Do you think you become more patriotic or less the longer you’re away from your home country?
On Australia Day, the most patriotic day of the year, Dave and I went to a hostel in La Paz, Bolivia. We were staying in Airbnb accommodation nearby and we’d heard there was going to be an Australia Day party at the Wild Rover Hostel – which is notoriously known for its parties – so we decided to check it out.
Late to the party
We got there early evening and quickly realised our mistake of arriving so late. Everyone had been drinking all day so we had a lot of catching up to do.
Dave bought a large beer and I went with a vodka and coke as we took in our surroundings.
Boganville
Nearly everyone at the party was Australian.
Girls walked around with their butts hanging out the back of their skirts and their boobs bulging from the top of their singlets.
Nearly every male was shirtless and strutting about.
It might have been around 12 degrees but the alcohol pumping through their bodies was certainly keeping them warm.
A guy fell down some stone steps, got up and carried on if nothing had happened. I doubt he’d remember the fall the next day.
A group of three girls seductively started lifting up their shirts while two guys put their fingers inside their belly buttons. They giggled and then did it back.
Ready to leave
By this point I was wondering what the fuck I was doing there. We listened to the last three songs from Triple JJJ’s hottest 100 (number one was an Aussie song I’d never heard of) and beat a hasty retreat.
I started to realise that these kinds of drunk bogans were one of the reasons I left Australia to travel the world in the first place.
Australian culture overseas
Don’t get me wrong – I like drinking and have been known to get trashed once in awhile. But I guess I don’t really see the point of flying to the otherside of the world only to hang out with the same, or similar sort, of people you would if you were back home. And do the same sort of things you would in your home country.
What’s the point in that?
They say that to travel is to get out of your comfort zone but if you go on an all Australian travel jaunt in a bubble how much are you really challenging yourself?
Wanting the familiar
I always thought it was a little weird when I’d meet other Australians in London and their entire friendship group was made up of other Australians.
The only Australian friends we had in London were the ones we knew from back home – we didn’t actively go out and seek other Australian mates. Instead, we tried to push ourselves to meet British people. One of the reasons we moved to London was for the culture after all, and the best way to experience this is to meet people from the country you’re in.
I guess that’s why Dave and I hardly ever stay in hostels when we travel.
Australians seem to clump together there and you end up befriending them because it’s a somewhat familiar face. It’s too comfortable.
Instead, we try to stay in Airbnb accommodation where we can meet the local owners. Or we couchsurf and stay with people who live, and have normally grown up, in the city.
I still call Australia home
This is not an anti-Australian rant. I love my home country and my Australian friends are awesome. When those aforementioned British friends used to say I was British and not Australian (I was born in London but grew up in Australia) I used to protest “No I’m NOT. I’m definitely Aussie!” in my loudest Aussie twang.
But I guess when I’m on the road I like to embrace the fact that I’m NOT in Australia but some other amazing place and embrace where I’m at.
Mixing with the locals and doing things tourists don’t normally do, like stay on a ranch in New Mexico, are the kind of activities I seek.
I’m still patriotic. I just like learning about the patriotism of other countries too.
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