The Lingering Moment more

DRAFT CHAPTER: The Cultural Moment in Tourism, edited by Laurajane Smith, Emma Waterton and Steve Watson, Routledge: London. Expected Publication Date: March 2012 Publishers Website: http://routledge-ny.com/books/details/9780415611152/ 13 The Lingering Moment Garth L. Lean INTRODUCTION When I returned from two months in West Africa, I was haunted by memories of the experience. It had reshaped my perspective upon my life in Australia, altered the way I looked at my personal and professional relationships and left me longing for the freedom, excitement and adventure that I had found while travelling. After a few months, however, this thinking had begun to subside as I settled into ‘home’ roles, routines and performances. Yet, despite this, even in the familiarity of home, the experiences and moments of Africa never completely disappeared. The cultural moments, which had altered my thinking and behaviour in the performance of physical travel, had lingered in social interactions, altered routines, photographs, objects and through continuing to travel and reside in mobile spaces, places and landscapes. This chapter draws upon recent PhD research that sought to explore the notion of transformative travel – the long-term changes some individuals attribute to their physical     travel experiences. From 2005 to 2010, 78 participants from 17 different nationalities reported their experiences on a purpose built research website1. These experiences were diverse, stretching from pleasure travel, to study-abroad, working, volunteering, migration and even military service. A series of longitudinal interviews was conducted every two years via email to investigate the continuing transformation of participants’ lives and thinking. These interviews took place in 2007 and 2009/2010 and required participants to reflect upon previous responses (attached to the email), identify any progression of these ideas and behaviours and to detail whether further transformations had occurred, not necessarily through physical travel. In addition to gathering these stories, I also engaged in a series of journeys myself – four weeks in East Timor, two months in South-east Asia (Cambodia and Laos) and two months in West Africa (Niger, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire). The research argued that travellers do not simply physically relocate themselves to a new location, undergo a transformative experience and return home with a static, altered identity. Individuals inhabit mobile places, alive with physical, communicative, virtual and imaginative flows of people and information. Physical travel becomes just one element within this fluid landscape. This chapter, however, does not focus on transformative travel per se. Rather, it looks at those findings from the research that relate specifically to the return experience. While previous chapters in this book have considered how people experience culture while travelling, this chapter explores those elements that enable these cultural moments to linger well after one’s ‘return’. It will also briefly consider how this ‘lingering’ becomes entwined within one’s home life and how it can potentially act as the stimulus for long lasting transformations of knowledge, values, attitudes, performances and reality.     LINGERING MOMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHS AND OBJECTS Memories and moments often linger in the objects that were carried with a traveller, or those acquired and/or created while travelling (Bærenholdt et al. 2004; MacDonald 2008; Ramsay 2009; Urry 2002; Morgan and Pritchard 2005). What is more, in mobile places reminders are omnipresent through historical and contemporary flows of people, objects, information, representations and continuing corporeal, virtual and imaginative travels (Bærenholdt et al. 2004; Crang 1998; Salazar 2010; Sheller and Urry 2006, 2007). Even without a catalyst, moments and memories may live on in one’s mind, possibly being unearthed at the most inexplicable of moments (Schwartz 2011). Individuals are surrounded by objects that signify physical travel (Lury 1997; Morgan and Pritchard 2005; MacDonald 2008). If this is extended beyond physical travel to mobilities as a whole, it can be seen that we are surrounded by items that signify places across the globe (Bauman 2000, 2005, 2010; Edwards et al. 2006; Urry 2007; Candlin and Guins 2009). A quick audit of my home and office reveals a plethora of items: photographs, trinkets, decorative blankets and weavings, postcards (for example, see Edwards 1996; Gillen and Hall 2011), gifts, clothing and equipment carried while travelling and other odd bits and pieces (for example, foreign currencies, air ticket stubs, bus timetables, brochures and receipts). The role of photographs and objects in stimulating memories of, for example, moments, encounters, relationships, reflections, performances and places, has been illustrated by a number of researchers (for example, see Stewart 1984; Bærenholdt et al. 2004; Morgan and Pritchard 2005; Edwards et al. 2006; Braasch 2008b; Ramsay 2009; Robinson and Picard     2009; Scarles 2009, 2010). Bærenholdt et al. (2004) write that ‘photography charms by providing “imaginary travel” in embodied landscapes of memory’ (2004: 117). Kwint (1999) refers to three roles of objects: they represent an image of the past, they fuel recollection and they provide a record. In regard to souvenirs, but equally applicable to objects and photographs acquired, created or carried during travel (or any other item that may spark memories upon return), Morgan and Pritchard (2005) observe that: ... souvenirs are … touchstones of memory, evoking memories of places and relationships … These touchstones have the effect of bringing the past into the present and making the past experience live. Hence, these artefacts have the power not merely to act as symbols of our past experiences, but to evoke and animate memories which inform our present self (2005: 41). On prominent display, objects may become familiar to the point at which they are no longer consciously perceived (Ramsay 2009). This has been the case for the photographs, postcards and other objects that I keep around my home and office, along with those images I used in my thesis. They go unnoticed unless brought to my attention. In some cases, this forgetting can be quite disconcerting (as was the case for the photos of death, war and poverty, whose pertinent message comes to be dampened with familiarity). This ‘blasé gaze’ may be interrupted, however, should something occur that draws one’s attention back to the object (Ramsay 2009). Researchers such as Buchli and Lucas (2001), Hetherington (2004), Moran (2004) and Ramsay (2009) write about the perception that there is an enduring trace of the past that lingers within objects, ‘haunting’ the present. Upon noticing, embodied memories, emotions, performance and senses may be unleashed (Ramsay 2009). Indeed, Ramsay argues that forgetting becomes essential to the potency experienced in remembering. These     rediscoveries might be brief escapes, forgotten as more pressing (and present) concerns are encountered. When memories, moments and narratives attached to objects and photographs are sparked, the effect can be quite dramatic (Sontag 1977; Berger and Mohr 1995; Lury 1998; Edwards 1999; Wright 1999, 2008; Scarles 2009, 2010). As I look through my photos, objects and writing, I sometimes experience an overwhelming flood of memories and emotions, revealing how distant these ideas have become in my daily life. One of the greatest resonances comes from viewing photographs of the various people I met while travelling. It is not simply a connection to the individual/s, but to the shared experiences, emotions and thinking surrounding the encounter and ongoing relationship (Larsen 2004; Bærenholdt et al. 2004). And even where I do not have images of people or events, representations of the experiences surrounding these interactions can help spark memories. Objects and photographs can also stimulate memories and emotions well beyond those captured in the items themselves (see Edwards 1997, 1999; Morgan and Pritchard 2005; Braasch 2008b; Ramsay 2009; Scarles 2009, 2010). Photographs that may appear to be simply aesthetic to others contain quite deep and nuanced personal meanings and memories. For example, Figure 13.1 presents a seemingly inconspicuous photo of a water buffalo in East Timor. While on one level this is an interesting and aesthetic shot, it sparks all manner of memories about the trip and beyond. It makes me remember my first afternoon on the post-bike. It was a Sunday and we had just commenced riding again after stopping for lunch in a small village east of Dili. Rain clouds had rolled in over Timor’s hilly interior and light rain was starting to fall. With the sun blocked, the temperature was now bearable. Air rushed across my face and bellowed my shirt. Rain fell softly upon my exposed skin. I could smell     the surrounding countryside and the unique scent of fresh rain on a hot summer’s day. In addition, I was becoming increasingly comfortable on the bike, and was able to look around at the spectacular and diverse countryside. In this moment of contentment, I looked to the side of the road and spotted a series of large, horned heads protruding from muddy waterholes – multiple bodies packed tightly into the smallest of spaces. It was a completely unexpected sight and inexplicably moving. Beyond this moment, the photograph also stimulates memories of riding around Timor in general, along with one of the most common meats eaten while there. And, interestingly, the photograph is not mine. It was taken days after by Dan, who I met later in my trip. Despite this, the photograph (and many others like it) is still able to spark a plethora of memories, emotions and moments illustrating the embodiment of photography (and memories) and how images can elicit somatic and multisensory reactions (see Scarles 2010). INSERT FIGURE 13.1 SOMEWHERE NEAR HERE Figure 13.1: Water Buffalo in East Timor (Photo: Dan Harris with permission) Photos do not only stimulate memories of the experience during which they were taken, they can also act as reminders of other moments and thinking (Sontag 1977; Berger and Mohr 1995; Pink 2007; Scarles 2010). And these diverse meanings are not unique to images, but are also stimulated by objects. I have acquired a number of items during my travels that have strong memories and emotions attached. I acquired a pair of chopsticks on a bus trip across northern Laos, which remind me of a forgotten lunch order and a noodle dish hastily cooked and thrown into a plastic shopping bag so I could eat it on the go – the chopsticks a goodwill offering to consume my meal. In Benin, it was a key that I forgot to return on my departure     from a strange Vodun guesthouse in Abomey (the key became an ongoing point of discussion between my German friend and I, as we considered the possibility of it being cursed). When visiting a newly made friend’s relatives in Timbuktu, his sister gave me a Western Union pen (she worked at the Timbuktu branch). The pen travelled with me for the remainder of the trip and became