“We’re Not In Kansas
Any More, Toto…”
A dive vacation may be the first time some of your customers travel to a foreign country — or even a part of the USA vastly different from what they are used to. “Culture shock” can be more than just an expression. It helps to be prepared.
The first rule of foreign travel is to respect the local people and their customs. Just because people don’t always do things the same as we do in the USA does not make them less worthy of our respect. When in a foreign country, you are a guest. Act like one.
Things we don’t give a second thought to can be taken the wrong way overseas. Depending on the culture, these can range from ostentatious displays of wealth, immodest dress or simply being overly loud and obnoxious.
Your customers should take time to learn about the culture of the countries they visit, and make every effort to create a good impression. By the way, just in case you haven’t noticed, Americans are not particularly popular abroad these days. We’re all ambassadors for the USA. Teach your customers to act like it.
You Can’t Always Get What You Want: Among the more pronounced aspects of culture shock is the fact that, just because something is readily available in the USA, doesn’t mean your customers will be able to find it overseas. Fast-food restaurants and convenience stores, as we know them, just don’t exist in many countries. Items that are everyday staples here can be hard-to-get luxuries abroad.
By the same token, you can’t expect food in local restaurants to be exactly the same as what you find in the USA. You won’t find the same brand names and it’s not unusual for foreign food to taste somewhat different than its USA counterpart. (This is not always a bad thing; I would rather drink the Coke Lite found in the rest of the world than the “Diet” Coke sold in the USA.)
Your customers need to be prepared for this fact ahead of time. Picky eaters, in particular, should approach overseas travel with an open mind.
You Can’t Always Stay Connected: I spent the first half of December at Captain Don’s Habitat in Bonaire. It was something of a shock to sit in an air-conditioned hotel room, watching CNN and HBO on cable TV, while communicating with the office on a high-speed, wireless Internet connection from my laptop. This is, by far, the exception in dive travel rather than the rule.
Many of your customers may assume that their cell phones will work outside the USA, that they will continue to have high-speed Internet access, and that friends, family and co-workers will have instantaneous access to them whenever needed. This is generally not the case. In fact, it is unusual at some dive resorts for guest rooms to have telephones in them.
In many instances, the best your travelers can hope for is being able to leave a number — such as the resort’s direct line — that friends or family members can use to leave a message in case of an emergency. Even then, it may take a while for that message to reach its intended recipient. Calling back to the USA may also be an expensive and time-consuming proposition.
This can actually be good news for customers whose employers are used to being able to reach them any hour of the night or day. A dive vacation may finally give these workers the opportunity to truly escape the pressures of work — for one week, at least.
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