rockaway babylon

an option on a new way to travel

There are a number of things broken with tourism at the moment; an everlasting colonialist slant on exoticism and fiction, the want/need to knock off “lists” of “places to see” that come from Victorian age grand tour mentality (I am thinking the Eiffel tower, the great wall of China, things listed on lists and labeled “a wonder of the world” or a certain kind of “world heritage site”), the instagramable flavor of a vacation sometimes eclipsing the actual lived experiences, wonderfully expressed in films like “Triangle of Sadness”.   

And then there are travel seasons.  The idea that a place is monochromatic and only worth seeing through one lens.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Paris in the Spring, the Rocky’s in the winter, New York in the autumn, these places shine in those moments. But I also love Paris in winter, just for different reasons, and to be sold to some sort of simplistic ideal, as if I can only hold one thought at a time is, well, somewhat offensive.  

This year I spent a few months in various regions across the globe known for historically short “seasons”;  Ireland and Mongolia, both limited to summer due to an idea of weather, which itself is changing at a rate unseen in human history.  

I set up a research trip in November this year and heard, from many, the same expression of surprise over and over; “You are going to Ireland in November?”  November turns out to be the best kept secret in Irish weather. There must have been over 50 rainbows, the side light from the horizontal sun makes for water-color looks, it was stunning and gorgeous and the winter has yet to set. The sun goes down at 5pm, yes, but it does the same in Toronto, and it is 5 degrees warmer in Ireland.  The summer season businesses are all shut so one must keep that in mind, but it is like being at the actors party after a broadway show, an immediate, can’t-help-but-have honest interaction, the show is over and the real life day to day is omnipresent, unavoidable because it is all there is.  I can’t help but think of that thing we all lust for in travel these days, “authentic local experience”.  If you want authentic local experience on the Atlantic coast of Ireland you should go in November, it is a temporal backstage pass.   

This is the part wherein the magic exists.  A place ‘is’ because of an alchemy of geography, geology, and humanity.  When I say humanity I mean all the best parts (there are bad parts for sure), love, community, pack living.  

There are simmerings, in various corners of the tourism industry, ideas of a reinvention on why we travel, a new source for a goal, a way to replace the Eiffel and the Wall with something else.  Places are becoming too overcrowded, too overpriced, and people are being treated too simply.  Yolanda Edwards and her team at YOLO show a wonderful alternative with things like their new take on the list with the fictionalized Costa Meno:  “The Costa Meno isn’t a real place, although we wish it was. Imagine if there was a vacationland where every place to stay was high on charm, low on cost.”  

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we let curiosity and imagination drive us to place; particular interest, rather than a prescribed.   

Years ago I learned to surf.  Let me be clear, I am no surfer. I love it. I love the cliches that come with it, and they come honestly, but I am a horrible surfer, ungraceful, like some sort of diseased drunk goose trying to dance on jelly.  But that is beside the point of it.  I love the way surfing draws me to places I would never go without the excuse of surfing, it is a tool, it pulls me to places not on the lists, and it feels secret, it feels like treasure sought and found.  

In my work in travel and research I have found this can be felt through any curiosity, it is a tool, a secret weapon. Museums in Central Asia as a reason for a trip, holy wells as a frame to hold a journey on.  Curiosity is immune to seasonality in the industry of tourism, it is individual, and it helps rid ourselves of overcrowding some over-photographed sites in July on the Amalfi Coast.  

I think about tailored clothing as an apt analogy (I am not the first, the moniker Bespoke is evidence of that), a navy blazer, yes, works with navy matching slacks, but also works well with old denim, or even with board shorts if done well.  This is to say the reason is not binary with place.  Lisbon comes in different moods, and to love it in January can be just as rewarding as loving it in June.  

Here is to more off-season travel in the far flung corners of the globe, we need to be more imaginative and creative in our reasons to experience place.