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Mis-use/Over-use of the Word 'Adventure'

If you spend any time surfing the travel blogo/vlogosphere on the internet, you will notice the frequent use of the word 'adventure.' Too frequent, I am afraid.

Do these people think they are the equivalent of, say, Ferdinand Magellan, as he probed for a route around the southern tip of South America?

from Stratfor

The modern 'adventurer' travels in bourgeois comfort, luxury, and security, to a degree unimaginable to travelers of 50 years ago. They use the internet to spoonfeed 'how to' advice to newbies on the tiniest challenges of travel.

Soon the newbie has found a (linkbait oriented) website that tells them where to camp, how many solar panels they need, and how and where to poop. On and on it goes.

And yet, they keep using the word 'adventure' to describe what they are doing. 

Of course some of the blabbermouths on the internet are not doing it for linkbait income. They genuinely believe they are being nice guys in helping other people out. It never occurred to them that in making things easy for others, that they are destroying what is valuable in the experience.

They haven't had the experience of finding (!) a secluded campsite with geographical advantages so big that you fall in love with it, and then coming back next year to find that the site has been 'discovered' -- by the masses.

They simply aren't seeing what is happening to their 'adventure.' It isn't a lifestyle experiment anymore -- it has become a formula, a template. There is no more drama, no more agony and ecstasy, t0 it. It isn't about experiencing something surprising, wonderful, or appalling. It has been dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, to make it comfortable and easy for the most timid and unadventuresome traveler.

The adventurer has become a tourist,  consuming a standardized product.

Comments

Anonymous said…
When I first travelled to western Canada in my van back in the preinternet early nineties I had no clue where I was going and mostly discovered backcountry campsites with the help of bare bone backroad maps available at the tourist info office. Now everything is on google maps at the click of a button on any smart phone within the reach of the nearest cell tower! I also had to read books for inspiration such as "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat Moon.
Anonymoua, I can relate to your experience. Have you noticed that when you start to talk to a younger RVer, they run to their phone in seconds to look something up, or they refer to something they looked up yesterday?
William said…
I only use the word adventure when I leave my parking site and drive around in my tow vehicle. I use the word exploring when I want to see what is around the bend or over the hill, not necessarily an enjoyable experience.

Currently I am sitting in a "RV resort" surrounded by "snowbirds". While I enjoy seeing my fellow residents enjoying themselves living a city-type life, I have the urge to flee. I would rather stay home then spend the winter crammed together like they are doing (I live in a rural area). But, I am glad they are not desiring to spread across the public lands I like to park in. It is getting hard enough to find a spot in public campgrounds that I prefer as a secondary location.

I guess we need a recession or a drastic increase in oil prices to get people to stay home. Or, perhaps I need to stay home!

I keep seeing articles that the same is happening to the world's tourist spots: too many tourists.



William, yes indeed, we are long overdue for a recession that would force people to sell all their boats, RVs, UTVs and ATVs, etc. Or at least stay home, rather than using them.
Anonymous said…
Most people who own all that crap are just a couple of pay check's short of going bankrupt anyway.