https://youtu.be/C0kg4BMpwEs
Are you a travel snob? Let's discuss travel elitism and shade
>Real travelers don't go on cruises. They backpack through South East Asia for 9 month
Wow. Real travelers is even a thing with normies
There is no such thing as a "Real Traveller" as travelling is a different experience for everybody and everybody gets something different out of it.
Having done package holidays, Villa rentals, city breaks and backpacking I can say that for me, nothing even comes close to the authenticity, the raw experience of backpacking, how can you really get a taste for a culture when you're surrounded by tour guides and 100+ German OAP's clad head to toe in Berghaus and North Face jackets being shows some pre-fabricated monument that features on the cover of every travel book in the region?
For me it's about just being in the culture, especially places like Cambodia, hanging out on the beaches, helping fishermen pull their boats in, going camping on Koh Rong or just chilling out in Pattaya on the sidewalk with a kebab and watching people go by on their daily shit was liberating as fuck.
I've never understood why you would pay £££ so you can fly to Spain, lie on a beach and talk to other Brits and drink British beer and listen to British music in a British styled hotel run by Brits, you didn't pay for a holiday you just paid for the sun to come out for a few hours each day.
I had the "real traveler" discussion with a friend. She is a rich girl, who's been a lot of places and her mindset is like thisVV
>I can say that for me, nothing even comes close to the authenticity, the raw experience of backpacking, how can you really get a taste for a culture etc etc...
Now I will certainly agree that going it independently, exploring on your own, etc are all better than packaged tours and stuff, but the idea of being a "real traveler" is still just a snooty privileged clueless person mindset.
For one, if you are traveling a country(ies) for leisure, you are in an incredibly privileged position in the first place, money wise.
They do their little backpacking experience, and then feel so smug and good about themselves, when really, it doesn't amount to jack in terms of authenticity, *because you get to leave.* You want the "authenticity, the raw experience?" Fucking live in that Cambodian village.
I went to the Philippines with my buddy from Nigeria once, and I proposed we do all the standard bumming it stuff. He wasn't having it, his reason being that he lived in poverty for the first 18 years of his life and he wasn't going to pretend he was poor for a few days just have an "authentic experience." While we didn't do any tours or anything we did stay in a decent hotel. I couldn't argue with him.
If you're such a privileged little shit that you need to "play poor" for a few days to try to feel good about yourself or that you've got some kind of "cred" you're ridiculous.
I don't want anyone to get me wrong, as I said, I think backpacking and bumming it and stuff are better, but you can't feel superior or like you've got some kind of cred for doing it.
>>1040244
Your entire post just scream elitist, honestly you sound like the most judgemental guy I've seen in some time, I like to bum around villages and shit yeah, why? Because that's the real people of the country, not the polished hotel staff you and your Nigerian friend met, it's not 'playing poor' if you're in a poor country, and frankly it's usually the poorer countries that interest me more because they generally have less Infastructure and are more of a challenge, I'm mid-way through aneurpean backpacking trip at the moment, and while I am enjoying it, it doesn't come close to Asia, not at all.
>>1040254
You clearly didn't read what I wrote carefully. There is nothing wrong with bumming around villages. I didn't say there is.
>>1040254
>it's not 'playing poor' if you're in a poor country, and frankly it's usually the poorer countries that interest me more because they generally have less Infastructure and are more of a challenge
Lol, this is exactly what I'm talking about.
It's playing poor because you are NOT POOR are you that dense? You're just doing it for a few days or weeks before you get to go back to your comfortable home life and feel smug and fulfilled about your experience.
Dude.
>>1040255
>If you're such a privileged little shit that you need to "play poor" for a few days to try to feel good about yourself or that you've got some kind of "cred" you're ridiculous.
That's what I saw, that's what your wrote.
>>1040256
>Not allowed to travel to somewhere poor if you are poor.
But Cambodia is a poor country, you literally have to TRY to go and stay somewhere that's affluent, you saying I'm not allowed to stay in guess houses or hostels that are in poor areas? I don't give a shit about how much money they have, I'm there for the scenery, the food and the culture.
It sounds like I'm arguing with some people who have only ever been abroad with their families and are just getting upset because they've never really felt like they've had much of an experience.
