Moreover, the traveler learns by meeting others on their terms. Ibn Battuta’s Rihla (c. 1355) shows knowledge gathered at caravanserais and courts, where hospitality and law revealed the texture of societies. Likewise, Bashō’s Oku no Hosomichi (1702) models attentive wandering, where a roadside hut or a fleeting moonrise refines the traveler’s sensibility. In the same spirit, Clifford Geertz’s “thick description” (1973) reminds us that meaning resides in context; humility is the passport. [...]
