Travelling for free as a learning experience.

Photo credits : Evan Krause on Unsplash

The latest status symbol in the west is fake poverty. Fake poverty allows the privileged rich westerner to learn how does one draw the deepest life lessons by travelling without money, solely on the goodness of others.

The social media post that went viral

In western media, there are blogs galore glamorizing the budget traveller who globe trots on his powerful passport and doesn’t need to apply for a visa and can go in and out of countries without giving any proof of financial capacity.

Have a look at this list of documents a non E.U. passport holder who wants to enter Europe legally on a Schengen Visa, need to submit! It’s a well documented fact that Visas to Europe and USA are rejected ALL the time to even highly privileged non American and non EU citizens.

The list of documents required to be submitted is quite long when applying for a Schengen Visa by non EU/non USA passport holders. There is the usual forms, photos, passport copy. But apart from those, you need:y).

1. Round trip reservation or itinerary. It must include dates and flight numbers specifying entry and exit from the Schengen area.
2. Travel insurance policy. A document that proves you have travel health insurance for the whole Schengen territory, with a minimum coverage of 30,000 euros in case of any medical emergency as illnesses, accidents and even repatriation in case of death.
3. Proof of accommodation. A document that shows where you will be accommodated throughout your stay in Schengen.
4. A letter of invitation from a host at whose house you will be staying.
5. Proof of financial means. Evidence that you have enough money to support yourself financially throughout your stay in the Schengen. This can be one of the following: Bank account statement — that shows you have enough money in your account for the trip. The statement shall be no older than 3 months. Sponsorship Letter — by another person that confirms they will be financially supporting your trip to the Schengen. In order for this letter to be valid, it must be accompanied by a bank statement of the sponsor, no older than three months.
6. A combination of your bank account statement and a letter of sponsorship.
7. Proof of paid visa fee.

It is apparent from this list that those who don’t have the means, are unwelcome in the West. Reasons for visa rejections are filled with nuances and open to discretion and very difficult to understand. The most privileged of Asians/Africans/South Americans are subjected to intense screening and usually people celebrate once the visas come through, many times, at the very last moment, after fees have been paid, hotels booked which are non-refundable, and air tickets bought. To be noted that only those travelling legally apply for visas. Visas can be tourist, student, business or work visas. Refugee and Asylum seekers are a different category. The countries which have signed the Geneva Convention have to accept asylum seekers. The second category is always in the news in Europe but the first category isn’t too much.

The Quartz article on how Westerners travel for free is telling. Asians are not keeping quiet about this growing trend. Social media is flooded with complaints by locals about this phenomenon. Why would they not? Privileged European and American tourists, who are healthy and well educated are travelling on a budget as fake poor, decide that they will play exotic western music on their expensive guitar . They sell photos taken with their fancy digital cameras on the street by busking. And they do this while competing for the attention of benevolent passers-by with those local street artists — the real local, illiterate, real poor underprivileged .

Money earned by the hipster fake poor will let them continue their travels and expand their minds to learn life lessons. Money lost by the local poor means no food for their kids and old parents in their home who have already been suffering from hunger for the last three days.

Meanwhile, after jubilating over getting their visas and on vacation, the Asian and African tourists to Switzerland are given dirty looks for not leaving tips in restaurants. Luxury watches are always sold to gullible Chinese and Indian tourists. Back in the global South, western begpackers barely contribute to the local Congolese or Cambodian or Columbian economies and instead want the money from those living in poorer economies. Forget leaving a tip, begpackers have been seen pinching off the homeless local poor.

The questions we should be asking ourselves are these:

• How can schools teach those born and brought up in rich and developed nations to distinguish between opening one’s mind and falling into indecency?
• How does one teach the youth that fake poverty is a fetish. That it is an insult to the real poor.
• Will the western citizens accept Asian and Africans and South Americans entering Western Europe as tourists and begging their way to travel from Spain to Sweden and pass through Switzerland?

Fake poverty allows the privileged rich westerner to learn how does one draw the deepest life lessons by travelling without money, solely on the goodness of others. They will get back to a safe job at home, living off their inheritance, and all the white-privilege that goes with it. This acts as a perfect safety-net that will let one enjoy the perfumed bath and caramel macchiato lattés pretty soon after the fake poor phase is over.

Will encouraging the rich to donating all of the money they have, leaving behind all of their inheritance, to become real poor help reduce the hypocrisy?

Your ideas are welcome as comments.