>>1040256
This is the snobbiest post I have ever seen on /trv/
>>1040258
>Not allowed to travel to somewhere poor if you are poor.
I didn't say that.
The only person I have a problem with is a irst world person going somewhere poor for a while and thinking they had an "authentic experience" and feeling smug about that.
That's it.
It's a pretty specific kind of person.
Travel snobs are awful, because they feel superior like they "roughed it" and had "the real experience" when at the end of the day they get to leave that hut, mud floor, whatever and eventually go back to their comfortable daily life.
The authentic experience is living in a place.
This is NOT to say don't travel if you're not going to live there, just don't think you had an "authentic experience" *anywhere* unless you've actually lived there. And do not feel smug and superior about it.
>>1040228
>There is no such thing as a "Real Traveller"
>I've never understood why you would pay £££ so you can fly to Spain, lie on a beach and talk to other Brits and drink British beer and listen to British music in a British styled hotel run by Brits, you didn't pay for a holiday you just paid for the sun to come out for a few hours each day.
gr8 b8 m8
>>1040244
>>1040260
You know, I actually kind of agree with this post.
I lived in New Delhi for a while, working in tourism and occasionally doing articles for a national magazine. I didn't have a whole lot of money in the bank, and I wasn't earning a lot, either. I don't think my financial situation has been that desperate since I was an unemployed high school student.
But the thing is, no matter what kind of perspective I think I got, I'll never pretend that I "understand" what it's like to be a poor Indian. No matter what kinds of friends I made or what cheap food I was eating, I had an American passport. I always knew that, if I got into an emergency, my family or the embassy could help me out. While I was genuinely poor at the time, I had lifetime access to a first-world country full of resources and more opportunity than an impoverished South Asian can likely imagine.
And I honestly think this is a very important point to remember. When we're in impoverished countries, even on a very tight budget, we still have a passport from a European country or the United States or Canada or Australia or wherever. Even if we're hardly middle-class back home, bear in mind that a black guy in the ghetto on welfare can afford more luxury in some ways than a middle-class person wherever we may be.
Traveling can definitely change a person's perspective and point of view, but I definitely agree that it's very snobbish to think that, by being on a budget or staying exclusively with locals, you are being granted full and unprivileged access into a new world.
You are definitely learning, but you don't know what it's like to be them.
I lived in India for close to two years and I don't know what it's like to be trapped there and unable to even get a passport. I always knew that if I was fucked, I could probably just get a loan for a ticket from my bank. They don't have that opportunity.
>>1040264
I agree with what he's saying, too.
>>1040270
Thank you for understanding my point. I think it is valid. I will try to break it down in less wordy terms.
Again, I did NOT say bumming in villages, etc. is not okay. It's fine. The only people I'm attacking are first worlders who go to some poor or gritty place for a few days or weeks, "rough it" then *go back to their first world everyday life* and act like they had this big "authentic experience" and act superior about it.
Go the village, stay among the locals, absorb things and learn something, but understand that it is not an authentic experience at the end of the day and that you shouldn't feel superior or like you've got some kind of "cred." You get to leave, and you will.
>>1040266
It's funny to read this as an American. No one travels to Asia here, I know maybe two people that have ever been to SE Asia. Our "real travelers" go to Europe.
>>1040295
>Our "real travelers" go to Europe.
If you're on the east coast of the US, yes
If you're on the west coast, "real travelers" go to Mexico or Central America
>>1040266
I'm nt going to attack you, but I might mount a minor assault on the concept of "travel light."
There is n o One True Way to travel - and no one set of goals for travel that everybody is trying to achieve. If somebody gets what they want out of their travels, they are Doing It Right.
>>1040295
>Our "real travelers" go to Europe.
Much culture tbh
I don't see the appeal of visiting some village in a third world shithole
I've never been outside western Europe and I've always stayed in a hotel so I guess I'm not a 'real traveller'.
Literally all sides of this argument come out sounding snobby and elitist
Just do shit you want who cares
The only winning move is not to play
smfh. When you go out the hotel everyone will probably think you're some celebrity because the hotel you're gonna be staying at will probably be a hotel next to the crack-head's apartment. So eh enjoy the okay time there
>>1040228
>I've never understood why you would pay £££ so you can fly to Spain
A flight to Asia by itself costs more than a cheap holiday in Magaluf
Did an of you actually watch the video, because many of you are exactly what she's describing?
