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How Can You Travel More Mindfully and Respect Local Cultures?
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May 28, 2025
Travel isn’t just about where you go—it’s about how you go. In a time when overtourism, environmental strain, and cultural clashes are on the rise, choosing to travel mindfully matters more than ever. Learn how small changes in your travel habits can create a positive impact on the places and people you visit. You can also read more about Mindful Travel: Tips for Respecting Cultures and Communities here: 👉 https://abusonadustyroad.com/mindful-travel-tips-for-respecting-cultures-and-communities/ #MindfulTravel #ResponsibleTourism #CulturalRespect #TravelTips #SustainableTravel #EthicalTravel #ConsciousTraveler #ABusOnADustyRoad We loved to hear from you! Check out our blog at ABusOnADustyRoad.com https://abusonadustyroad.com/ Find more great travel videos, recipes and food ideas, tips about ex-pat life, and ancestry travel.
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0:01
[Music]
0:07
hi this is Anita from the Dusty Roads
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podcast today we're going to talk a
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little bit about mindful travel and what
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it means to be able to respect other
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cultures and communities we've been
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talking about this a lot lately because
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I feel like this is sort of an important
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subject that you see a lot of people
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that travel around the world and they
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don't really understand or try to
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respect other cultures or other people
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you know what does it mean to respect or
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have responsible travel well respectful
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travel means treating people and
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cultures and environments with dignity
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and consideration you're not just
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passing through you're engaging with
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places that others call home i think
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this is really important that when
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you're traveling you might just see
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yourself as just you know you're just
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passing through you're going to stay
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here for a week or 10 days or or a month
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or whatever it is but that you're you're
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really engaging with places and people
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that this is their home this is where
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they live responsible travel means that
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you're mindful of the consequences of
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your actions you know especially around
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sustainability cultural integrity and
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economic fairness it's not about being
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perfect it's about being aware and
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intentional and I think this is really
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important that like when you're
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traveling around places that you really
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need to understand that there's people
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that live here that when you leave this
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place we leave wherever you're traveling
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we hope that you'll strive to leave it
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in a better place or situation than when
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you came why does this matter well first
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of all it's cultural sensitivity in that
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you know irresponsible travel can erode
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traditions and offend local customs
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environmental impact if you you know
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start throwing garbage around or pollute
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someplace you could leave a huge you
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know detrimental impact to the
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environment there so travel smart and
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help to reduce harm community well-being
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that not all tourism dollars benefit
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locals you know ethical choices support
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those who need it most and personal
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growth respectful travel leads to
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meaningful experiences so here's nine
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ways or nine ideas to you travel with
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more mindfulness more respect and
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responsibility first of all do your
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homework before you go i think this is
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really important that before you go
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somewhere you really need to do your
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homework you need to understand where
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you're going what what you're going to
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do and and read blogs and listen to
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podcasts and listen to other people that
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have traveled or been before you learn
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about the culture you know read up on
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local customs history taboss and
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etiquette understand the political
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climate understand what's going on in
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the politics and the and and how that
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could affect the behavior of people
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there know the environmental concerns
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understand like are there droughts is
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there water restrictions um is there
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sensitive ecosystems you should be aware
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of be aware of how your presence might
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strain
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resources the other one is spendware
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counts you know decide when you're going
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to spend your tourism dollars spend
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where it counts support local businesses
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i'm a great believer in this we've
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talked about this a lot support local
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businesses go to local restaurants buy
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handmade goods that you know keep money
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in the community rather than
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multinational chains avoid exploitative
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experiences you know think twice about
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doing something that could exploit
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somebody in the process if it looks
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exploitative then you know probably is
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pay fair prices make sure you're paying
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a fair price and you understand what the
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fair price is this doesn't mean that you
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don't bargain this doesn't mean that you
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don't look for a deal but it means that
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you understand what the fair price is
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and understand what a fair price would
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be that's why a lot of times when I
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travel I might ask somebody or say you
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know what would be a fair price for say
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a taxi ride to this destination i
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recently traveled to Thailand and I
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hadn't been there for a while even
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though I'd lived there and I wanted to
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know what would be the you know
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basically a fair price for a taxi from
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the airport to my hotel and I knew what
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the fair price was when the driver you
