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Word reaches me that much of the civilian population, as a result of having school-age children, must take their holidays in the summertime. I never know how much to believe these occasional dispatches from the frontline, such as the persistent rumour that some people make use of their home kitchens. Regardless, this might be a good moment to share with readers a few thoughts on how to travel.
我听说，由于有学龄儿童，许多民众只能在夏季休假。对于这些来自“前线”的零星消息，我从来不知道该信多少，比如一直有传言说，有些人会用自家的厨房。无论如何，现在或许正是一个好时机，和读者们分享一些关于如何旅行的想法。
First, the journey itself. Carry-on is a mistake. The time saved in baggage claim at the other end isn’t worth the stress of finding overhead storage space. Even for business class passengers, with their dedicated lockers, it is still better to move around an airport unencumbered. This is meant to be a break, not arm day. Also, dress smartly. A jacket and formal shoes will win you (undeservedly) better treatment, including during any brush with officialdom. You will stand out all the more at this time of year, when most travellers are got up like John Candy in Summer Rental.
首先说说旅途本身。随身携带行李其实是个错误。虽然在目的地可以节省行李提取的时间，但为找头顶行李舱而焦虑并不值得。即使是商务舱乘客，拥有专属行李柜，轻装在机场行动也更自在。毕竟这是度假，不是锻炼手臂的日子。另外，穿着要得体。一件西装外套和一双正式皮鞋会让你（即使不应得）获得更好的待遇，包括在与官方打交道时。尤其在这个季节，大多数旅客都像《夏日租屋》(Summer Rental)中约翰•坎迪(John Candy)那样随意打扮，你会更加与众不同。
And so to the destination. What have I learned over the years about how to get the most from a trip?
现在我们来谈谈到达目的地之后的事情。这些年来，我学到了哪些让旅途收获最多的经验？
Do more writing than reading. Keep a journal while abroad. At no other point in the year are you able to look at your own life with such detachment. The geographic separation from home is hard to simulate. So is the introspection that often sets in during air travel. (The so-called Mile Cry Club.) You need not diarise the rest of the time — I don’t — to scribble copiously, and penetratingly, during these few weeks. As nice as it is to work through a reading list while away, that can be done at home. The self-scrutiny can’t.
多写作，少阅读。在国外时要坚持写日记。在一年中的其他时间，你很难以如此超然的视角审视自己的人生。与家乡的地理分离是难以复制的，正如在飞行途中常常涌现的自省一样（所谓“高空哭泣俱乐部”）。你不必在其他时间都记日记——我自己也没有——但在这几周里，可以尽情而深刻地书写。虽然在外旅行时完成一份阅读清单也很不错，但这些在家里也能做到。唯有自我审视，只有此时此地才可能实现。
YouTube is the best travel aid in the world. For each destination, down to the neighbourhood and sometimes the street, there is a video or entire channel. If the presenter is a nuisance, just mute them. The point is to see the physical reality of another place in high definition. This can’t be gleaned from even the finest, VS Naipaul-grade travel writing. Or from TV shows of the Alan Whicker and Anthony Bourdain type, which are too generalist, if not also too staged. (A star with a professional camera crew can’t move through a place without subtly warping it.) Then there is the matter of up-to-dateness. Mainstream content takes a while to come out. A YouTuber’s walk through a street can be live.
YouTube是世界上最好的旅行助手。对于每一个目的地，甚至细致到社区、街道，都有相关的视频或专门的频道。如果主持人让人不喜欢，只需静音即可。关键在于能够以高清画质看到另一个地方的真实面貌。这是即使最出色、堪比V•S•奈保尔(VS Naipaul)级别的旅行写作也无法做到的。至于像艾伦•威克(Alan Whicker)和安东尼•布尔丹(Anthony Bourdain)那样的电视节目，则往往过于泛泛，甚至有些过于刻意（明星和专业摄制团队的出现总会在无形中改变当地氛围）。还有一个问题是时效性。主流内容往往需要一段时间才能发布，而YouTuber的街头实拍则可以是实时的。
It is better to be merely ignorant of a place than confidently wrong about it
对一个地方一无所知，总比自以为了解却大错特错要好
Beware the “authentic” experience. This is the ultimate intellectual trap. At least in countries with a decent-sized middle class, “real” life will be less distinctive than the visitor hopes or imagines. In much of south-east Asia, it is authentic behaviour to spend time in malls. First, because these are air conditioned. Second, because countries with fresh memories of being poor tend not to regard material consumption with ennui or distaste. By all means, in Bangkok, ride the canal boat. But don’t kid yourself that it is truer to local experience than taking mass transit from a suburban new-build to a nine-hour office shift. In a Gulf city, do visit the “old town”. But remember that it is the old town precisely because it is divorced from how lives are lived now.
要警惕所谓的“真实”体验，这其实是最大的认知陷阱。至少在拥有相当规模中产阶级的国家里，“真实”生活往往没有游客想象的那么与众不同。在东南亚的许多地方，逛商场才是真实的日常：一是因为有空调，二是因为那些对贫困记忆犹新的国家，并不会对物质消费感到厌倦或反感。当然，在曼谷你可以坐运河船，但别以为这比从郊区新建小区搭乘地铁去上九小时班更贴近当地人的生活。在海湾城市，参观“老城区”也无妨，但要记住，它之所以被称为老城区，正是因为它已经与当下的真实生活脱节了。
If an Asian visitor cycled through Paris in a striped top and an onion necklace, saying “ooh là là” at intervals, we wouldn’t think, “There goes someone who has mastered the local culture.” We’d know that real Parisians are doing banal things. But westerners, especially the educated ones, can make the same error of over-romanticisation in other places. It is the supposed suckers in the tourist traps who are often clearer-headed about what they want and are getting out of their trip.
如果有一位亚洲游客穿着条纹衫、脖子上挂着洋葱项链，在巴黎骑车兜风，还不时地说一句“ooh là là”，我们不会觉得：“这个人已经真正掌握了当地文化。”我们都明白，真正的巴黎人其实只是在过着平凡的日子。但西方人，尤其是受过良好教育的人，在其他地方却常常犯下同样的过度浪漫化的错误。反倒是在旅游景点被认为是“冤大头”的游客，往往更清楚自己想要什么，也更明白自己从旅程中得到了什么。
It is a point that flows into the largest of all lessons about travel. Don’t expect it to be educational. At worst, it can go the other way, in that you over-index what you happen to see in person. (“I went to Russia and it was sweetness itself,” was a widely heard sentiment between the 2018 World Cup and the war in Ukraine.) It is better to be merely ignorant of a place than confidently wrong about it. If you travel a fair bit, those who don’t can go all sheepish and deferent around you. This advantage is unwarranted, which isn’t to say I make no use of it.
这一观点引出了关于旅行的最大教训：不要指望旅行一定具有教育意义。最糟糕的情况是，你可能会因为亲眼所见而对局部经历过度解读。（“我去过俄罗斯，那里简直太友善了”——这是2018年世界杯与俄乌战争之间广为流传的一种看法。）对一个地方一无所知，总好过自信地误解它。如果你经常旅行，那些不常旅行的人可能会在你面前变得羞怯、毕恭毕敬。这种优越感其实毫无道理，当然，这并不代表我从未加以利用。
Email Janan at janan.ganesh@ft.com
请发送邮件至嘉南，邮箱地址为janan.ganesh@ft.com