>>1040954
this board wouldn't exist without what she's talking about
embrace it, who gives a fuck. you're on /trv/ posting with other travelers.
I throw shade like a motherfucker
favorite thing to do is hearing someone tell me gladly theyve been to like 15-30 countries and proceed to shut them down.
met a kid recently who went to sikkim
so I told him all about my trips through assam, meghalaya, nepal and tibet just to watch the blood drain out of his face
>>1040228
>I've never understood why you would pay £££ so you can fly to Spain, lie on a beach and talk to other Brits and drink British beer and listen to British music in a British styled hotel run by Brits, you didn't pay for a holiday you just paid for the sun to come out for a few hours each day.
So what? There is nothing wrong with it. In case you haven't noticed or if you're not from the UK the weather is total shit 90 percent of the time.
>>1041271
You sound like a douche. Not even elitist... Just a douche
>>1041271
Topkek! Clearly somebody didn't find enlightenment on HIS India trip!
>>1041295
whats so wrong with being a douche?
I mean, people won't like him for it, but that's his problem.
also whats wrong with rich snooty people? Yeah they've lived a life of luxury and feel fullfilled just by visiting somewhere dirty. whatever get over it. be their friend and let them buy you drinks while they self affirm themselves by telling you stories.
>>1041481
You know, it's not a bad point. Except it's also peoples problem when they have to be around him. So at the end of the day, it probably affects him the most. Doesn't mean everyone else deserves any of his crap, though
>>1041295
its all about the tone
sure, its a douchebag thing to do, but the tone of your voice can temper the douchiness and inspire awe instead
I see a lot of peope for whom seeing every club in town is an authentic experience.
I also see idiots switching location every two days on a tight schedule, who never really see anything except through the lense of a camera.
I like to stay in each place at least a few weeks and live a very simple lifestyle. Meet (some) people. Attempt to get laid. Enjoy reading a lot, lurking, writing. Basically doing what I would in western Europe but while getting to know a faraway country and its people. I think my style is superior to the aforementioned, but I can't blame myself for it. If being a snob means feeling good about not acting like an idiot, call me a snob.
Thank god I havent encountered anyone using "authentic experience" though. I doubt anyone here even knows what they really mean by that.
>>1041528
>I also see idiots switching location every two days on a tight schedule
not everyone gets the kind of time off you do, that doesn't make us idiots. I get 10 days a year of "paid" vacation to see the world, and if I'm spending thousands, I am damn well going to document every piddling minute of it on my camera
pic related is what I did with 5 of my 10 days last year (I took Thursday and Friday off without my boss knowing), the other 5 days I spent in a village in Malaysia celebrating Chinese New Year. I flew Turkish with two 9 hour layovers on each side which I used to visit some of Istanbul's most recognizable sights. Now I consider Istanbul to be visited after spending only 18 hours there.
>>1041559
derp
>>1041559
I'm scared of this happening to me tbh. I'll get a high paying job and I won't have much time off to go traveling the way I dream to.
>>1041271
Yeah you sound like a cock. I've been to roughly 65 countries and do my best to relate my experiences without coming across as an insecure douche.
>>1041559
>Now I consider Istanbul to be visited after spending only 18 hours there.
Checklist fag indeed. Trust me, there is enough of that in your 355 days/year job.
>>1041685
My sympathies -- I remember how hard it was for ME to accept that people liked what I did not like, the first time I encountered it.
>>1040214
I'm more of a travel douche then a snob.
>>1041600
>I've been to roughly 65 countries and do my best to relate my experiences without coming across as an insecure douche.
Mission: Fail
Why did you mention how many countries you've been to? Is that supposed to be a high number? What are you trying to do? Throw shade? Shut me down? Watch the blood drain out of my face? What exactly makes you different than me considering the sentence you just wrote? Hmm?
>>1041271
>you will never be as patrician as this guy
>>1041696
Don't be sorry. Without normies like you there would be no point in being a snob.
>>1041809
0/10
Back to school kiddo.
