On every non-business trip I’ve ever taken, I’ve had the Canadian flag sewn onto my knapsack. In Bali, the flag led to my meeting a fellow Canadian at a time when I was pretty homesick. I joined him and his Scottish and Dutch companions, and travelled with them for a week. They took me off my planned itinerary, I discovered places I wouldn’t have without them, and with them I had some of my most memorable laughs.

In Norway, a local musician approached me on a train, as his band had just gotten back from playing in British Columbia. He took my map of Oslo and marked all the good out-of-the-guidebooks spots, including a wonderful, almost-secret bar called the Mir Station. Through this acquaintance I ended up spending several days merrymaking in Oslo, and went camping on an island in Oslo fjord with about twenty locals. My friendship with Rune endures to this day.

Anyway, there’s been a little debate going on for the past week between T and I. He feels I should not wear the Canadian flag on my knapsack on the upcoming trip to Morocco. He says Canadians are the third most sollicited nationality in that country, and labelling ourselves as such is asking for annoyance.

On the other hand, having the flag has always opened unexpected doors for me. It also allows me to avoid being mistaken for an American (no offense, but I’m sure Americans don’t want to be mistaken for anything else either), which might not be bad in an Arab country right now.

I know we’ll be speaking mostly French, but we’ll obviously be using a lot of our American-sounding English too, for example with other tourists. And there’s no way fair-skinned, blue-eyed T will ever pass off as a local, so we’ll get sollicited anyway.

What do you think? To flag or not to flag?

(picture from www.canadianmoose.com)