I received a flattering call from a reader this week that complimented me on the column and then asked how I learned so much about travel and the world. I think I do know a fair amount about the travel industry and the world in general, but as I explained to her, I am very cognizant of just how much I don’t know. The world we live in is a dynamic, ever changing place that is constantly reshaped and redefined by nature, people, politics, civil upheaval, war and economics. What we may have known about the world a few short years ago may or may not be the case today. Think back over the past two decades about how significantly our globe has changed.
For me, learning about the world and more specifically travel has been a long process. It has been accelerated over the past seven years as a result of being in the travel industry and having been afforded the opportunity to see some of the greatest vacation destinations in the world and some of the finest ways to vacation. Whether on a luxurious cruise liner, a posh resort or escorted tour, we have enjoyed extraordinary experiences. In reality, much of my knowledge of the world comes from my previous life in an interesting and exciting career that allowed me to see the world in a fairly unique way and shaped my views of other countries, their cultures, history and differences. To digress a bit, a major milestone came in the late 1970’s. My wife and I grew up in Colorado. My career in law enforcement had progressed to the point of coming up through the ranks to be a division chief in the police department. I was lucky enough to have been appointed as a new police chief in another state in the Midwest. After settling into the new job, my wife and I often thought about the things we never took the time to see and do when we lived in Colorado. In spite of living there, neither of us had visited Mesa Verde National Park, had never been to the top of Pikes Peak or a number of the great places that bring tourist to Colorado. We made a pact that we would take the time to really get to know and see the areas we lived in so that we wouldn’t feel we missed something. From then on, we took regular excursions to see the things the area offered. In a few short years, I was offered another chiefs job in a much larger city in the southeastern United States. Once again, we had the opportunity to learn a lot about a whole new area we had never experienced. In 1985, I was appointed as the Executive Director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Washington DC. IACP had over 19,000 members in 93 nations around the world. As the Executive Director, I had the opportunity to travel to many of those countries and interact with officials at the highest levels of government. In preparation for those trips, I would pour over the CIA Country reports of the places we were visiting to learn as much about the country as possible. Once there, our host always went out of the way to ensure that in between business meetings we were able to see the highlights of their city or country. Many times these involved behind the scenes tours into places ordinary tourist couldn’t go. What an education! After leaving IACP I was appointed as an International Police Advisor in a project named the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program within the Criminal Division of the US Justice Department. I was initially assigned to work on issues related to drug related corruption and human rights violations in Latin America and the Caribbean Basin. In 1989, I was one of a five member team assigned to work in Panama on the heels of Operation Just Cause to eliminate the brutal and corrupt Panama Defense Forces and create a 12,000 member civilian police organization. While there, I learned an awful lot about the Panama Canal and the region as a whole. In 1995, I was part of a multinational group sent to Haiti for six months to replace the Haitian military with a new civilian police organization. Living and working in a highly impoverished third world country was an eye opening experience. In between, I did a lot of work in Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Columbia, Bolivia and Peru. While these are but a few of the experiences that have taught me about the world we live in, it has always given me a great appreciation for the words of Augustine, “The world is a book and those who do not travel have never gotten past the first page.”
Jerry Vaughn
For me, learning about the world and more specifically travel has been a long process. It has been accelerated over the past seven years as a result of being in the travel industry and having been afforded the opportunity to see some of the greatest vacation destinations in the world and some of the finest ways to vacation. Whether on a luxurious cruise liner, a posh resort or escorted tour, we have enjoyed extraordinary experiences. In reality, much of my knowledge of the world comes from my previous life in an interesting and exciting career that allowed me to see the world in a fairly unique way and shaped my views of other countries, their cultures, history and differences. To digress a bit, a major milestone came in the late 1970’s. My wife and I grew up in Colorado. My career in law enforcement had progressed to the point of coming up through the ranks to be a division chief in the police department. I was lucky enough to have been appointed as a new police chief in another state in the Midwest. After settling into the new job, my wife and I often thought about the things we never took the time to see and do when we lived in Colorado. In spite of living there, neither of us had visited Mesa Verde National Park, had never been to the top of Pikes Peak or a number of the great places that bring tourist to Colorado. We made a pact that we would take the time to really get to know and see the areas we lived in so that we wouldn’t feel we missed something. From then on, we took regular excursions to see the things the area offered. In a few short years, I was offered another chiefs job in a much larger city in the southeastern United States. Once again, we had the opportunity to learn a lot about a whole new area we had never experienced. In 1985, I was appointed as the Executive Director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Washington DC. IACP had over 19,000 members in 93 nations around the world. As the Executive Director, I had the opportunity to travel to many of those countries and interact with officials at the highest levels of government. In preparation for those trips, I would pour over the CIA Country reports of the places we were visiting to learn as much about the country as possible. Once there, our host always went out of the way to ensure that in between business meetings we were able to see the highlights of their city or country. Many times these involved behind the scenes tours into places ordinary tourist couldn’t go. What an education! After leaving IACP I was appointed as an International Police Advisor in a project named the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program within the Criminal Division of the US Justice Department. I was initially assigned to work on issues related to drug related corruption and human rights violations in Latin America and the Caribbean Basin. In 1989, I was one of a five member team assigned to work in Panama on the heels of Operation Just Cause to eliminate the brutal and corrupt Panama Defense Forces and create a 12,000 member civilian police organization. While there, I learned an awful lot about the Panama Canal and the region as a whole. In 1995, I was part of a multinational group sent to Haiti for six months to replace the Haitian military with a new civilian police organization. Living and working in a highly impoverished third world country was an eye opening experience. In between, I did a lot of work in Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Columbia, Bolivia and Peru. While these are but a few of the experiences that have taught me about the world we live in, it has always given me a great appreciation for the words of Augustine, “The world is a book and those who do not travel have never gotten past the first page.”
Jerry Vaughn