>>1040256
>>1040260
>It's playing poor because you are NOT POOR
but you're still there, and how many of your so called "privileged" people would actually go and "play" poor in the first place?
>ye I've been to Vietnam and a bunch of other SEA countries!
>stayed in resorts every time
an hero tbh
I'm not saying I'm better than those people but those people aren't traveling, they're just going from one sheltered environment to another. And ye I might pretend to be poor a few weeks a year but it's still a lot more enlightening than leaving the resort only to do some shopping and check out the most mainstream monuments.
Define privileged anyway, I make about €16k a year, that's not even a very privileged life in Europe to be honest. I actually have to "play" poor in the countries I travel to because I'm not financially able to go there otherwise. Unless I save up for 3 years in a row but who the fuck wants to do that.
>>1041943
BTFO
>>1040244
i think 'authentic experience' ranks way way way down the list of reasons to go 'backpacking'
reasons I started backpacking included
-stretching money as far as possible to travel longer
-using a very mobile piece of luggage to allow for extended periods of time in transit on foot or in small vehicles
-riding in trains/buses and staying in hostels/guesthouses allows you to meet locals and other travelers
those are just the main ones I can think of off the top of my head
your friend is a moron
>>1040216
SEA is terrible, even with a shit ton of money it would be unpleasant.
>>1042369
Well, that's like, your Opinion man.
>>1042358
I think you're missing the point of what Anon was saying. He's not telling you that all backpackers are miserable little brats who think they're getting on the same level as impoverished third-worlders. Rather, he's saying that there's a certain demographic of travelers, most of whom are backpackers, who feel that a few weeks or months traveling through the poorer parts of Asia give them a thoroughly enlightened perspective.
I wrote earlier in the thread that I can see where he's coming from. If you've ever spent much time in Thailand or India or wherever, you will meet plenty of these people - they spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on yoga lessons, dress in literal rags, and are all quite obnoxious. They're definitely a minority of backpackers, but they're annoying nevertheless.
Please see: >>1040270, >>1040276
>>1042470
I was just trying to differentiate myself and others like me from people like his friend. I also understand what that anon is saying completely.
>>1040314
i did it .. and stayed there for a Bit ... I was sooo happy to leave and get back to where the Hoes were At ... Village life wasnt for me .. But i met people that like it
1/2
>>1042943
2/2
I will say that this person rather offends me.
>>1042470
So many have missed the point of the entire thread from the beginning. Literally doing exactly what the OP in the video speaks against, unironically at that
>>1040318
That's the issue? Why argue? The shade is thrown by "elite" travelers ( I refuse to say real travelers) who look down on other people for cruises, packaged tours, and resorts. Not to mention those who only travel domestic or not at all. Why?
>>1040256
That's fucking stupid and I legitimately can't tell if you're fucking with us. Do you expect people to become a different fucking person? Of course they're not actually poor, they're not from there. Do you want them to kill themselves and be reborn there so you can't be smug about them enjoying chilling there? Would that make it genuine enough for you?
>>1042945
She looks like she smells
>>1040214
I check out travel vlogs or read your guys' bullshit because I have to live vicariously. The only time I travel is for conferences or to visit the in laws. I would kill to take a cruise or backpack in the SE asshole of Asia. Count yourself lucky and don't get tied down too quickly /trv/
Slice n dice
Cruises are fucking awesome.
>>1045817
That they are
>>1045739
Great clock
>>1040244
I think there's a difference between bumming it for the cred/authenticity and bumming it because you'd rather be a thrifty traveller.
I've only ever travelled on the cheap (backpacked) because it's important for me to travel, but I'm not well-off. I mean, I work my ass off in a really physically demanding seasonal job for 3 months, then I get a month off to travel, and then I rejoin the world of urban routine for the school year. After paying off school tuition with the summer job money, I have a bit left for backpacking (no plane trips though).
tbh though, I've only ever backpacked in Canada. So I'm not any more privileged here than is the average person. In fact, since I've hitchhiked a lot here, that can sometimes make me seem like a LESS privileged person. I've gotten a lot of curious, sidelong, and pitiful glaces whiz by me from inside beige sedans. When I was 20 I hitchhiked across Canada with only a couple hundred bucks, so I ate tons of ramen, did a lot of wwoofing, and work for stay arrangements in hostels. And it was still super fulfilling and rewarding and thrilling because I was on the move, on my own, in new places and situations every day. And meeting great people.
