Doug Casey’s Note: I first met Kolja at Hans-Herman Hoppe’s famous economic conference in Turkey several years ago. It was immediately obvious we saw the world the same way. And needless to say I joined his rather exclusive Extreme Traveler International Congress. In a world increasingly polluted by cupcakes, snowflakes, SJWs, and similar PC types, it’s always a pleasure to get together with Kolja.
The word "sophistication" has its ancient roots in Greek: sophia = wisdom. In the days of classical beauty, wisdom was inherently linked to aesthetics, defined by rational order and harmonious proportions. This was in stark contrast to later medieval gothics (brought by barbarians) or modern shard deconstructivism (by another tribe from the East), which has found its extreme in the dumbing down of so-called Western societies, a crude lumpen egalitarianism, sometimes referred to as "cultural Marxism."
Today’s Cambridge Dictionary defines "sophistication" as having a good understanding of the way people behave and a good knowledge of culture and fashion, having an understanding of the world and its ways, so that you are not easily fooled.
Let us apply this definition to travelers and analyse what makes them sophisticated. We take as common wisdom that "travel educates"—in and of itself. I disagree.
"We live in the age of the digitally dumbed-down masses."—Peter Scholl-Latour
The majority of travelers I have met see foreign lands entirely through the filter glasses of their home front. Their worldview is shaped by government schools, Hollywood actors, television programming, mainstream pressing, and the resulting illusion of "us being the good guys." When they travel, they carry a lifetime supply of brainwash shampoo with them. A backpack full of sheep’s wool over their eyes. And a dumbed-down uniform of sweatshop t-shirts, shorts and sandals that sores the eye of the beholder.
When in Grozny, their inner view is Amanpour’s "breaking news" on CNN; when in Beirut their inner compass follows Clooney in his movie, Syriana; when in Tehran their inner voice is guided by Salman Rushdie or Betty Mahmoody; when in Moscow they go by the beliefs of Bill Browder or Anders Aslund—or by any other Western agitprop clown of the day.
While Mark Twain said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness," Mozart rightfully countered, "A man of ordinary talent will always be ordinary, whether he travels or not."
Many contemporary words describe the ordinary traveler: hoi polloi, plebs, great unwashed, riffraff, tourist, NRT. However, the sophisticated traveler is as rare as a word for him. The Gallivanter or Sybarite or Gourmand are in the neighbourhood but still not à point. Maybe the German word Weltmann comes closest.
Sophisticated travelers recognize each other from the outside, even from afar, just by their composure, their habitus (from French habit = suit), their luggage, and most important, the places they frequent.
The sophisticated traveler cultivates knowledge of places where sophisticated locals meet. An aura of quality is his universal passport. If he is in an unknown location, he will know a friend, or a friend of a friend, who will unlock this place’s secret gates. To be able to connect with interesting people is the greatest sophistication of all. It is almost by definition that such sophisticated gathering points are not mentioned in travel guides.
It is in such sophisticated realms where really privileged information about the world is exchanged, which the riffraff will never get the slightest sight of. Not only in terms of digesting higher gastronomy, but to deeply understand the local society, their economy, contemporary policy, and overarching history.
Sophistication is a small club, with unwritten rules. If you ask for the terms, you are Not Ritz Type. If you ask for the dress code, you are probably unwashed. If you need to ask for the price, you are a plebs who can’t afford it. C’est la vie; c’est la guerre! To really understand reality, to make the right decisions, to become your own sovereign, you require access, contacts and exposure. The key to most doors is your habitus.
The traveler sees what he sees; the tourist sees what he has come to see… The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is, at last, to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land. G.K. Chesterton
The sophisticated traveler either carries minimum hand luggage (still looking like a gentleman at all times) or, if not, has a chauffeured car full of monogrammed Goyard luggage following him (like Karl Lagerfeld did).
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