What travel can be

A key component of travel has traditionally been about making discoveries by taking chances to explore what is unknown. There is an inherent contradiction in travel and discovery in the internet age. Information, and misinformation, is widely available to anyone with a network connection. The internet exists as somewhat of a threat to the state of adventure and discovery. It also is a threat to truthful representations of things. Yes the web can help one research somewhere and get a baseline to visit those places. But the moment information about a place is fed to the internet, that place becomes in danger of becoming overrun.

I argue that the modern tendency to share and post on the internet should seriously be reconsidered when one is out adventuring about. This is because, for many of us, what makes an experience special is a sense of pioneering a visit to that place that is unspoiled. Venturing out is a roll of the dice in that safety or a positive experience is never guaranteed. But I think the aspect of the unknown and the potential for discovery is the greatest draw to travel. When one rolls the dice in an adventure, the motivation is the prospect of achieving an amazing experience. These things cannot be had by only visiting "safe" places in safe ways covered on the internet. If safety is seemingly promised there are guaranteed to be exponentially increasing numbers of people going to those spots.

Did you travel all that way for this?

There are different types of travelers but the type I am speaking to here does not want to go where everyone else is. I argue that going where the air conditioning and cold beer is guaranteed should be more of an occasional luxury to be injected into one's adventure, if at all. I believe many people more or less detest a tourist trap. Tourism-related development happens fast and changes a place and its people. There is a curve that exists that gradually ramps up and transforms a place from rustic, innocent outpost to a tacky tourist haven full of touts. These places import aspects of the tourist's culture to make visitors feel more bland, spendy and flat.

These imported cultures that come with tourism could be compared to an invasive species of plant brought from a foreign land. This plant does not belong rooted in this place. With it's tie to money and interloping culture this plant may start to choke out the local culture (the "native plants"). This robs visitors as well as locals of the chance of showcasing the authentic flavor of a place. Additionally, the friendly, honest culture previously present becomes infused with an aggressively-hustling opportunist mentality, which by definition cannot be honest. Once this happens it is exceedingly rare that the local culture will ever return. New societal norms take root in these places. In time, through generations, what was previously present is forgotten. And my experience is that the wealth that accrues through tourist development does not trickle down but goes mostly to the pockets of the minority of already wealthy and powerful locals.

A distortion of traditional basketry

Part of the above-mentioned tourist development curve is that "information" online about a place is often outdated, distorted and inaccurate. So the seeming security of knowing what to expect is often a mirage. Is a government, travel agency or SEO company going provide an update that would be undesirable for their tourist target that year? Not likely. Just take a look at google images of a place. The plastic bottles bobbing in the river, the sunburned sexpats or the glue huffing locals are not featured. Additionally, internet content is often not updated once it is posted so what one reads about is never 100% accurate. Additionally, once a place lands in the travel section of a major publication it is often too late to visit it. A renovation has already taken place. The gates have been opened to the flood of tourists.

The wonder that local flavor can be

I illustrate all this in order to provide an honest assessment of travel which is not addressed, and to provide encouragement for people to travel more bravely, with less of a footprint. This means, ironically, often withholding exact specifics about a location, which would spoil it. This goes against the norms and business models of online platform culture, where specifics are exactly what are sought. But this shift is necessary as with the internet, the world is getting smaller by the day. Although people seek specifics about their planned destination in order to provide some sense of safety and security, this alternative approach offers the hidden benefit of preserving discovery and adventure. And, within reason, I have not experienced the world to be the scary places it often represented as. Even with huge cultural barriers, such as language, religion, economy, government or gender roles, people are people wherever you go. For the most part they want to live and let live. In the majority of cases, no matter how much different you look or sound, people see that like them, you are just another human being.

Give the corporate supermarket a rest and visit Habeebmart instead

For example... I currently am sitting at a spot in Indonesia, a country I have wanted to visit for over thirty years. Due to the popularity and costs of Bali, I sensed it was not going to work for me. I took the chance of launching out to another, much less developed Island that is steeped in strict religious order, culturally and legally. In doing this I was afraid of what might be waiting for me. Online there was a lot of fear mongering and discouragement of visiting the spot. But I took the leap. What I discovered was a beautiful land of exceedingly kind and polite people, good food, pristine nature and uncrowded or lesser developed beaches. Here I am not harangued and hustled the way tourists are in hot spots along the beaten path. Prices are relatively low. The food is authentic local stuff, not overpriced, fabricated attempts at mimicking western fare. But most notable is the wonderful, open and honest ways of the people about despite my contrasting Western-ness. A visit to a developed tourist environment doesn't have a sliver of the benefits that this place does. I think the fear about this spot keeps the stream of foreign visitors to a relative trickle. So in taking my chance and rolling the dice, this time I have been rewarded.

Homogenized milk, although "safe" through its boiling, lacks the original flavors, enzymes and goodness originally present in it. A trip along the heavily-trodden tourist path similarly robs the visitor of the rich experience that travel can be. Now-a-days that experience is more vulnerable to change than ever. So I encourage you all to take the leap. And if you find such a place, consider speaking only cryptically about it online, if at all. This will be a stretch for many of you but please consider this. By doing this you preserve a place's secrets for those souls that also take the leap. And by doing this you increase these folk's chances of having the same full-flavored adventure that you did.

Destinations should give you chills, naturally