I think that cheap travel actually allows for more interesting experiences, so I'd probably still do it even I had more money.
>>1040214
I don't like travel snobbery and elitism. Its your money and your time, you can spend it however you want.
I am somewhat of a food snob though, and food is a major part of travel. I kind of do look down on people who go all the way to a foreign country or state, but don't bother to try any of their local food. A lot of these cheapskate roughing it travelers only eat McDonald's and ramen. I see eating the local food as a very important part of the journey, and one of the most memorable things to do.
>>1040259
>>1040254
Stop whining about elitism when it's literally the topic of discussion. I'm excited to have the opportunity to indulge in my pretentiousness because the act of travel and frames people view it through is a lot more complicated than anyone wants to admit it to be.
For example, It's really dumb to talk about backpacking as 'real traveling'. Not just the stupidity in expecting there to be any true way to approach moving from one culture into another geographic-cultural space - an American entering Paris receives a highly different Paris than a Swiss entering Paris, let alone whatever class, race, education, political and ideological influences infect that individual. But also just how clearly the backpacking trend comes out of the new age desire for nomadism and deeper, noncommercial social connections. Hitchhiking, hostels, etc. are clearly exemplary. It's highly historically and ideological contingent.
And more importantly, has little idealism saved for justifying the lens you view your foreign experiences through. It certainly makes you feel good about yourself and look cool to your friends, but so what?
It's been pointed out IIT that it comes from a position of privilege reenacting the classic 'rich viewing the poor/native as more authentic as humans' through an actual (though safely temporary) play-acting at their poverty - but it's not as simple as playing poor. They're also playing primitive. The backpacker identifies with a hunter-gatherer stage human, living nomadically, self-sustaining, etc. He's also very clearly intercepted by extreme commercial forces and self-association with a certain consumer brand/tribe - what reason is there that someone interested in traveling would also spend money on ear gauges, vapes, vegan food, etc.
>>1046843
Simply put: real, authentic hostel backpack life is a lot less idealistic than they want they'd like it to be. You can try and draw a separation between tourism and traveling, but in practice, they're both lucrative markets - you get copy-cat new age cafes and trashy hostels colonizing 'authentic traveller' destinations just as much as gift shops do cruise boat destinations.
Traveling is a complicated subject. It's been charged with many different meanings and symbolisms for centuries. Off the top of my head
>inherent good (and capitalist value) in exploration and discovery
>intellectual tourism
>commercial tourism (i.e. trade but also like a paris shopping trip)
>imperialistic curiosities
>religious pilgrimage
>monastic self-discovery (cultural isolation for study or enlightenment)
>poetic ever-wandering
>situationist derive (i.e. travel in owns home)
>safe bourgeois novelty ("Try new things!")
>affective novelty ("Pay $500 ticket to discover yourself!")
etc. We're primarily stuck with the latter two, the last one being a lot more complicated a subject. It's a faux pas to even discuss this stuff (outside a self-consciously 'elitist' thread) because traveling has been imbued with so much desperate spiritual value. You travel to discover yourself, to discover the world's people and more than anything, signal your authenticity. Yea, fuck off.
I travel to escape myself.
>>1040318
This, I go on "lads" holidays to Magaluf, I go on package tours with g adventures, I've travelled on my own to SEA, I go to see the tourist shit with my family. I don't give a fuck. It's my money, I always have a good time, i don't give a shit what some faggot thinks about my way of travel. I have seen more of the world than most and enjoyed every experience good and bad.
>>1046846
No matter where you go... there you are.
>>1046846
Where is the mind?
>>1040214
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92B1JCT5jjQ
>>1047058
The mind is where you mind it
>>1040214
The only thing I'll confess to being a snob about is people in China who don't speak Mandarin,
I really fucking hated that when I lived there. It's fucking China, make an effort rather than hiding out in the French Concession for your whole life
>>1042945
Image sitting on a plane next to that for 10 hours
>>1049093
*western people
Not Chinese people.
inb4
>what if a westerner speaks some other dialect
That's cool too, but extremely rare, except in HK
>>1040276
>The only people I'm attacking are first worlders who go to some poor or gritty place for a few days or weeks, "rough it" then *go back to their first world everyday life* and act like they had this big "authentic experience" and act superior about it.
