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?
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.
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?
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| 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
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.