You’ve likely spent the past few months or so having your Instagram feed bombarded by snaps of happy, tanned and perfectly toned girls abroad, lounging beside expansive infinity pools in 5 star hotels and sipping on cocktails whilst decked out in designer bikinis. Such page owners market themselves as travellers, hitting up one exotic location after the other and kindly taking the less fortunate of us along with them by sharing their adventures and inspirational tips in the comments section.
They may not be at home, but, in my opinion, this is not travel. This is tourism and the ultimate commodification. Besides the fact these twenty-somethings often have relationships with the hotels they stay at, helping to promote them within the commercial sector, it is not often you see these ‘travellers’ venturing beyond the resort’s private beaches and restaurants which are remarkably indistinguishable from each other.
I’ve been fortunate enough to stay at some beautiful hotels with my family, often bearing no relation to the country we’re staying in other than the local staff and a few touches of cultural architecture, but I have also done the £15 per night hostel circuit with backpack in tow.
Whilst I relish the luxury experienced in the former, there is nothing like the feeling of being a traveller, exploring an unknown place with just a crumpled map in hand, haggling with the locals for their products, enquiring about the best dishes to sample, fumbling with foreign coins and stumbling upon undocumented gems that provide memories to last a lifetime.
The minute you grab a ticket to a hop-on hop-off bus or buy into a big company’s impersonal attraction trail, you become a tourist, allowing your adventure to be constructed by someone else’s opinions of what there is to see in your chosen spot. Whilst their views may be valid (and this can be a useful tool if you have limited time available) you sacrifice your independence to travel and explore, instead allowing yourself to become just another tourist passing through, learning little more than you can find in any standard guide book.
If you’re not one of the fortunate Instagrammers I’ve mentioned above, your time for travel is short. Delve into your chosen country, make your own memories without letting them be dictated by the men in suits, satisfy your thirst for wanderlust and please, above all, stay away from the ‘Full English’ breakfasts. They’ll still be here when you get back home.
Edited by: Tia Ralhan
Sources:
http://www.tvtmvirginie.com/sjanelise/
https://www.flipkey.com/blog/2016/02/22/solo-travel-tips-from-seasoned-travel-bloggers/