>Go the village, stay among the locals, absorb things and learn something, but understand that it is not an authentic experience at the end of the day and that you shouldn't feel superior or like you've got some kind of "cred." You get to leave, and you will.
I think the problem with this post is that someone is worried that someone else is acting superior. Get over that. You're going to encounter this kind of person the rest of your life. Right now say to yourself that it's only a perception that you think that other people are doing or acting a certain way. Your perception is flawed and not looking at the whole picture. Look at the person closely, in a psychoanalyzing kind of way. Now... Are they perfect? Nope. Do you see that big chip on their shoulder? Recognize the chip on their shoulder for what it is: low self-esteem, bragging, inferiority complex, small mindedness, spoilage, ignorance, lack of education, low class, poor family choices, addiction. Whatever the heck you can do to understand you should not be summing people up at all, will go a long ways to understanding why people act the way that they do. When someone comes at you with some kind of belitting summation of you, or else comes at you with some bragging thing, choose to keep your mind open but your mouth shut. You don't need to win.
Why do people really and truly backpack? Most are just going to stretch their money longer and further. It is absolutely not a Real Traveler anything, though there's a reward to being cheap, it means you're "clever" when you make it work. Like clever with couponing in a grocery, big stupid deal. Cheapass person=quite low class often, becuase if you don't value safety over money?
>>1040214
I doubt most people would view me as a snob but the the truth is whenever family/friends suggest a vacation that is essentially traveling to a far away locale then sitting by the pool (not swimming in it mind you) and getting drunk or just watching sports I audibly gag.
>>1046846
>tfw someone is just going to pressure you to stay home and do drugs
Don't ever tell anyone else this.
>>1045817
Depends on the cruise, depends on the area. Grandma cruises can easily be boring af, but I did a 48h cruise in Ha Long bay in one of those traditional boat. And it was awesome. We were def pampered and in a really luxury environment desu, but it was still an experience.
Dunno. I had the luck of traveling very early as a child since my parents always love sharing new cultures. When traveling with them it's usually in a child-friendly environment, even in poorer countries : bigger hotels with western accommodations, guides/drivers when outside of Europe, carefully planned trips etc. I love going on trips with them because it allows me a comfort I won't have in decades while traveling by myself, and having the occasion the eat fine local food or have a local guide and a car is really nice.
But I do appreciate just going somewhere by myself or with a friend, crashing at a rented flat and just roam around the city like I would do at home. I always end up meeting new people, hanging out with chill peeps and all.
Both have their good and bad sides;both are fun. I don't get people who do group tours but that's because I like being alone.
>>1040259
If I tore you out of Treasury would you die?
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6_kmWCGAcw
why do girls like paris so much?
Do you walk around suburbs and watch guys fish in your own country? Why do it in another country?
I've lived in different countries for extended periods of time. In the end were all just humans who live in houses, go to work, shop at stores, run errands at banks, post offices etc
Travel for me and many people is to go see something out of the ordinary. Something unique. You can talk to people around the world on the internet anytime and you probab'y cant understand each other in many countries. Small talk at a bar wont give you insight into a culture. learning the language and living there for a long time will.
People have budgets and seeing unique sights or things dont take up so much time.
Most of all, why would i spend 2 months and howeveruch much in say cbodia, rather than stay a shorter time and visit 10 countries?
"Real travelers" love to look at tourists and mainstream ie popular places and make fun of them, but they themselves are the most pretentious. Abd i can say that with certainty because ive lived in several different countrues for extended amounts of time and speak those languages. When i ask natives about such travelers, they always say"why would they go to some noname town? Its boring. Even we want to go see the popular sites"
>>1040254
Yeah because people who work on the citu arnt "real people"
Get a fucking clue you idiot
>>1050292
>Do you walk around suburbs and watch guys fish in your own country?
Yes. I did this yesterday. I live in a meticulous planned community that was designed specifically for this purpose.
