Read a really interesting article this afternoon, written by a fellow blogger on “Travel vs Tourism – A sad story of how little we know” Do read it. It makes you think again – why are we doing this?
When G and I started our travels in Europe, the whole ‘Why you travel’ thing became a bit more apparent. It really is meaningless to go to Notre Dame if the whole point was just so you can post it on Facebook so all your 500 friends can “like it”. I remember going to the Louvre and got so bored after half an hour because I had no idea what I was looking at. We were too cheap to buy the audio-guide, haha. I guess my best memories were meeting M’s family in Massy and S’s family in Lyon and Haute-Rivoire. I guess that’s why I really enjoy going to countries where I actually know someone, so you can see where they grew up and how they become this amazing person that they are today. Of course every now and then, you travel to ‘get away’ with your loved one. To sit in a random cafe on the sidewalks of Paris and people-watch. To get lost in translation in another city where nobody knows you. Ah, the joys of travelling. I guess that’s why we’re here in Dubai, isn’t it 🙂
I guess you shouldn’t go somewhere just because it’s famous… I mean if you have no interest in art you would find the Louvre boring (it is a nice building though!). To take an extreme example, I don’t see the big deal in elevator rides so I wouldn’t go to climb Eiffel tower or even go on the London eye (which is basically a circular elevator…).
That said, you can go to the Louvre without knowing much but when you leave it makes you interested in art!
Maybe it’s a combination of curiosity, interest and open mindedness that makes travel interesting for me. It opens possibilities for you to change/grow because your surroundings are so different to what you’re used to.
Hehe I agree. It was still a really wow moment to see the Louvre ay. It’s like all these years reading about it, watching it in movies and now here it is, ta-da!
I think one thing I learned was, spend a bit more money (to get guide books, to join tours), so that it makes what you’re looking at a bit more meaningful ay. Sometimes, we were just doing it budget-style or cf-style haha. Where we had wifi at least we could google for background stories lol! Really loved the free tours though, cause it provide all the history of the city and then you just tip the guy at the end.
I like what you say, that it’s a combination of curiosity, interest and open mindedness ay. Sometimes travel also makes you realize how fortunate you already are, when you see poverty, homeless people, etc, and makes you appreciate what you have a lot lot more.