Hello Steemians!! i wrote an article for my internship at https://vaolo.com/en/ and i was pround so i share it with you! Tell me what you thought! :)
The crush
Traveling is a love story in itself. Most love stories start at first glance: our eyes admire outdoor beauty first. Same thing for the trip, you start by randomly stumbling on a photo / video of a beautiful place on the planet. Whether through a Facebook post, an Instagram photo, a Snapchat story or a Pinterest album, the most beautiful places in the world are represented in abundance in our social networks. We are constantly just a few clicks away from a new adventure.
The date
You are browsing your favorite travel information websites and start to imagine your itinerary. You will be amazed for weeks but seeing the place of your dreams behind your computer screen is not satisfactory. You can’t just “Swipe left” and forget that such a wonderful landscape really exists and that you could witness that beauty in person. Then, one day, you switch from dream to reality: you take a ticket to your favorite new destination. After months of preparation, you are finally standing in front of it, admiring it, the valley, the beach, the historic site that you had already seen hundreds of times in your Google search and in your dreams.
The reality
Then, you quickly realize that pictures are not always a good representation of the reality. You already knew that your destination was frequented by many travelers, but the setting that draws before you is far away from the Instagram posts you saw before you left. As soon as you turn your head, you see permanent traces left by other tourists. The pretty picture engraved in your memory was probably modified by Photoshop to erase the huge amount of waste and hundreds of tourists gathering in the same crowded spot. Reality strikes immediately: the little piece of paradise you once dreamed of is now disfigured by thousands of tourists who came for the same thing as you: a unique experience.
Broken heart
Just like many popular tourist destinations, yours has undergone some transformations to meet the expectations of a growing number of visitors. Those changes disturb you: warning signs for tourists should not be found inside this place of worship and these shops are clearly dedicated to tourists, therefore nothing is authentic. You are disillusioned, what you see ignites many reflections and you do not want to be a part of this huge tourist pool. You fell in love with a postcard image, just like hundreds of other travelers and that’s normal. Seeing the photos of Machu Picchu, the ruins of Angkor, the Egyptian tombs and the Mediterranean can only lead to a crush. The most touristic sites in the world are affected by mass tourism, because we fall in love with an image, a captured landscape at a specific time and we want to see it with our own eyes, experience the best of it right here, right now. But it is time to realize our common ‘’love’’ for the most beautiful places on the planet could finally lead to their loss.
The unexpected
You have planned your trip around this attraction that everyone is talking about, you have taken beautiful pictures despite the incommoding tourists which you have not managed to avoid when taking photos as they appear in the corners. This was not the most satisfying moment. Contrary to your expectations, when remembering about your journey, the images that come to your mind do not concern what was initially the reason why you left home. You miss your new friends, those people you’ve met who have added smiles to your journey, the unique experiences and the crazy moments to your trip. You think about this typical meal that you had the chance to eat at a local’s table when you slept in a family homestay. You smile when you hear a song that played continuously in the public transport there. You officially fell in love with a country, a city, a community and all the kind people who crossed your path. You thought you were going to fill your social networks with pictures starring yourself in breathtaking landscapes, but you have mostly filled your brain with incredible memories, cultural exchanges and unforgettable moments at the heart of humanity.
Falling in love… for real
In 2018, let’s stop falling in love with the destinations already affected by mass tourism and let’s open our hearts to the unknown. We learn from our mistakes and know that reality is never too close from the photos shared on our social networks. The purpose is not to create new tourist sites and to make them suffer the same fate, but to travel better, to deconcentrate tourism and to benefit host communities. When we visit a friend, we remove our shoes at the entrance, we help him clean before leaving and we thank him for his welcome. We simply must learn to do so as travelers and as guests abroad. Give yourself a chance to fall in love with new destinations, take the time to truly discover a country and its people, learn to respect their culture, traditions and territory. Develop new travel habits and ask yourself about the impact of your visit because love is, above all, respect.
credit for the collages: Eugenia Loli and Ayham Jabr