Showing up somewhere and seeing fellow Americans treat it as a bucket list, transactional experience is so gross. I was lucky enough to have a conversation with a local artisan in Oaxaca when I went there for the first time, we spoke in Spanish. She said it’s the palpable lack of interest or respect for the actual people there from tourists that leaves a bad taste in their mouth. Reminds me of the issues between gringo retirees yelling at Mexican bands to be quiet on their own Mexican beaches where mariachi is a staple of the culture. “I’m not entering into your world because im here and the world revolves around me.” But it’s not your house… except to the tourist who feels like they have nothing left to learn from anyone, anywhere.
I travel for work(I drive boats all over the place). I hate hotels, airports, airplanes, tourist’s, and idiots so I would rather not travel when I’m off. I think its because my happy place is at home with my wife, dog, beehive, and community that I have built around me.
Interesting thoughts you wrote here. As a person who travels about 9 months per year (most of that time all around Africa), I could sign a lot of your thoughts here. I don’t go to places to “get something out of them”, even though I do document them in some ways meaningful to me. Traveling is a way of life for me. I truly live when out of our “modern, clinical” model of the world (I’m originally Finnish).
Theres something about the sunlight in DFW in the summer that’s so bright and harsh that it washes everything out. I think that actually adds to the desolate, alien feeling of the place. After 9 AM and before 5 PM, this area just feels inhuman. That feeling is exacerbated by the lack of human activity outside of the cocoons of cars.
Summer is the most depressing time of year for me because it’s too hot to be outside for long, too bright to open the shades at home, and too barren to take refuge in shade.
It's nice to see someone else walking in sandals and socks. My kids used to tease me about that, but now they say it's unfashionable to wear sandals without socks. Middle-aged dads may have started a trend, but don't tell the teens or it'll be uncool again.
During a recent trip to Dallas, I took the DART Orange Line train between DFW Airport and Downtown. It was an efficient and pleasant way to travel, but I giggled when one of the intermediate stations was named "Las Colinas Urban Center." That seemed like a case of trying too hard. Any place that has to call itself "urban" usually isn't authentically urban.
Excessive worry about over-tourism seems as misplaced as flight shaming. Travel is generally a positive force, and most Americans don't leave their own country often enough, if ever. There are gentle ways to point tourism in a helpful direction, and soaking restaurant customers with water guns isn't one of them.
Travel for me is reading, listening or watching something. Travel is for the idle who have everything. I've only been to Canada with parents and I'm from PNW. People are not more wealthy now, they just have higher credit lines. My weekend plans usually consist of going to grocery store. My travel plans are in my mind. America is so exceptional.
Travel changes meaning as the years pass: A Borsht Belt museum in Ellenville NY is now reviving a part of my childhood that I disdained as coarse and materialistic.
The Open Space Institute buys land to preserve wilderness and create opportunities for healthy, outdoor recreation.
A few years ago I was driving down a 2 lane road in Bali, where I live, and an older woman had a scooter accident right in front of me. Almost immediately there were over 15 people _running_ to help her, and I'm pretty sure NONE of them knew her. With so many people at the ready I continued on, but the memory of a kind of selfless rush - as if Taylor Swift had fallen off her scooter - was both shocking and incredibly heart-warming. There was _nothing_ in it for the people who ran to help, other than it was the right thing for _any_ society to do.
I live on the border of NYC. I can walk pretty much the full world if I walk Queens Blvd from end to end and enjoy about 25 different ethnicities & neighborhoods.
One spot that I just recently enjoyed was Montreal- what a pleasant place to walk. Fantastic metro and what appears to be a cultural affinity for walking and biking. The communal spaces (parks, pedestrian paths and closed roads) were full of people from all backgrounds and ages. I think it might be my top choice for an east coast city to visit.
I'm going there for the first time on the 26th. Can't wait! We tend to walk cities on vacation (Arnade method) and I'm trying my hardest not to google Montreal so that I can be surprised.
I won’t spoil anything, but the city closes several major roads to traffic in the summer which makes for terrific walking. Hopefully it has cooled down a bit… it was really hot when we were there.
Montreal is awesome. My wife and I have gotten into the habit of going up there for three or four days every year with our daughter just to hang out. We walk around, go to markets, picnic, stop and let the kid run around at the playgrounds (which are everywhere). You go to a park there on a warm summer evening and everyone is hanging out and enjoying life, it's great.
I couldn't agree more. Plus it is relatively affordable and the drive is easy. I'm also a fan of unfussy food and there are a ton of good places to eat. It is going to be part of our regular rotation.
