MTM: People Watching in Athens

This MTM is coming to you a day late this week because I was all fired up talking about millennials marching. That's a lot of "m" words flying about... Anyway today I want to talk about the art of travel people watching. It's a different kind of breed of people watching than the people watching you could be doing in your own hometown from the local coffee shop while catching bits of gossip and banter. This kind, obviously, has a broader spectrum with different locations, languages, and much more detail than when you're location locked at home. Technically, you could live in a very diverse area and this may not particularly pertain to you as much as others, but nevertheless when you're traveling about country to country there are bound to be differences. 

Sonder is a huge player when you're traveling and that's so blatantly one of my favorite things abut it. Here, pictured above, are two siblings that I ran into up on the Acropolis of Athens. They were talking in a language I did not know, but were being very sweet to each other and seemed engaged in not only the surrounding architecture but little things they were finding that were overlooked by others. Picking up tiny rocks and pointing out other sites and views set them apart from others. As travelers we can always learn from the youth because their imaginations can be quite different from our own. Seeing what they notice or recognize, watching their expressions when they see architecture they've only looked at through books, and listening to their exclamations about historical events can be very intriguing. 

I'm not saying that you have to have baby fever to appreciate what little kids are talking about and I'm certainly not saying that you have to interact with children either. Simply see if you notice anything when you're people watching about the youth and take a moment to take data from it, so to speak. 

You may be inspired or lose faith in parenting skills, who's to say. 

 

-CS

 

Traveling soon? Here are some things you may need and a place or two to do bookings. Safe travels and if you ever want to share something you found you know where to find me.

 

Dirty Laundry

Traveling through crowded streets and racing down unknown roads are sometimes the norm when you've only got a little time in one particular place. You see all kinds of people, animals (at times), and the ongoings of the community. In the back of buses I've gotten countless views into peoples lives. One of the things I always find strangely alluring are peoples dirty laundry. Yes, clothes hanging outside for all to see.

Now, before it sounds too odd you can look at it through a couple of different lenses. On the one hand, you get an immediate look into the fashion of the time. However, the "fashion" may not be what's on the runway, but simply the fashion of the individuals in the home. Here, you can see towels hanging off a railing and that's particularly common everywhere in the world. What's interesting to see are the garments that are unique and those that are maybe a little more, dare I say, vintage. 

One of the greatest things about fashion and style is that it can be fluid and ever-changing. Individual style varies from person to person, state to state, and country to country. Color ranges verses neutrality is something you may notice as well. Peru was very colorful whereas France seemed to stick to basics (are you surprised?). The differences in delicate items and practical wear is another clear difference from location to location.

When you're traveling next have a peek at the clothes that are seemingly out on display - you may find something truly distinct.

 

-CS