Experiences

“Do not acquire things, acquire experiences instead.”

I am sure you have heard people say that. I say that. Having downplayed material acquisition and spending time and money on gaining experiences almost throughout my life, I can claim that this saying has traction.

Let me cite some examples of how people generally gain experiences:

For many of us, if not most, “experience” involves some form of travelling. It allows you to see new places and enjoy new cultures. Booking.com, a well-known travel site lists attractions, activities and experiences on its website. Packaged experiences.

However, after a while, just sightseeing does not cut it. For some of us, to gain real experiences you must have interactions with locals, talking to them, observing their customs, listening to their music, and eating their food. That is generally difficult to do if you are travelling with a group. In that case, most of the interactions are with the fellow travelers, and not with locals. Yes, some of the tours now have time set aside for a cooking lesson or tea with a local person. However, that seems more like a contrived experience than an authentic one.

For a more authentic experience, one needs to travel solo or just with a partner. Also, one would think that staying in an Airbnb, instead of a hotel, may allow for a more personal touch. But that is not always true. Even an Airbnb rental can be a completely impersonal experience. “Here is the combination of the lock, enjoy your stay.”

Perhaps backpacking and staying in someone’s home will bring you closer to local population, but that type of travelling is not for everyone. One person whose book I skimmed through goes one step further. In her quest to experience the changing way of life in India, she spent weeks with some families. That way she really experienced what it was all about.

If you look at the definition of experience, it is: “a practical knowledge, skill, or practice derived from direct observation of or participation in events or in a particular activity.” That opens up a number of interpretations. Let me give some examples:

The first one relates to a tour that one of my relatives went on. This was through Italy, a country full of sites to see, food to experience (by my definition) and a very boisterous population. However, for her the experience was being with fellow tourists who cracked jokes and danced after a few glasses of wine.

Then again, so many people travel by cruise ships, often with friends. In that case being with people whose company you enjoy is an experience, whether it involves significant sight-seeing or not. In fact, some cruises are with no destination, just roaming around. They do not even pretend to be providing anything else but company of fellow travelers and facilities. Sure, for many, that too is an “experience”.

A really interesting example of what people call experience is something I found out through conversation with a wealthy person from Mumbai. She mentioned that some of the rich young ladies in her home town are after “experiences”. “That’s why they select to buy an expensive purse instead of storing wealth under lock and key as one would if invested in gold or some such commodity.” Hmmm, buying a Gucci for an outrageous price is acquiring an experience and not a thing? What experience would that be? Going shopping? Bargaining with the seller? Making your friends jealous?

So, the personal choice extends to not just how one acquires experience, the way it is normally interpreted, buteven the way it is interpreted.