The Savvy Traveler

The culturally aware traveler is mindful of her surroundings. She takes careful note of the manner in which the people around her conduct themselves. She strives to blend in by speaking in the local dialect and carrying herself in such a way that her mannerisms perfectly mirror those of the people around her. Success is dependent upon her ability to follow the local dress code and confidently consume the foods of those she studies. By doing so, she disappears into the crowd, becoming one of “the locals.”

For these reasons, this savvy traveler could *not* pass up the below showcased find in a local market in Saida, Lebanon.

Within minutes of putting the hat on, she was virtually invisible – she found herself inexplicably making the “street signs” of the local Shiite and Sunni gangs, eating falafels and finding nothing wrong at all with the fact that her taxi driver seemed unable to stay in one lane but in fact preferred driving on the line dividing the two lanes (at 80 mph) in and out of the other cars.


Until her fellow travel adventurer looked at the hat and said, “hey, a Christmas hat,” nearly ruining the transformation.

A discussion quickly ensued – could the Lebanese cedar tree really symbolize a Christmas tree and the Arabic be misread as “Jesus is the reason for the season”?

Possibly, but because she had so competently proven her ability to bargain when purchasing her falafel (the vendor added an extra into the sandwich), she deemed the hat and herself fully “Lebanese,” if only for the day.