means, that travelling is´my business!!! So I’ll really have to wacht out not to do everything!!!
I don’t worry about customs, as this guy is a police officer… but about moving around in the country… I speak like 5 languages.. he speaks Germand and English and that’s all…and well… what about car driving?
How do you guys handle that? You start driving right away or give him a chance to try???you know in some countries driving is rather an adventure…
Oh gosh!!! that’ll be an exciting trip!
Toni
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February 24th, 2008 at 6:56 am
I’ve traveled with them before. The thing is to try and enhance their experience while not appearing condescending or pushy. Try to get his opinion about things.
But really, just have fun. That’s it. If he’s a good enough friend then you should be able to work it out between yourselves.
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February 24th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Dan had a good point about trying to enhance their experience. Remember, this will be a much bigger adventure for your friend than it is for you. If he is excited, or a little nervous, he has every right to be. You can help make this a memorable experience for him! (In a good way, we hope.
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