Dear friends of mine took scuba lessons this past winter, and have just returned from their second dive vacation, the latest one off Cozumel. This was the first time outside the US for one of them, and at lunch yesterday she told me how she felt ‘guilty’ seeing the extreme poverty just outside the Gold Coast (hotel row) where they were staying. By the end of the trip, she wouldn’t venture outside the hotel, it was so bad.

I, on the hand, have seen my travels to poor countries (and there are many on this globe that are poorer than Mexico) as a way to spread the wealth. I may travel in manners that seem inexpensive to me, but on the relative scale, my few dollars can go a long way in a poor country, feeding many in a family. So many of the travel industry workers in these countries, Bali for example, sustain not only themselves but the relatives back in the rural village where they were born on what they make from services provided to tourists. In Mexico, if oil prices are below $45 a barrel, tourism is the #1 source of outside money flowing into the country.

These travel experiences also open my eyes to many of the consumables and other pleasures I enjoy because of America’s intrinsic wealth, and lead me to feel blessed. But you can’t choose the economy you are born to, just as you didn’t choose to be born Muslim, Jewish, Christian or whatever. We can only live our lives to the best of our ability, to minimize our impact on the rest of the planet. Thankfully more people are trying to live a lifestyle of less consumption in America, as am I, and that may make life easier for others in poorer countries.

I’ve not felt ‘guilty’ for having the wherewithal to travel and spend. In fact, I’ve wanted to spend a part of each of my many vacations seeing how the locals survive in areas outside the tourists zones. On occasion, I’ve been able to leave some money with a person who has provided a meal in their front room, or at a table placed in the road outside their home, rather than at the usual touristy restaurant. I’d much prefer to eat where locals eat than tourists.

And yet, I’m not 100% comfortable either. When Aung San Suu Kyi called for tourists to boycott Burma (Myanmar, for those of you unable to defy the current dictatorship there) as a travel destination, I paid attention. To my knowledge she’s not changed her stance. Her request stemmed from a desire to deny the regime any additional funds they would take from the citizens who participate in the travel industry. By going other places, not so blatantly corrupt, am I continuing to foster a social structure of oppression? Am I perpetuating poverty? Or do my (few) dollars help someone who otherwise might go to sleep hungry?

I certainly hope it is the latter. Aside from the environmental impact of jetting around the world, I’d hate to give up satisfying my wanderlust.