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So boo-hoo, more people have the chance to see places and it ruins it for the elites? Sorry, I can't get mad about that. Yes, overtourism sucks, but I don't think the answer is for only certain people to be lucky enough to see the world.
And we can't have it both ways. We can't complain about overtourism and also complain that {insert nationality of choice} never travels to other places. Talk about a double-edged sword of smugness-- "we're better than you because we actually travel" and "we're better than you because you're the unwashed masses contributing to overtourism."
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Originally Posted by evening sun
I love planning, to me, it is part of the fun of a vacation. Plus if we travel a long way to a new place, I want to know what is there before I go.
Me too... because I've gone places without doing my research and then when I get home, learn later about things I missed. Painful.
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Originally Posted by hertfordshire
Dread? Really? I'm so excited about the stuff I've booked so far that I can't stand it. Certainly at the far opposite end of the spectrum from dread. LOL
Yup. I get excited about the stuff I want to see. It would only feel like a chore if I were forced to waste my time visiting places I didn't care about (why I like to travel alone) or felt obligated to see certain things rather than wanting to. Sure, it can feel like a lot to do, trying to pack everything in, but that's overshadowed by far by the joy of seeing and learning and experiencing new things, and knowing I do not have to regret missing things I wanted to do/see any more than necessary.
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Originally Posted by elnina
Advanced planning is for your convenience and comfort. Don't like it? Just have passport, buy ticket, take your money and go.
You can plan your next step as you go. Very spontaneous. Have done that many times.
I don't do groups, guided tours, touristy hotels or food. I plan my own trip, do what I want and when I want. That's fun. Being rushed with the group and follow the herd isn't my idea of traveling.
Yes, this is why I don't like tours. I always felt like I was taken to a place, given just enough time to take pictures, and then shuffled out... no time to really see the place. Yeah, you can pack a lot in that way, but you don't feel like you really saw it.
I rather love planning trips for myself and my spouse--advanced planning removes a lot of the anxiety about transportation and lodging, and it provides a framework so you can think about more specific stops and activities. I don't like to plan everything, though--it's fun to have some mornings, afternoons, or entire days left to wandering around and experiencing the joys of serendipity.
When I was a kid I wanted to travel, but we didn't get to do much of it. Now, in my adult life, I travel quite a bit. Some places seem to be experiencing tourist overloads, so we tend to pick places that are a little (or a lot) less popular and trendy--it works out just fine.
1.4 billion tourist arrivals per year & growing at 6% over previous year! (I'm old enough to remember when that was half the population of the entire planet.)
This is why I have a ban now on in-season travel to well-known tourist meccas. The places I haven't been, or passed through too quickly, I'll visit in the off-season: late autumn through early spring for northern hemisphere cooler spots. Or try to "discover" locations not dead center in the typical tourist's bulls-eye: Slovenia or Alentejo for example, or the coastlines of Montenegro & Albania.
Almost 9 years ago on a family visit to Italy we skipped the Colosseum & the Sistine Chapel due to the huge lines, the Uffizi Gallery suggestion on a stroll required an advance online reservation to enter, no openings until after we left. 4 years ago a relative in Ireland suggested a visit to Newgrange & on our late a.m. arrival we were told we could buy a ticket for an entrance 5 hours later. And so on.
The sound of central city Europe to me now in summer is the sound of unceasing rollaboard luggage wheels going up & down streets.
Yes! I’m so glad we went to Europe and other places before travel became so easily obtained for so many. It was much less crowded in those days.
We are going to Spain in March and I was just looking at flights. No problem at all getting either the Seattle-London leg or the London-Madrid. But we are using dollars not points.
Airlines limit the number of frequent flyer seats they make available on flights. We normally fly to Europe on Saturday morning flights from Boston to Heathrow in the shoulder months. They sell out. AirBnB in desirable locations is the same way. If you want superhost and high ratings, they’re usually gone within 6 to 9 months before the trip.
Other things are best waiting until right before the trip. Prepaid hotel deals at Heathrow open up. Domestically, Priceline deals open up.
Tourists are all going the same place. Go someplace else. Don't plan anything. Nothing's been spoiled off the beaten track.
I had mo trouble walking off the street in July finding a nice hostel bunk in Chisinau, Odessa, Batumi, Tbilisi, Yerevan. I have no doubt that every hotel had plenty of same-day vacancies.
Yes, this is why I don't like tours. I always felt like I was taken to a place, given just enough time to take pictures, and then shuffled out... no time to really see the place. Yeah, you can pack a lot in that way, but you don't feel like you really saw it.
But... some people have certain places on theit "bucket list" and they don't really care about absorbing anything about them. They want to visit 10 towns in 7 countries in 7 days. Take pictures, eat at McD (because its familiar) and go back home to tell everyone that they went overseas and checked out another bunch of countries off their list.
The best way to do that is by taking rush tours, get stuffed in tour busses with guides that spill the info in a record time kinda like: to your right is this, and to your left is that, take a hasty picture, stop for a quick bite and keep going. Highly stressful.
I met a lot of those "globetrotters": tags dangling on their necks, a wild look on their faces, following a herd of others like them, and no time to explore anything.
Met a group of tourists in Louvre that had just 30 minutes to spend there...
So boo-hoo, more people have the chance to see places and it ruins it for the elites? Sorry, I can't get mad about that. Yes, overtourism sucks, but I don't think the answer is for only certain people to be lucky enough to see the world.
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LOL.... what a total misunderstanding of the subject we're discussing. It sounds like you want to turn this into a domestic politics class issue when we are discussing strategies to deal with over touristed places. I doubt that there are many "elites" posting here & neither are they the 1 billion plus tourists. The elites are in their private jets & walled off resorts.
For me, the advanced planning is part of the fun of a vacation. I'm going to Europe in May, and my planning started months ago. I don't do spontaneous. Too much anxiety for me.
I'd rather pre-plan from the comfort of my sofa and have everything reserved rather than wait in a four hour line.
Last year (February) , I combined planning and spontaneity. I booked flights to Florida a couple months in advance by picking the cheapest flights with the very best schedule (travelling with younger kids means you NEED those flights to take place at certain times, hopefully nonstop!).
We found tix to Jacksonville for really cheap, so that's where we went. I had booked a room for two nights in Jacksonville as soon as I bought the flight tix, because we knew the Jacksonville Zoo is really good.
After that, we went according to the weather. Once it became clear that temps later in the week were going to drop a little bit, we booked a room at the Plaza in Daytona Beach, 100 miles south of Jacksonville. If temps had been high, we probably would have ventured up to the Jekyll Island area.
(Then we finished with a trip over to Wakulla Springs for a couple days).
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