a symbolic reminder of my friend, his family and my experiences in West Africa. A similarly peculiar vessel for memories of Africa is a worn lip-balm canister I purchased and used in West Africa. Its significance comes from the regular discussions two travellers I had befriended (one German and the other Dutch) had about the German brand (Labello) that had found its way to West Africa, and their use of the product at home. While it holds memories of my relationship with these individuals, as an object that was carried with me through Africa and France, it also sparks memories of these journeys more generally (for a general discussion of the cultural and social significance of objects, see Candlin and Guins 2009). Interestingly, all of these objects sit out of sight on top of a tall bookcase, waiting to be rediscovered. It is not necessary to see them daily (they are not exactly aesthetic), but it is important to know they are there. Braasch (2008a) writes about the fear of losing or disposing of souvenirs because of the memories attached. Personally, the memories and personal signification are far more important than the objects and images themselves, which may be meaningless to others if they cannot connect them with their own experiences, or if the objects do not at least appeal to them on an aesthetic level (Berger and Mohr 1995; Wright 1999). And there are also innumerable other objects and photographs that one encounters upon one’s return, including items acquired for family, friends and colleagues, and those simply encountered during the course of routine performances (MacDonald 2008).     LINGERING MOMENTS IN MOBILE SPACES, PLACES AND LANDSCAPES Just like those through which one travels, the spaces, places and landscapes to which one returns are mobile, ever-changing and complex (Bauman 2000; Urry 2000, 2007). They too are comprised of historical and contemporary flows of people, objects, information, images and representations (Crang 1998; Bauman 2000; Urry 2000, 2007; Cresswell 2002, 2004; Crouch 2010a, b). As such, there are innumerable elements encountered at home that may stimulate recollection of moments and facilitate continued performances. While it is impossible to be comprehensive, some influences cited by participants in my research included: the various performances and symbols generated by migration, diasporas and colonisation (for example, peoples, communities, views, values, beliefs, practices, languages, music, architecture, products, objects, restaurants, supermarkets/stores, festivals/events, signs and systems); the global circulation of goods, each with their own symbolic representations (for example, imported objects, products and brands); literature and media (for example, books, documentaries, television, movies, news, magazines and newspapers); the physical travels of others (including their narration, the presentation of representations and receiving gifts, along with encountering other travellers from around the globe); and music (both related to places, people and experiences from one’s travel, or simply heard or imagined while travelling). The influence of these factors on ‘lingering moments’ is impossible to account for and may be both explicit and implicit. For example, Gabriella (Australian, 25–34) wrote about encountering Buddhism upon her return to Australia:     Interestingly, whilst I have visited numerous Buddhist temples whilst travelling throughout South-East Asia, it wasn’t until I had returned from one of my trips and met up with my best friend that I had an epiphany. My best friend told me about visiting a Buddhist temple in NSW and it was then that it hit me that Buddhism could be the philosophy I had been looking for to progress my spiritual development. Soon after this realisation, I began Buddhist studies at TAFE and through local temples here in Melbourne and also reading Buddhist literature. In hindsight, it’s quite possible that travel, visiting numerous Buddhist temples, and learning about the Buddhist way of life facilitated this realisation upon hearing of my friend’s experience. Gabriella’s story vividly illustrates how one’s travels do not finish upon one’s return, but continue (both intentionally and unintentionally). Within mobile places, alive with flows of people and information, these stimulants are often freely available – as highlighted in Gabriella’s case through the introduction of Buddhism to Australia (through various waves of migration) the construction of a temple and a broader discourse of Buddhism available through various literary, media and virtual sources. One’s physical travel experiences can become deeply entangled in other mobilities found within place. Related to this, the returnee may be more conscious of elements that have always been present but have gone unnoticed due to other interests and concerns. These factors might stimulate memories and thinking about particular performances and issues. Tegan (Canadian, 35–49) found this to be the case after returning from South-East Asia: I think it is a matter of being more interested in international news and issues than I was previously. I don’t feel that detachment that I used to when I see reports on BBC world     or CNN about conflicted areas or international disasters – I may have been right there and met people like that! Reminders, however, are not always present within place. After returning from West Africa, I found there were few signifiers of the places to which I had travelled. For example, Africa, and in particular West Africa, were not widely reported in the Australian media and migration from that