Shattering the 'Traveler' Stereotype: An Old-School Senior Teacher and Seasoned Wanderer

In the 26-country dream itinerary outlined in my essay Unplanned Travel Philosophy: European Companions and Recommended Destinations, there is a person who has already visited almost every single place on that list.

Antarctica was an exception — polar expeditions remain immensely captivating to me, but cruise tickets starting in the hundreds of thousands of dollars are indeed prohibitive for ordinary folks. Yet excluding Antarctica, she had already left her footprints in countless corners of the globe that I had never even dreamed of visiting.

Beyond personal passion, there was a vital prerequisite behind her journeys: she enjoyed far more free time than ordinary workers, because she was a school teacher.

Teaching is a profession blessed with the same lengthy winter and summer vacations as students. But unless sponsored or working grueling part-time jobs, students rarely command the funds to traverse the globe. Teachers, however, command both time and the economic baseline and maturity necessary for independent travel.

When I first laid eyes on this teacher, frankly, she bore none of the aesthetic hallmarks of a world wanderer draped in high-tech Gore-Tex gear.

Across her rounded face rested a pair of earthy brown reading glasses, framed by a plain bob haircut typical of mid-century schoolgirls. On sweltering midsummer afternoons, she would step outside to water blooming flowers simply because she thought they looked hot — an endearing yet slightly eccentric sight to onlookers.

Her wardrobe was immaculately conservative, bearing none of the fashion flair favored by the middle-aged ladies who frequently commissioned custom dresses from my seamstress mother. Her attire resembled garments straight out of a 1960s or 70s television drama — cuts and floral patterns worn by young women decades ago. If I had to summarize her personal aesthetic in a single word, it would be 「old-school」.

Her speaking cadence was gentle, her movements measured, as if nothing under heaven could ever fluster her.

So when this quietly old-fashioned teacher mentioned, in the most casual tone imaginable, that she had roamed through more nations than I could fathom and witnessed endless foreign vistas, you can imagine how thunderstruck I felt.

She taught me that a genuine 「traveler」 requires no flashy camera lenses or mud-caked alpine boots to validate themselves. The most wondrous worlds are frequently nestled within the most unassuming souls.