365 days, 27 countries, one mission - Dutchman Bruno van den Elshout travelled through all the European states to broaden his mind. Back in The Hague the consultant is wondering how to make use of his experience. Can you make money out of cross-cultural understanding? Or was it just a useless adventure?

THE CONSULTANT

Photo: http://www.photologix.nl

Another sunny day?

Ritzy villas, fast cars and beautiful girls are no longer enough to show off about. For our transborder generation, destinations are the new status symbols. When I mention Munich, Madrid and New York as my last domiciles, that's an implied statement about my way of life - however nothing exceptional nowadays.

Bruno is unbeatable if you refer to international experience. In August 2007, the 28-year-old Dutchman abandoned his well-paid job as a business development consultant in Hoofddorp to broaden his horizons. His project: Travelling through all 27 European countries, interview their citizens, and write about his experience on the website: useuropeans.com.

Bruno avoided staying in hotels or hostels where you'd normally hang out with other tourists but hardly experience the spirit of the nations and their citizens. Instead he crashed on couches of random people he never met before - through Couchsurfing.com, an online network of travelers from all over the world. Locals host travelers show them around and spend time together - frequently a frolic way of international understanding. In an age of cheap airfares and porous borders, where nearly every corner of the globe is open for tourism, the home marks the final frontier, the last authentic experience.

On his way through Europe Bruno crashed at more than 50 places, including my studio apartment in Munich back in May 2008. He's a tall guy with wild curly hair but a straight mind. While drinking Bavarian beer in one of my favorite beer gardens, it quickly turned out that Bruno doesn't consider his travels just as a romantic and mind-expanding adventure. In fact, he was brainstorming ways to make a profit out of his experience after the end of this mission. So we discussed a rather unromantic question: how to make money with cross-cultural understanding.

Photo: Jasmin Gritzka, www.youthphotos.eu

Searching for new horizons?

As a diploma holder in international business, Bruno definitley is the right person to discuss such matters with. He said he considers starting cross-cultural trainings for managers on day. But for the short term his message was very disillusioning: Cross-cultural experience itself isn't a unique selling point in business, at the most, it's nice add-on.

For university alumni in Europe, it is really hard to stick out with international experience nowadays. More than 1.6 million students participated in the Erasmus exchange program; I can't think of a friend from university who didn't spend at least a few months abroad - whether it was in Lisbon, Madrid, Bologna, Prague, Paris, Dublin, Tokyo, Melbourne, Moscow, Buenos Aires, San Diego or New York. Consequently today, human resources managers take for granted international experience today - but nonetheless, penalize you if your CV doesn't look impressive enough - a vicious circle.

Bruno accomplished his US Europen project this summer. Now he is back in The Hague and started working as an investment scout. He doesn't directly use his travel experience at work, but he is convinced that he is a more stable person who can't be easily surprised today. Moreover, he told me the limitations brought about by the project made him more conscious - of time, money and of people's intentions.

For him there are more important things to care about than ritzy villas, fast cars and beautiful girls.

Cover photo: http://www.photologix.nl