part of the world was low. As a consequence, however, when I do find reminders (for example, music, emails, photos and documentaries), they stand out and can often be inexplicably intense and emotional. This echoes Ramsay’s (2009) work on souvenirs, which suggests that forgetting may be essential to the potency experienced in rediscovery and remembering. While these reminders were not always physically available, they were often present within ongoing communications, imagination, memory and through virtual travel (mobilities explored by the likes of Urry 2007 and Bauman 2000). Technology exponentially enhances access to these moments. In addition to ongoing social relationships discussed below, one may find other ‘virtual reminders’ through outlets such as online media, social networking sites (for example, seeing other people’s photographs, comments and updates about past, current and future travels, along with discussions and/or posting updates on events and issues from particular places) and numerous other technological representations such as documentaries, television news and cinema.     Multi-Sensory Memories within Mobile Places Adding yet another layer of complexity, memory and reflection may be sparked, both directly and indirectly, by all of the senses within mobile places (MacDonald 2008). While the visual has been covered extensively above in regard to photographs and objects, there are numerous other ocular sensations upon a traveller’s return that can elicit reflection and other embodied memories and emotions. Some of the strongest for me have been standing at lookouts (something that seems to have gone ‘part-and-parcel’ with my travels), seeing African cloth (clothing and in photos) and looking at my guidebooks. In regard to the auditory stimulation of memory, music is one of my strongest connectors, and particularly music from West Africa in all its forms – from traditional, to pop, to hip-hop. When I hear it, I become saturated by memories of my experiences and the people I met, along with all manner of emotions. And these emotions are often expressed through the bodily performance of dance. A number of sources discuss the effect of music upon emotions and thinking (see, for example, Austern 2002; Madell 2002; Gibson and Connell 2004; Levitin 2006; Sacks 2007; Clarke et al. 2010; Juslin and Sloboda 2010). Cooke (1962) referred to music as a language of emotions. Sacks (2007) builds upon this, detailing how music can be used to reach otherwise unobtainable emotional states. Writers like Juslin and Sloboda (2010) describe how music can be used both directly and indirectly to alter, and compliment, emotional conditions. Music can also be linked to experiences (and moments), not just places (Baumgartner 1992). When I travelled with a German traveller (Johanna) from Niamey to Cotonou, she played me her entire collection of albums by the English band Muse over the course of the 18-hour bus trip. This was the first time I had heard the band and for a long period after I returned,     hearing their music sparked vivid memories of West Africa and my experiences with this traveller. By late 2010, this effect had disappeared and the personal meanings within their songs had altered. Similar memories became attached to ‘Hotel California’ (an odd Thai cover version had been played at a ‘wat party’ that I had happened across in central Laos) and Phil Collins (after hearing him played and spoken about so often in West Africa). Again, these would be reshaped over time as memory faded, new experiences were had and alternative meanings and symbols attached. These experiences are not unique. Many people I have met over the course of my research have spoken about the power of music to stimulate memories of their travel. It is possible that this music may have been encountered beforehand. Music can also stimulate desires to travel to particular places, along with colouring imaginings of places prior to travel (see Gibson and Connell 2004). And in addition to music, there are numerous other sounds that may be encountered upon one’s return that can evoke memories of the experiences such as beeping horns, birds, planes, waterfalls, the zip on a pack and/or the articulation of various languages, to name just a few of the innumerable possibilities. As such, the meanings and imaginings encouraged by music and sound become incredibly complex. In addition to sound, certain smells (for example, foods, perfumes/incense, water, sunscreen, insect repellents and garbage/sewers) can remind one of particular experiences, moments, people and places and open a space for reflection (Dann and Jacobsen 2002, 2003; Drobnick 2006). While out walking on winter evenings, I am sometimes inexplicably overwhelmed by the smell of wood-smoke, as it reminds me of aspects of my travel that I cannot directly identify (wood-smoke is common in less developed countries from fires used for cooking). Every time I travel, regardless of the purpose, the smell of my pack (a combination of dust,     sweat, smoke and material) sparks an awareness of all of my previous journeys. There is also a particular odour to my old, worn guidebooks that is inexplicably alluring. In addition, food is commonly mentioned both in regard to olfactory experiences along with tastes. A number of participants sought out restaurants and attempted to cook foods that they encountered while travelling (also commonly sharing them with others, propagating new cultural moments). This is facilitated by the spread of different cuisines globally, as they move with and beyond various flows of people and are distributed