The Give & Take of Travel
Presented by WeldWerks Brewing Co
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By Stef Ferarri
“Never leave things exactly as you found them; always leave them better.” This is advice my mother gave me whenever I visited a friend’s house growing up in the suburbs of Connecticut.
After I left my New England place of origin, I went on to live in New York City, then Los Angeles, then Nashville, Tennessee, then Florence, Italy. I have been what some might call a perpetual tourist, landing in the “destinations” featured in travel guides as my primary places of residence.
These places share a lot of features, they have stunning churches and museums and some of the best food and restaurants in the world. What they also have in common is that they are someone’s home. The people among whom I’ve lived and called myself a neighbor have often worked very hard to be able to live in these places, and for that reason, they care deeply about their communities and one another.
The inhabitants of these places also tend to get a bad rap, particularly from visiting outsiders. There’s a reputation for being rude or impatient or otherwise “maleducato”, as we say here in Italy. The reality is that most of the time if they behave in any way untoward it’s because their home is being treated as a playground for those who come, see, take photos, take from the culture, and take off.
What they leave behind is sometimes an absolute mess. I have watched trash pile up in parks and piazzas, accumulations of discarded detritus, making evidence of how people sometimes throw their manners out the window right along with their garbage because they’re on vacation and don’t have to deal with the aftermath.
“Destination” cities frequently rely on tourists for their economic health, and in particular, as Covid has so clearly emphasized, food service establishments can owe a major portion of their revenue from visitors. But I’ve also seen restaurants take a lot of shit for not giving a diner the exact experience they expected to have because of what they saw on Instagram, read on TripAdvisor, or heard through the grapevine.
I am heartened by increasing awareness of responsible and sustainable travel, but I also urge anyone who is planning to visit new places to consider not just how to not leave an impact on a place but to leave a positive one. This is a core philosophy of regenerative travel. There are many options out there these days to practice this now, and lots of advice on how to be a good traveler who gives back. When you visit, don’t just take, but find ways to replenish what you’ve used—sometimes that means simply making a deposit of kindness, gratitude, and positivity to the environment.
If you are planning to travel, be aware not just of what is a part of the city’s history, but also its present, and its future, especially if you’d like to return—and who wouldn’t? I promise, my mom would approve.
Established in 2015, WeldWerks Brewing Co. is an award-winning craft brewery located in Greeley, Colorado recognized for brewing an array of beer styles including Juicy Bits, one of the most highly regarded IPAs in the country. WeldWerks has garnered numerous medals and acclaim on the way, including being named the best new brewery in the country by USA Today in 2016 and multiple medals at both the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup. The brewery’s charitable arm, the WeldWerks Community Foundation, is a 501c3 nonprofit that supports local nonprofits through events like The WeldWerks Invitational.
Stef Ferrari is an Emmy-winning, James Beard Award nominated journalist and filmmaker, and author of several food and history books including “A Woman’s Place (Little, Brown),” a compendium of women in history who changed the world through food, co-written with Deepi Ahluwalia.
Stef lives in Florence, Italy and deeply loves pizza, whiskey and everything bitter.
Opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Best Served. To achieve our mission of bringing more voices to the table, we are committed to sharing a variety of viewpoints across the industry.