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dropped me off and it was a little bit
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under the fair price i gave him a tip of
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what I thought the fair price would be
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and he was very happy and I was happy
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and everyone was happy with it you know
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travel light on the earth you know like
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offset your carbon footprint try to do
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something to help the environment
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minimize waste stick to trails don't
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take souvenirs from nature don't litter
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i mean this is a big one you know litter
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is huge don't just drop things down on
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the ground if you can't find a trash can
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then carry it with you until you can
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find one be a good guest travel's a
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privilege not a right you know ask
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before taking photos if you're going to
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take someone's photo and you're not sure
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ask learn a few local phrases so you can
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be able to talk to somebody say please
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say thank you can go a long way to
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people appreciating you dress
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appropriately research the dress code
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especially at religious or cultural
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sites you know cover shoulders legs and
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you know and hair in some places isn't
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optional it's a sign of respect so
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understand when that is important and
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what cultures that's important for and
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where that would be important watch your
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attitude you know don't expect this to
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be your you know home abroad this is
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really a big one where people they
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travel to a place and they spend the
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whole time comparing well at home it's
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like this at home it's like this at home
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it's like this don't do that it's not
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going to be the same as your home don't
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expect it to be and if you certainly
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didn't travel for it to be the same then
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don't expect it to be the same in fact
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you should be happy that it's different
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and that you should enjoy the
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experiences and enjoy the differences
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that you're seeing don't rescue you know
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volunteering can be great but make sure
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it's helpful not harmful you know a week
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of unskilled labor in orphanage might do
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more harm than good think long-term
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impact not photo ops and this is also
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another big one where I see where people
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come in and they're just like "Oh that
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poor person." and they you know they
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don't understand the culture and maybe
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they they tip wrong or they're helping
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people the wrong way and it's not really
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helping the solution or the problem and
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sometimes when you do that those of us
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that live here have a harder time
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afterwards from the effect which goes to
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the next one don't be a savior you know
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you're not there to fix people you're
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there to learn connect and leave a
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positive footprint mind the rules
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written and unwritten follow local laws
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this seems obvious but follow the local
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laws
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follow social norms understand the
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social norms understand where they come
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from so that you know you know respect
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sacred spaces this is a huge one you
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know if you're in Thailand don't go
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sitting on a Buddha that's happened i
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know people have been thrown in jail for
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that respect sacred spaces when you're
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there in these places don't just use it
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as a photo op you know don't go climbing
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on things you shouldn't be climbing on
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it might you know you may end up not
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only in jail but it also is showing a
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lack of respect travel inclusively
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ethical travel includes advocating for
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equity respect all identities don't
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become someone you're going to like you
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treat people as novelties or backdrops
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instead avoid language or behavior that
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objectifies their simplifies
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culture stay longer go slower i love
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this one choose depth over distance
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learn to really engage and learn about a
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place take local transportation
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experience what it is to be to be local
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to be to be one of the local people take
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a bus if you can take a train if you can
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you know become more like a local person
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this could be a great way to build learn
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about local culture you know leave it
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better than you found it i also love
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that one don't just take give something
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back clean up you know if you see some
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mess you can clean up a bit or don't
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throw trash on a beach or on a trail you
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know make sure you keep your trash with
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you share
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knowledge and reflect what did you learn
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what might you do differently next time
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ethical travel grows with awareness so I
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really love this thought about you know
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traveling ethically traveling mindfully
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traveling with respect i feel like this
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is really an important part of travel
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it's an important part of what we do at
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the uh dusty roads podcast and and our
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blog A Bus on a Dusty Road it's really
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all about living our life as a global
8:38
citizen and we believe that that's
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really important and essential when you
8:42
travel is to live your life as a global
8:45
citizen we hope that you'll join with us
8:47
you'll subscribe that you will join with
8:49
us in living your life as a global
8:51
citizen and that when you travel you
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will do so mindfully with respect and
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with responsibility
9:00
[Music]
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