I had a great recent trip to Philadelphia. Really nice neighborhood vibes all around the city, remarkable history that was fun to explore, and I found people to be friendly and pleasant. But the huge number of homeless people was a tough reality, as using public transportation was a challenge at times. What are some hidden gems that we should see next time?
Thank you Chris! I really enjoy your writings and look forward to the article on Faith in Uganda. I just finished Tom Holland’s ‘Dominon’ and he touched on Christianity in Africa and I’m fascinated.
I enjoyed the Kampala and Nairobi essays. As mentioned before, my parents grew up and lived in Kampala, before leaving for the UK for university and a better life.
I’m a western tourist who visits the upmarket enclaves in the few visits I’ve made. Seeing your writings on the parts I haven’t visited is enlightening.
Your picture of the boy overlooking the golf course brings back a memory for me of walking to the city centre from muyenga district.
My cousin and I were accompanied by an English friend. The fact we walked to the city centre, as well as our muzungu friend led to one comment from a local of "We saw you walking, you guys are crazy, why did you walk!?"
There's a thought here. The idea that a better life is one that gives more options.
Not one that dictates that you shun all the old options.
You choose to walk from Muyenga to CBD yet you could afford to drive or be driven.
So that even overtourism is perhaps a result of people moving one level up economically but not enough levels to have all the options.
That one can only afford to be in, say France once so they go to the obvious much heralded places and take IG'ble photos.
Because if they had the budget to stay there longer, or visit multiple times they'd make more interesting choices.
And yet even economics is not sufficient to broaden the options, the essay seems to suggest. Community, spirituality, education, etc have to inform so that other options are not snuffed out as 'progress' happens.
Because as money broadens the options, ignorance and unawareness of the other nuances may narrow them.
Like the individual with more money but not more awareness, eating increasingly greater amounts of food with limited activity/movement then endangering their health.
Or the society that's got a lot of money but not enough appreciation of community so it builds it out of its infrastructure.
This was a great read Chris. I’m on a trip right now that does not mirror my normal trips; way less deadlines and places I need to be at certain times. The pace of the west coast is so unfamiliar to me that a week is not nearly long enough to settle into the status quo out here, but it has felt unbelievably refreshing, uncomfy, and rejuvenating being able to relinquish control to friends I trust and taking what comes with each day.
Showing up somewhere and seeing fellow Americans treat it as a bucket list, transactional experience is so gross. I was lucky enough to have a conversation with a local artisan in Oaxaca when I went there for the first time, we spoke in Spanish. She said it’s the palpable lack of interest or respect for the actual people there from tourists that leaves a bad taste in their mouth. Reminds me of the issues between gringo retirees yelling at Mexican bands to be quiet on their own Mexican beaches where mariachi is a staple of the culture. “I’m not entering into your world because im here and the world revolves around me.” But it’s not your house… except to the tourist who feels like they have nothing left to learn from anyone, anywhere.
I travel for work(I drive boats all over the place). I hate hotels, airports, airplanes, tourist’s, and idiots so I would rather not travel when I’m off. I think its because my happy place is at home with my wife, dog, beehive, and community that I have built around me.
Interesting thoughts you wrote here. As a person who travels about 9 months per year (most of that time all around Africa), I could sign a lot of your thoughts here. I don’t go to places to “get something out of them”, even though I do document them in some ways meaningful to me. Traveling is a way of life for me. I truly live when out of our “modern, clinical” model of the world (I’m originally Finnish).
Theres something about the sunlight in DFW in the summer that’s so bright and harsh that it washes everything out. I think that actually adds to the desolate, alien feeling of the place. After 9 AM and before 5 PM, this area just feels inhuman. That feeling is exacerbated by the lack of human activity outside of the cocoons of cars.
Summer is the most depressing time of year for me because it’s too hot to be outside for long, too bright to open the shades at home, and too barren to take refuge in shade.
It's nice to see someone else walking in sandals and socks. My kids used to tease me about that, but now they say it's unfashionable to wear sandals without socks. Middle-aged dads may have started a trend, but don't tell the teens or it'll be uncool again.
During a recent trip to Dallas, I took the DART Orange Line train between DFW Airport and Downtown. It was an efficient and pleasant way to travel, but I giggled when one of the intermediate stations was named "Las Colinas Urban Center." That seemed like a case of trying too hard. Any place that has to call itself "urban" usually isn't authentically urban.
Excessive worry about over-tourism seems as misplaced as flight shaming. Travel is generally a positive force, and most Americans don't leave their own country often enough, if ever. There are gentle ways to point tourism in a helpful direction, and soaking restaurant customers with water guns isn't one of them.
Travel for me is reading, listening or watching something. Travel is for the idle who have everything. I've only been to Canada with parents and I'm from PNW. People are not more wealthy now, they just have higher credit lines. My weekend plans usually consist of going to grocery store. My travel plans are in my mind. America is so exceptional.
