Travel, Perspective, and a Train

Just a few decades ago Europe was divided. These divisions ran not only between East and West, but also between individual countries. People often had more distorted perceptions of other nationalities who only lived a few kilometers away.

During my journey to Ljubljana in the second class compartment of the Citadella express, I sat with Hungarian families Nigerian immigrants, and pair of Slovene collage students, who had never taken the train to their capital. The fields of Hungary gave way to dusk as we entered Slovenia. To my surprise the the train stopped. The Slovenian police boarded and began checking passports and ID cards. Both Hungary and Slovenia are members of the Schengen area, so I almost had left my passport in Budapest. As I handed over my documents for inspection it occurred to me how much greater freedom to travel is reshaping European attitudes and economics.

Before the fall of the iron curtain, passage between western Europe and the former eastern bloc was not an easy matter. Even in the satalite states of the USSR passage between countries was heavily restricted. Many residents of the DDR could only obtain authorization to go to Bulgaria on holiday, and few Poles could gain clearance for travel to what they referred to as the 'demoludy' or other Warsaw Pact countries.

Today, maintaining open borders is a nessesity for economic success. Even countries which do not participate in the Schengen area make crossing the border a simple task. Only Belarus and Russia still have serious visa requirements for entry by EU or American citizens.

This opening up of national borders has had the effect of allowing the free of exchange of knowledge and goods across national borders. It has also provided for the free exchange of human capital. Migration between Europe and other parts of the world has also become much more frequent. Despite this, many have elected to stay in their own countries, on the basis of national identity. Crossing a border in Schengen may have become easier, but Europe fortunately continues to be a union of individual, and independent countries.

As I sat on the train, I realized that I also had this ease of movement to thank for the broader perspective which I have gained through my own travels. Relaxation of travel and trade policy has not only spurred cultural and economic exchange, but also allowed me to see the potential for opportunity which these conditions have created in central-eastern Europe. I can only hope that more Americans choose to travel abroad, not to brashly visit an exotic locale, but instead to derive their own deeper meaning from the global environment in which the U.S. is situated.

On the way back from Slovenia it was light as the train passed through the Sava river gorge where my great-grandparents were born. I had been to the area before but had never seen it like this. Sheer forested hillsides of changing leaves sharply descended to a fast flowing emerald river. It was something I had only seen in landscape paintings. I stared in fascination at the latest gift my travels had given me until the train crossed into Hungary.