Tip # 8: Watch Films and Read Literature Set in the Destination Country.

One of the things that has enhanced my travel experience the most has been reading novels set in my destination country in advance, on the way to, and while I was in the country.

I highly recommend you indulge in literature that teaches history as well as some contemporary culture. Also, I
enjoy indulging in films set in the destination country.

A novel about a young American living in Paris is what inspired me to study in France my junior year of college.

Some personal examples are: before going to Viet Nam recently, I read The Quiet American, by Graham Greene, and later I rented the film. While near the Chinese border in northern Viet Nam, I read The Good Earth by Pearl Buck. It’s an intriguing tale of the struggles and prosperity of a rice Farmer living in China during the pre-revolutionary period. As we rode through the rice fields of Viet Nam, I felt I was a part of the farmer’s world. Touring around Saigon, I saw all the landmarks that were featured in The Quiet American.

On the way to Japan, I read Gary Katzenstein’s Funny Business: an Outsiders Year in Japan. He provides an entertaining tale of his experience blundering through a foreign culture working for a Japanese company headquartered in Tokyo.

Before traveling to India, I rented several Indian films including Veer Zaara, Water, Earth, and Monsoon Wedding. On the way to and while in India, I read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Although the lifestyles of many of the characters were very foreign to me, I felt I could relate to them, because I saw them all while in India, from the monkey man, to the struggling housewife, to the outcastes living on the edges of society in tents, to the beggars in the streets etc.

In short, consuming literature and films set in the destination country enhance my total travel experiences.