Travel changes meaning as the years pass: A Borsht Belt museum in Ellenville NY is now reviving a part of my childhood that I disdained as coarse and materialistic.
The Open Space Institute buys land to preserve wilderness and create opportunities for healthy, outdoor recreation.
Bicycles evolve and opportunities to use them as
Well.
All this in the USA.
It's nice to put a face to your wonderful, thought-provoking writing!
A few years ago I was driving down a 2 lane road in Bali, where I live, and an older woman had a scooter accident right in front of me. Almost immediately there were over 15 people _running_ to help her, and I'm pretty sure NONE of them knew her. With so many people at the ready I continued on, but the memory of a kind of selfless rush - as if Taylor Swift had fallen off her scooter - was both shocking and incredibly heart-warming. There was _nothing_ in it for the people who ran to help, other than it was the right thing for _any_ society to do.
Great stuff.
I live on the border of NYC. I can walk pretty much the full world if I walk Queens Blvd from end to end and enjoy about 25 different ethnicities & neighborhoods.
Thanks for your thoughts on over-tourism. It is a hot topic these days.
One spot that I just recently enjoyed was Montreal- what a pleasant place to walk. Fantastic metro and what appears to be a cultural affinity for walking and biking. The communal spaces (parks, pedestrian paths and closed roads) were full of people from all backgrounds and ages. I think it might be my top choice for an east coast city to visit.
I'm going there for the first time on the 26th. Can't wait! We tend to walk cities on vacation (Arnade method) and I'm trying my hardest not to google Montreal so that I can be surprised.
I won’t spoil anything, but the city closes several major roads to traffic in the summer which makes for terrific walking. Hopefully it has cooled down a bit… it was really hot when we were there.
Montreal is awesome. My wife and I have gotten into the habit of going up there for three or four days every year with our daughter just to hang out. We walk around, go to markets, picnic, stop and let the kid run around at the playgrounds (which are everywhere). You go to a park there on a warm summer evening and everyone is hanging out and enjoying life, it's great.
I couldn't agree more. Plus it is relatively affordable and the drive is easy. I'm also a fan of unfussy food and there are a ton of good places to eat. It is going to be part of our regular rotation.
I would love to see what you think about Philadelphia. Let me know if you come visit during your tour of the US!
I had a great recent trip to Philadelphia. Really nice neighborhood vibes all around the city, remarkable history that was fun to explore, and I found people to be friendly and pleasant. But the huge number of homeless people was a tough reality, as using public transportation was a challenge at times. What are some hidden gems that we should see next time?
Thank you Chris! I really enjoy your writings and look forward to the article on Faith in Uganda. I just finished Tom Holland’s ‘Dominon’ and he touched on Christianity in Africa and I’m fascinated.
I enjoyed the Kampala and Nairobi essays. As mentioned before, my parents grew up and lived in Kampala, before leaving for the UK for university and a better life.
I’m a western tourist who visits the upmarket enclaves in the few visits I’ve made. Seeing your writings on the parts I haven’t visited is enlightening.
Your picture of the boy overlooking the golf course brings back a memory for me of walking to the city centre from muyenga district.
My cousin and I were accompanied by an English friend. The fact we walked to the city centre, as well as our muzungu friend led to one comment from a local of "We saw you walking, you guys are crazy, why did you walk!?"
There's a thought here. The idea that a better life is one that gives more options.
Not one that dictates that you shun all the old options.
You choose to walk from Muyenga to CBD yet you could afford to drive or be driven.
So that even overtourism is perhaps a result of people moving one level up economically but not enough levels to have all the options.
That one can only afford to be in, say France once so they go to the obvious much heralded places and take IG'ble photos.
Because if they had the budget to stay there longer, or visit multiple times they'd make more interesting choices.
And yet even economics is not sufficient to broaden the options, the essay seems to suggest. Community, spirituality, education, etc have to inform so that other options are not snuffed out as 'progress' happens.
Because as money broadens the options, ignorance and unawareness of the other nuances may narrow them.
Like the individual with more money but not more awareness, eating increasingly greater amounts of food with limited activity/movement then endangering their health.
Or the society that's got a lot of money but not enough appreciation of community so it builds it out of its infrastructure.
This was a great read Chris. I’m on a trip right now that does not mirror my normal trips; way less deadlines and places I need to be at certain times. The pace of the west coast is so unfamiliar to me that a week is not nearly long enough to settle into the status quo out here, but it has felt unbelievably refreshing, uncomfy, and rejuvenating being able to relinquish control to friends I trust and taking what comes with each day.