through literature and other forms of media (for example, television shows and websites; see Warde 2000). And alongside these are tactile experiences upon one’s return, or during future travels, that may stimulate reflection: the sensation of heat, cold, humidity, dust/dirt, sand, water, sunburn, clothing worn or purchased while travelling, wearing a pack, or feeling objects acquired, carried or created during a journey, to again name only a fraction of the potential touch memories. See Classen (2005) and Pallasmaa (2005) on the memories, emotions and thinking stimulated by touch. These are just some of the innumerable sensations, common within fluid places, that may link one to his or her travel experiences and cause moments to linger. While separated above for the purpose of analysis, in actuality they are interconnected, acting in a concomitant relationship to evoke memories of moments and emotions. And of course, memories do not necessarily need to be sparked by anything; they may simply saunter in one’s imagination, both consciously and subconsciously (Schwartz 2011).     LINGERING MOMENTS IN SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS, ROLES, ROUTINES AND PERFORMANCES After returning from Cambodia and Laos, I was at a loss. I arrived home late on a Wednesday evening and spent the night at my brother’s place in the city so that I could head to work early in the morning. I finally made my way home by train the following evening. What was usually an hour-long journey became seriously delayed. Struggling with the idea of going home, on top of coping with a faulty transport system in a supposedly developed country, I walked to an unoccupied part of the carriage, filled an empty water bottle with a healthy portion of duty-free gin and proceeded to inebriate myself. I could vaguely make out the guard and driver offering alternative explanations for the delay as I sat listening to music. The guard believed there was a gas leak on the northern line. The driver insisted there was a fatality on the western line. They continued this back and forth intermittently for half an hour, with increasingly terse explanations, as we crawled along the tracks. I turned the volume of my music up and at some stage caught one of them apologising as they had been incorrect. I struggled to make sense of any of this. I refused to be picked up from the train station and eventually arrived home on the bus. Everything seemed different: cleaner, sharper, bolder. The next day, I woke in the dark to my alarm clock – talk-back radio. I lay in semiconsciousness, trying to grasp my location. I thought I was still travelling, but could not account for the broad Australian accent on the radio. I was due at work again, but when I arrived at the train station the alarm on my car would not work. It seemed logical to skip work and drive to the university to get back to the PhD; I would work an extra day the following week. On my way to the university, a drive I had been making for five years, I got lost. The road had been diverted while I was away, and after a few hundred metres, I found myself in a foreign landscape. I was beginning to feel as though I had entered the ‘twilight     zone’. I finally found my way to the university and, not knowing where to begin, decided to look through my travel photos, printing those that reminded me of the experiences rushing though my head. I stared at them on the floor, clutching at memories of what had become my comfort zone. I remembered the travellers I had met while travelling, along with the experiences themselves. That night, I caught up with a friend for dinner. I took the photos with me, but soon realised there was no way of conveying the impact and emotions of the experiences that they represented. I had also developed an issue with money. The first time I refuelled my car, I was horrified as the price ticked away. I paid about 30 dollars to fill my tank and realised I could have lived off that much for at least two days during my travels; it was close to a month’s salary for many of the locals I had encountered (with the ever increasing price of oil, I now pay twice this amount). These thoughts continued for weeks each time I purchased something worth more than a few dollars; eventually, however, they disappeared. Returning from West Africa was a different story again. I did not return directly from Africa, but spent an extra two weeks in France. This, along with the higher cost of travelling through West Africa, pretty much negated the money issues. The trip, however, had been incredibly emotional and I struggled to get my mind back into writing the thesis. As much as I wanted to escape memories of Africa, and travel in general, having to work on my research kept them in sharp focus. It was months before I could get any traction with my thesis. The travel mindset presented other dangers as well. I kept questioning whether locking myself away to write a PhD thesis was the right thing to do when I could be off enjoying my new found love of travel, or at the very least having a life.     