Important

Walking towards utopia

travelling by communities and ecovillages

Important

Suggestions, advices, recommendations, warnings…:

The first and more important is always to contact the chosen place before going there. Although you think they have a more free lifestyle, that doesn´t mean they have to welcome everybody and at any moment. Therefore, it´s necessary to contact the community before, to tell them your intentions and to arrange the best way and dates to visit it (if it´s possible).

To welcome visitors requires certain energy, and it´s possible that they expect from you more than simply to spread non-conventional lifestyles, for example: to get new members; to be inspired by new faces, ideas and opinions; to make money of visitors; to need some help with their work; etc.

In order to avoid disappointments, you can usually inform yourself beforehand about the project that interests you (internet, self-produced or other materials…). During your visit you are bound to experience one or more disappointments, large or small: this place isn´t like I thought, they should work in a different way, they should have solved that problem better than the rest of society, I don´t like the diet, they use too much or very few technology, there are contradictions between their self-description and practical everyday life, I don´t experience the love affair I was secretly dreaming about … In other words, you may become a victim of your unexpressed expectations.

Remember that you are in a place which is someone else´s home, therefore try to avoid the “zoo effect”: don´t be too curious and pushy. Or do you always show your visitors every corner of your home and spontaneously tell them about all the most intimate aspects of your daily life?

In the same way, although you are sharing part of your lifes, that doesn´t mean you stay always with other people. In fact, you can feel quite alone some moments when the people simply continue their usual rhythm of life.

Observe written and oral instructions. If you have doubts, feel free to ask to avoid disagreeable situations for everybody.

Working together is one of the best ways to open doors, to generate trust and mutual understanding.

Definitely contribute your expertise and ability, but don´t force it on the community; whether you are at a plenary meeting or other group meetings, restrain yourself. Be aware of you are a visitor and you don´t know everything about the community.

Don´t let this or any other tip stifle your exuberance!

Finally, remember that your visit has only shown you fragments of the project´s life. In a different season, in other weather or in another frame of mind on your part the visit might have gone very differently. Perhaps certain group members were not at home, perhaps the project´s atmosphere was influenced by a temporarily topic, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…

[based on the article “About putting your foot in it…” from Eurotopia]