Salman and I finally made it to Portugal, and our trip could not have been any smoother. We arrived to the Chamartin Station in Madrid, found the platform from which our train would depart, and embarked on our journey across the Iberian Peninsula. We presented out tickets for review twenty minutes into the trip and then once again, when we crossed the border into Portugal. No one stopped to ask for our passports, even when we arrived to the Santa Apolonia station in downtown Lisbon. I would say that we traveled with the same ease as any EU citizen, but since no one had to show identification, all nationalities seemed suddenly irrelevant.
In fact, for the majority of our 10-hour trip, we seemed to benefit from the more positive effects of transnationalism. In a way, we became a band of nationless travelers, moving democratically, and more importantly, fearlessly from one nation to the next. Now that I think about it, that was the best part of our trip from Madrid to Lisbon: shedding the fear and confusion we have come to associate with travel at home in the US. Madrid also endured a major terrorist attack recently on one of its main channels of transit; and yet, Salman and I navigated the country’s train system without fear of interrogation, or worse yet, taking off our shoes in front of a long line of equally frustrated strangers.
This is not to say that travel regulations should be abandoned entirely, or that passports have lost all meaning in the face of rampant transnationalism. On the contrary, I would have been comforted somewhat if an official had attempted to confirm my identity during our trip. However, I think the US has an important lesson to learn from this experience: first to recognize and eventually to reevaluate the price of prevention.
In fact, for the majority of our 10-hour trip, we seemed to benefit from the more positive effects of transnationalism. In a way, we became a band of nationless travelers, moving democratically, and more importantly, fearlessly from one nation to the next. Now that I think about it, that was the best part of our trip from Madrid to Lisbon: shedding the fear and confusion we have come to associate with travel at home in the US. Madrid also endured a major terrorist attack recently on one of its main channels of transit; and yet, Salman and I navigated the country’s train system without fear of interrogation, or worse yet, taking off our shoes in front of a long line of equally frustrated strangers.
This is not to say that travel regulations should be abandoned entirely, or that passports have lost all meaning in the face of rampant transnationalism. On the contrary, I would have been comforted somewhat if an official had attempted to confirm my identity during our trip. However, I think the US has an important lesson to learn from this experience: first to recognize and eventually to reevaluate the price of prevention.
1 comment:
We've seen a lot of the world,but you are descrbing your journey in such a descriptive way that I am traveling all over again in a deeper way.
Miss Bev
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