The Travellers’ Ten Commandments
When I was a tour guide, I had a folder on the coach with fun things to read, photos, and insights. I suppose it was a kind of blog in the 1990s. The Travellers’ Ten Commandments was in the folder and I read it out on the first day of all of my tours.
- Thou shalt not expect to find things as they are at home for thou has left home to find things different.
- Thou shalt not take things too seriously, for a carefree mind is the beginning of a carefree holiday.
- Thou shalt not let other tourists get on thy nerves as we are all here for the same reason and thou art paying good money to enjoy thyself.
- Thou shalt at all times know where thy passport lies, for a man without a passport is a man without a country.
- Thou shalt not worry, for he that worrieth, hath no pleasure. Few things are fatal.
- Remember that thou art a guest in other lands and he that treateth his host with respect shall in turn be respected. To learn to speaketh ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in thy host’s tongue will make thee thy host’s friend.
- Thou shalt not judge the entire people of a country by one person who was a poor host.
- Thou shalt remember that to err is human and to forgive is divine.
- When in Rome, thou shalt be prepared to do as the Romans do.
- Thou shouldest remember that if thou was expected to stay in one place, thou would have been created with roots.