>>1046679
I used to feel the same way, then one day in Bolivia I was desperate for wi-fi broke my rule and went to a McDonalds. On the surface it looked the same but the food was different, it blew my mind that something so familiar could also be so different. Now I recommended checking out a foreign McDonalds everytime you leave the US. It's exciting in the same way that visiting Australia is, bizzaro version almost but not quite home.
>>1042010
I bet you have dreadlocks and wear flipflops
>one sheltered environment to another
or one poor environment to another? See how easy it is to nelittle something?
Those places are mainstream because there is something unique or amazing about them
But fuck anghor wat, lets go look at some dude living in a tree eating bugs. Wow im so cultured
Liberal shit
>>1046679
Youre the worst
I'll eat whatever i fucking want
Im generally antisocial.
I travel alone, and i dont care to talk to people at all.
My travel ecperience is no less legitimate than yours
>>1050311
Me too, I'm getting sick of people who insist traveling is pointless unless you make a new best friend in every country. I came here alone, if I wanted to hang I would have brought buds along, get a clue.
>>1050298
Valid point. I make a point of trying McDonalds pretty much every time I'm in a country that has it. Doesn't mean I'm not usually eating street food.
to everyone here in this thread...
just travel. travel heaps. travel everywhere. experience it however you want to experience it. get exactly what you want to get out of your trip, however you want it, irregardless of whether its 'authentic,' cultural, polished or lazy.
and then travel africa.
>>1050318
>implying i haven't travelled africa
>>1050311
Traveling is only fun if you have someone to experience it with.
I hate the whole sort of 'real traveller' bullshit but I went to indonesia with my m8 and he wanted to get into the sort of shit like wearing those pants that everyone who goes SEA gets and a bintang vest
I didn't tell him but it did make me cringe a bit, don't know, ususally i'm not judgemental
I only fly buisness class when going over seas
I love cruises, they are a genius thing. Been on two and I feel you catch the highlights of places within the alotted time for each city, don't have to worry about transportation except for excursions and food is always provided for. I would go more often if not for work commitments.
>>1050684
just join the navy faglord
People like to be happy and feel good about themselves. One way we can get that feeling is by using other people as a benchmark. By comparing ourselves to others and rating ourselves on a higher level it confirms that we are indeed wise, resilient, interesting and generally worthwhile. For some this comparison happens internally (typically arrogant types), while more insecure types boast to others in they hope they will impress and be told how great they are. When you travel for a long time you are removed from most of the things people traditionally use to derive their self worth like friendships, career and hobbies, while others like wealth or competitive achievement are not valued by travelers nearly as much as they are in the real world. When traveling is your whole life and the only thing you and everyone around you have in common, it's not surprising that comparing yourself to others becomes the primary way to retain your self-worth. Thus the new yardsticks become things like length of trip, obscurity of destinations or knowledge of local culture; anything that demonstrates how interesting your trip is and how skilled you are at travelling
The other reason for snobbery is that it's a way of justifying your own discomfort or disappointment. If you're honest with yourself, I'm sure anyone who has backpacked has thought things like: "Sure this cheap train ride is uncomfortable, but I can handle it because I'm way tougher than the average tourist", "Ok so there's nothing to do in this remote village, but at least I'm having the authentic experience away from tourists". By telling ourselves that difficult, austere travel is best way to travel, we are reconciling ourselves with the knowledge that someone out there is traveling in a much more comfortable way than we are.
I therefore don't have a big problem with travel snobs. If I'm honest I've been guilty of it myself a few times, and it's usually a phase people grow out of. It will always exist, get used to it.
>>1050696
That'd be just the place for a faglord
>>1041292
yeah but the reason i leave britain on a regular basis is to get away from british people
>>1040295
I constantly hear about hipster backpackers from America having some "authentic experience" in popular expat destinations like Thailand, Nepal, India, Vietnam, or somewhere in South America. But you're right, most American tourists go to Yurop.
>>1051548
Well, it stands to reason, if not many Americans go to Asia. Where would an American "hipster backpacker" go. Some place unpopular and off the grid for Americans.
>>1045013
You had me at the part where they kill themselves
>>1049113
No. The problem is someone us worrying that someone else's travel experience is inferior.
>>1052641
>is worrying
