“You’re gay, what’s wrong with you that would fly with [insert airline] or travel to [insert destination]?” For example, I’m just wrapping up a trip to Saudi Arabia, where I flew Saudia and Riyadh Air, and obviously some people have some things to say about that. That’s totally fair — I write on the internet for a living, and people are entitled to their opinions.
I’m certainly not perfect, my opinions on some things evolve over time, and I don’t claim that my perspective should be your perspective. However, I’d like to explain how I think through my decisions of which airlines to fly, where to travel, etc., based on social policies (whether real or perceived).
Before I get into this, let me link to a couple of posts along somewhat similar lines that I’ve written in the past — here’s one about my take on the ethics of flying Middle Eastern airlines, and one about my philosophy on traveling as a gay, married couple.
In this post:
I certainly have strong feelings about politics, and yes, sometimes I can’t help but write about some topics that border on being political. After all, on some level, travel is political, both on a micro and macro level. Political policy can impact our ability to travel, the rights we have in various places, etc. And politics can also impact us on a personal level, including how we view others. After all, we’re products of our environment.
Part of what I pride myself in doing here at OMAAT for 18+ years is reviewing airline and hotel experiences, regardless of how I personally feel about about the government of the place or product I’m reviewing. I share my take on the experience, and then others can draw their own conclusions about what they think, their willingness to have that experience, etc.
I do that for a variety of reasons:
- For one, I absolutely love airlines, and I very much enjoy seeing the difference in service and passenger experience, whether it’s American, Pakistan Airlines, TAAG Angola Airlines, or Turkmenistan Airlines; this stuff fascinates the heck out of me, and I try to come into these experiences with an open mind
- We all have different standards, have the need to travel to different places, etc.; speaking of my trip to Saudi Arabia, I have a surprising number of readers from Saudi Arabia, and I know they also enjoy hearing takes on their airlines
- Regardless of what people may perceive about the way that I travel, I very much enjoy visiting other countries, and in some cases, having my preconceived notions about the people changed
- I think people can draw their own conclusions as to how they feel about a government in a destination; just because I don’t say anything about a government doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions
Here’s what I find funny. For the most part, people don’t have issues with me traveling to questionable countries when it goes poorly, and I have a negative review. Like, when I basically got banned from Egypt for saying Cairo Airport sucks? Awesome, screw them… right?
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
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