About GATE
Global Awareness for Travelers

GATE
a Center for Global Awareness Program

The Center for Global Awareness, an educational nonprofit organization, offers three programs: Global Awareness for Educators, globally-focused books and educational resources for educators and students grade 9-university; GATHER, Global Awareness Through Engaged Reflection, a study and conversation program for self-organizing groups of lifelong learners; and its latest program GATE, Global Awareness for Travelers, an educational travel program providing ways in which travelers can study and practice global awareness.

Center for Global Awareness

Hama Water Wheel, Syria, photo Denise Ames

Global Awareness for Travelers (GATE) …

is a non-profit, educational travel program created by world historian, veteran educator, and world traveler Dr. Denise R. Ames. The mission of GATE is to offer ways to enhance global awareness—understanding our place in the world and our relationships with others—for engaged and culturally-curious travelers who are seeking deep, reflective, and purpose-oriented travel experiences.

Arabian Horses, riders in traditional dress, Qatar, photo Denise Ames

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The importance of enhancing global awareness for travelers…

Our species is at a critical juncture in our long human history. Although many of us have a comfortable standard of living and can afford travel, we may feel unprepared to venture forth or reluctant to partake in what is often considered a self-indulgent activity.

Dr. Ames, however, makes the case that learning about the world and our place in it is a vital endeavor for people living in open, democratic countries. Travel in thoughtful and inquisitive ways adds to our knowledge and understanding about the world and contributes to making informed decisions about critical matters. After our travels, it is crucial to share our newfound wisdom and experiences with others.

In response to the need for purposeful travel, Dr. Ames has created GATE to offer ways to enhance our global awareness, which can help us make sense of these tumultuous and challenging times.

Confucian ceremony in South Korea, photo Denise Ames

Practicing Global Awareness

Ways of understanding global awareness are arranged into eight paths—an outward and inward focus, each contain four paths.

Outward Paths

1.
Holistic World History:
Learning from the Past
The past has much to reveal to us. This holistic, “big picture,” approach to history organizes human development into five waves—Communal, Agricultural, Urban, Modern, and Global.

2.
Five Worldviews:
Different Ways We See the World
Will we ever get along? Issues seen through the lens of five worldviews—indigenous, traditional, progressive, globalized, and transformative—help us understand ourselves and others.

3.
Cross-Cultural Awareness:
Learning About and From Others
Are we all weird? We explore cultural differences and human commonalities using a cross-cultural organizer and other approaches.

4.
Global Issues:
A Primer for Travelers
Travelers may encounter or want to know more about five significant global issues: environment, global economy, political structures, social issues, and belief systems.

Great Wall of China, photo Denise Ames

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Inward Paths

5.
Time Honored Insights:
Integrating Wisdom of the Ages
Like the ancient philosophers of the past, integrating time-honored insights—understanding, balancing, connecting, opening up, and laughing—into our travels unlocks wisdom.

6.
Well-Being:
Travel as a Journey of Discovery
Well-being is a good or satisfactory condition. Travel can heighten our awareness about our own life and our contributions to the wider world.

7.
Travel as a Mythic Journey:
Embarking Upon a Personal Quest
A mythic journey is a personal quest to deepen insights about our inward life and our greater purpose in the outer world.

8.
Lessons from Travel:
Applications for Our Daily Life
The lessons of travel may be simple or multi-faceted. Travel has the capacity to teach us many lessons if we open to its magic.

Klaipedia, Lithuania, photo Denise Ames

Gyeongbuck Palace, Seoul, South Korea, photo Denise Ames

Is Globally Aware Travel for You?

If you are a lifelong learner who is eager to see the world with new eyes, hear fresh perspectives, think about new ideas, seek out authentic experiences, and try to better understand your place and purpose in the world, then the global awareness approach to travel is for you.

Global Awareness for Travelers
21 Takeaways
The takeaways are designed to enhance your global awareness. Hopefully, they will stir travelers to travel deeper, with more insight, and with fresh eyes. Denise Ames

#1 Traveling Deeper

Traveling deeper helps us gain an enhanced understanding of global awareness.
Dubrovnik, Croatia, photo Dense Ames
#2 Thinking Differently

Recognizing that not everyone thinks as we do.

Abyaneh Village, Iran, photo Denise Ames
#3 Studying a Holistic World History

Studying a “big picture,” holistic world history shows us how the past connects to the present and future.
Roman ruins, Lebanon, photo Dense Ames
#4 Integrating Well-Being

Integrating personal growth and well-being through the act of travel fosters greater wisdom and empathy.
Christiantown, Copenhagen, Denmark, photo Denise Ames
#5 Negotiating Differences

Acquiring more confidence and skills will help us to negotiate cultural and personal differences.
Shaman figures, Seoul, South Korea, photo Denise Ames
#6 Recognizing Worldviews

Recognizing our worldview influences our understanding of issues, situations, events, and people.
German workers, photo Denise Ames
#7 Forming Relationships

Using global awareness tools and skills to form meaningful relationships with others.
A school in China, photo Denise Ames
#8 Appreciating our World

Appreciating our participation in a complex and interdependent world community.
Flags in a Turkish office, photo Denise Ames
#9 Learning About Ourselves

Learning about ourselves is the first step in learning about and from others.

Students in Lebanon, photo Denise Ames
#10 Impacting Others

Knowing that our actions as travelers impact others.

Recycling in China, photo Denise Ames
#11 Expanding our Mindset

Expanding our mindset to see other points of view; “to walk in another person’s shoes.”
Abyaneh Villge, Iran, photo Denise Ames
#12 Sharpening our Senses

Seeing with new eyes, hearing diverse perspectives, tasting new foods, and feeling the earth.
Flowers, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, NY, USA, photo Denise Ames
#13 Using a Cross-Cultural Organizer

Understanding other cultures, people, and ourselves by using a Cross-Cultural Awareness Organizer.
Growing cabbage, Korea, photo Denise Ames
#14 Improving the State of the Planet

Improving the state of the planet by studying significant global issues and taking appropriate action.
Tallinn, Estonia, photo Denise Ames
#15 Cultivating Global Perspectives

Broadening our viewpoints beyond our own culture—without abandoning it—to encompass the world.

Students, Shanghai, China, photo Dense Ames
#16 Connecting with Nature

Appreciating and connecting with the beauty and insights of nature during our travels.
Nature Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA, photo Denise Ames
#17 Defining our Life Purpose

Exploring and refining our inward and outward purpose in life through travel.
Klaipeda, Lithuania, photo Denise Ames
#18 Applying Lessons of Travel

Applying and implementing the lessons travel offers us to our daily lives.
Damascus, Syria, bazaar, photo Denise Ames
#19 Envisioning a Mythic Journey

Envisioning and playing out our travels as a mythic journey.
Argostoli, Greece, photo Denise Ames
#20 Aligning Expectations to Travel Realities

Aligning our expectations to the realities of travel.

St. Petersburg Palace, Russia, photo Denise Ames
#21 Opening to the Sublime

Opening to the sublime and/or spirit during our travels.

Grand Mosque, United Arab Emirates, photo Denise Ames