While Timor was one of the most amazing trips I have embarked upon, the positive emotions and experiences were almost immediately forgotten upon returning home. I arrived on the ‘red-eye’ flight from Darwin early Christmas morning and that evening my dog disappeared from my father’s house in the lower Blue Mountains. I spent over a week looking for her, up and down valleys in the surrounding bushland, before eventually having to return to work. This was an emotional event that saw me quickly swept back home, away from the experiences, emotions and relationships of Timor. Upon returning and resuming former roles, routines and performances, one faces a variety of pragmatic concerns such as children, work, studies and mortgages, which may influence the ideals held while travelling (Kottler 1997; Szkudlarek 2010). These pressures, applied through societal interaction and one’s broader social and symbolic surroundings, compel one to think and act in particular ways (Berger and Luckmann 1967), and may act to ‘smother’ those moments experienced while travelling. Despite this, the cultural moments experienced may linger within a variety of roles in which the returnee engages and, for some, roles may be specifically altered so these moments last. At various stages upon one’s return home there will be an expectation that they will in some way recount their experiences with and without the aid of visuals and objects. While these performances may be more common immediately after return, they could potentially be acted out innumerable times over one’s life (Bruner 2005). These performances may help spark memories of one’s travel experiences, and potentially the audience’s recollection of their own travels and/or transformations (Bærenholdt et al. 2004; Morgan and Pritchard 2005; MacDonald 2008). Having travelled frequently, and given my role of travel researcher, people often want to discuss travel with me and, depending on the individual, this serves to     stimulate memories of places, people and experiences (Wyer 1995). However, all roles may bring about particular opportunities for reflection in a wide variety of ways. A number of participants reflected on the benefit of finding other people who had similar experiences. For example, Cai (born in Hong Kong and moved to Australia at 12, 25–34) wrote: When you meet people who have been, or like-minded travellers, the entire vocab and conversation opens up and it’s strange, these people have similar spirit and character to you so it’s great fun bouncing ideas off each other, in a way inspiring you to get back on the road and plan the next adventure. Not only does Cai highlight the differences between various forms of physical travel, she also illustrates the important role that social relations hold in triggering the memories, emotions and sensualities of moments, along with stimulating desires for ongoing travel. It is also possible that one will keep in contact with travel companions (for example, partners, friends, family, people met while travelling and/or groups) and/or individuals encountered during travel (for example, locals, expatriates and other travellers). Ongoing relationships also allow returnees an outlet to continue discussing travel experiences. In addition to other travellers, participants often kept in contact with locals they had befriended. How well this contact can be maintained, however, is dependent upon access to networks, infrastructure and navigating language barriers (as I have discovered in attempting to continue contact with those who I met in West Africa). Depending on these individuals’ locations and personal circumstances, the information conveyed can be quite damning. A friend I met in Timbuktu     regularly updates me on the frustrations of life in the historic town, his extreme boredom at work and his family’s issues. Not only does this give me perspective on my life in Sydney and stimulate memories of my travel, it also counters the exotic image of Timbuktu that filled my pre-visit imagination – although with irregular communication and more pressing concerns at home, these issues are easily forgotten. For participants like Erin (Canadian, 35– 49), they find that it is not necessarily direct contacts with known others that help moments linger, but contact with a broader travel community: ‘I have made an effort to stay in contact with other travellers by volunteering with Hostelling International. This exposure to others helps keep me open minded.’ Some participants found that the contrast between their travel performances and those to which they returned further stimulated thinking that began during travel. For example, Tegan (Canadian, 35–49) wrote about returning to Canada after travelling through South-East Asia: A few days after I returned from Asia, I was confronted on the street by a healthy, clean, well dressed man begging for money. I felt like punching him in the mouth. Would all those kids that work the street in Asia believe that perfectly healthy grown men would beg in a country like ours? When I hear friends complain about trivial little things like having to pay more for their new car than they wanted, I cannot stand it. I travelled to Argentina last year and cannot imagine how my friends here in North America would react to the government freezing our financial system and devaluing our life savings by over 60 per cent.     