Nobody Warned Me About the Gypsies

By Karen Wolfgang - Embarking on any kind of journey is always an adventure, whether or not you have a good idea of what you’re getting yourself into. However (un)prepared you are, what you expect isn’t what you’re going to get. Far from being a deterrent to travel, however, this is actually one of the best incentives to go for it. There’s opportunity in the unplanned. In fact, there’s a kind of beauty in it.

As a rule, I try not to expect anything in particular from places, people, etc... (Laudable goal, but admittedly well-nigh unachievable.) On a similar note, I also try to avoid making elaborate plans before taking a trip. (Definitely doable, albeit borderline dangerous.) Oh, sure, if I run across an appropriate guidebook, I’ll pick it up, and I’m certainly not above soliciting advice from people who’ve “been there, done that.” But I’d venture to guess that like me, many fellow travelers would encourage spontaneity: being open to off-the-cuff experiences, and allowing yourself to get into – and, ideally, out of – different and challenging situations. For that, you need a little flexibility, a little wiggle room in the plans. It’s possible to over-prepare for a trip, right? And over-preparedness doesn’t allow for full appreciation of what there is to see and do and understand in each new place, among each new group of friends.

Of course, under-preparation doesn’t ensure spontaneous appreciation either. Perhaps there’s a happy medium between over- and under-preparing, when you’re sufficiently prepared to avoid getting in too much trouble but leave ample room for surprises. I will leave that medium to each traveler to find for him or herself, and move on.

Think of Chile. What immediately comes to mind? The 1973 Pinochet coup. That’s one loooooong skinny country. Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda. The spectacular Andes. Large-scale industrial salmon farming. Some of those might ring a bell, anyway. They are (approximately) what popped into my head when I decided in early March 2004 to take advantage of some free time and residual funds from an excellent summer job and go visit a good friend on a fellowship in Chile.

It’s not unreasonable to suspect that on my recent trip to Chile I was continuously, pleasantly and not-so-pleasantly, surprised. And so I was.

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