Carita (Finnish, 35–49) detailed a similar experience to Tegan after returning to Finland having spent six months living with a Maasai community in Kenya. She wrote that the feelings and cultural moments she experienced were: ... further enhanced by the shock effect of returning to my comfortable, sheltered and safe life in my home country, and realising that the people I’d spent time with in Kenya had to continue living under the same threats as before. The contrast was evident and has remained so to this day. In many ways this taps into the same ideas of ‘haunting’ captured in work looking at how memories, meanings and symbolism are held within places, objects and photographs (see Buchli and Lucas 2001; Hetherington 2004; Moran 2004; Ramsay 2009; Edensor 2005, 2001). The cultural moments experienced during travel, while not directly present, remained in memory only to be triggered at the most random of moments in the mobile spaces, places and landscapes encountered upon return. Participants also provided numerous stories of how they had incorporated values acquired through travel into daily performances. These performances had played a significant role in helping moments linger within the home environment. Helvi (Finnish, 35–49) wrote about how she was incorporating her experiences visiting schools in South Africa into her own classroom: I have read a lot about the country after the trip and follow the news very carefully. I have got to think a lot about the lifestyle, consuming and pollution of ours and also     began to talk with my students more about environmental, gender and development issues. For Tegan (Canadian, 35–49), it was simple changes to basic daily routines that helped her to continue thinking about the ideals she had encountered during her experience: I try to remember when I make decisions about little things like Christmas presents. I choose something with meaning instead of just buying junk … [F]or Christmas we usually give animals from Oxfam (for a donation, you get a card explaining that you have bought a goat/donkey/pig for a family in X country in that person’s name) or give gifts of land from a conservation organisation. One common performance that caused moments to linger, particularly for younger participants, was study. For example, Abby (Australian, 25–34) found that studying abroad in Mexico encouraged her to seek out a Master’s degree in International Social Development. This built upon knowledge that she acquired while travelling and exposed her to new others who supported these changes of thinking and behaviour and facilitated discussion about the culture and her experiences. Similarly, Nicole (Australian, 18–24) was inspired to enrol in university subjects in international development and to read books on the effects of globalisation upon her return from Thailand and unplanned volunteering experiences. Study helped Nicole to keep thinking about her travels and the ideas they inspired. It also provided her with an institution that sanctioned these views and practices.     For some, travel moments are found to linger in unexpected ways within old daily routines. This was the case for Holly (Canadian, 35–49), who was surprised by some of the travel memories she found in her work at the public library: I work with the public and used to feel that women in a hijab were unapproachable and were most likely new arrivals to Canada. After my return from North Africa, I noticed that a lot more women wearing the hijab spoke with Canadian accents and were not recent arrivals from other countries. I engaged a few young Canadian Muslim women in conversation and we discussed the hijab and how they felt liberated by it. One woman, a doctor at a major hospital, had not worn the hijab during her first few years in medical school. When she chose to wear the hijab later, she noticed that she was spoken to differently by both men and women with whom she worked. She felt more respected, and was no longer judged by her gender and beauty …Considering that I was in North Africa and became more familiar with Islam in the spring of 2001, I think my effort to live the changes was predominant for the two years after my return. 11 September 2001 changed everything. Islam was vilified in the media. Although the news was dominated by images from Afghanistan and Iraq, we also saw images from Pakistan, Indonesia, and Muslims in other countries … mostly in a negative light … I now view the news making events emanating from the Muslim Middle East as being evidence of extreme fundamentalist Islam only, rather than representational of the society as a whole in that part of the world. Upon returning, travellers may also engage in performances that encourage reflection, stimulate imagination and stimulate a general desire for travel (Kottler 1997; de Botton 2002;     Harrison 2003; Morgan and Pritchard 2005; Lean 2009; Braasch 2008b; Ramsay 2009). The opportunity to engage in these performances is influenced by the fluidity of the place to which one returns, along with the availability of, and access to, mobility infrastructures (Urry 2007). While a number of these performances have already been mentioned in this chapter, there were also many other experiences that participants reported as helping cultural moments to linger. Many participants sought to keep their experiences ‘alive’ by frequenting social networking sites (message-boards, blogs and other online travel groups) to discuss their experiences, share knowledge and provide advice (and indeed, it was through these forums that I recruited a number of my participants). All of these activities serve to stimulate memories, imagination and desires for further travel experiences. Some participants wrote about seeking out literature on places travelled to, issues encountered or travel in general. Christopher (American, 50–64) spoke about his love of travel literature: ‘I constantly seek out travel literature and even buy guidebooks to places where I will probably never go.’ Nicole (Australian, 18–24) wrote about commencing subjects in international development for her university degree, along with beginning to read books on globalisation: ‘I sought out uni courses and books to try and help me understand the issues, such as a unit at Melbourne uni Famine in the Modern World and books like Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond and Globalisation and its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz.’ It was also common for participants to find moments lingering in various representations available within the media and arts (for example, newspapers, television, radio, news     broadcasts, magazines, advertising, documentaries, films, plays and exhibitions). For example, Samantha (American, 35–49) wrote: ‘I definitely want to watch a lot more foreign films. I always did enjoy them but I try to see as many as I can now, even ones from countries that I haven’t been to. I am especially drawn to Australian and German movies since those are places that I lived. I’ve watched some that were very bad but I still enjoyed them since they were Aussie or German.’ Other performances reported to stimulate the lingering moments included searching the internet for materials related to the experience, post-travel reflections (in diaries/journals and through conversation), viewing accounts written during travel and engaging in ongoing travels (physical or otherwise). LINGERING MOMENTS AND TRANSFORMATIVE TRAVEL It would be a mistake to assume that lingering moments are generated from a static process of remembering experiences that have been and gone. Just as a mobilities perspective allows us to identify the wide variety of physical, virtual, communicative and imaginative reminders that may enable moments to linger upon return, it also allows the remembering and meaning around these moments to evolve. For example, the complexity of meanings, memories and emotions generated by objects and photographs increases exponentially when one considers that, separated from the moment of acquisition and creation, meanings change, memories fade and new experience take precedence (Bærenholdt et al. 2004; Ramsay 2009; Morgan and Pritchard 2005; MacDonald 2008). Memory and meaning-making are not individual pursuits; they are socially influenced (Wyer 1995; Braasch 2008b; Coman et al. 2009; Schwartz 2011). One’s memories are altered in recollection (Bruner 2005) and meaningmaking evolves with new experiences and influences (MacDonald 2008). Objects and photographs may become separated from specific experiences and signify new things entirely     (Berger and Mohr 1995; Schwartz 1998). And the same can be said about memories stimulated by any experience upon returning (Bærenholdt et al. 2004; Braasch 2008b). What is more, the places in which these moments were had are not static. They continue altering overtime and ongoing experiences of them, whether physical, virtual, communicative or imaginative, may continue altering one’s thinking. New cultural moments are continually had (albeit to varying degrees depending upon the unique circumstances and experiences of the individual). While this does not necessarily mean that previous moments are forgotten, they may highlight, reshape, dilute or strengthen memories and the embodiment of experiences. And indeed, this ties closely to the transformations that individuals experience through travel. Knowledge, values, attitudes, performances and reality continue to alter over time, and, to varying degrees, the lingering moments of travel become entwined in these shifts. Not only do lingering moments help to reinforce and continue particular changes experienced through travel, they may also become entangled in new experiences and the transitions inspired not only by physical travel, but also virtual, communicative and imaginative mobilities. Possibly the most extreme example of this was provided by Andrew (Australian, 35–49). Andrew had served with the Australian military in Afghanistan in the late 1980s and Iraq in 2006, along with many tours of duty in between. Andrew told me that one of the major transformations to result from his physical travel had been a readjustment of his views upon the values of life. In particular, his experiences in Afghanistan encountering mass graves, the futility of war, the presence of poverty and people’s attitudes toward death had been a powerful influence. When I reinterviewed Andrew in 2007 he told me that he had been diagnosed with cancer and he had observed that the cultural moments within Afghanistan, and the lasting impression they had made upon his ideals, had helped him to come to terms     with his illness and how he was dealing with it with his family. These powerful experiences had remained engrained upon his memory, only to be further reinforced by ongoing military service. On one level, we can observe how cultural moments experienced while travelling either linger or cease upon one’s return. On another, and arguably more fruitful scale, we may observe how these same moments continue to influence lived experience, whether that be directly or indirectly. And indeed, this was evident in the experiences of participants who found these lingering cultural moments from their physical travels became entangled in all manner of continuing experiences – ongoing and new social interactions, new work roles, falling in love, getting married, having children, losing loved ones, developing health problems, entering new life-stages and continuing physical journeys. CONCLUSION The cultural moment in tourism is not isolated to the physical travel experience itself. As illustrated in this chapter, the cultural moment can linger long after any particular physical travel experience in photographs, objects, mobile places, spaces and landscapes (and the sensory experiences had within) and the social relationships, roles, routines and performances in which one engages upon their return. 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