Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TLDR. I a rich old person who has seen the world many times. It’s gotten boring, and crowded with all these tourists. I’m posting because I want everyone to know why this years Christmas card isn’t all of us in Tahiti.

I don't know why people are getting so offended. I am not rich (unfortunately) and I have not seen the world. And is early 40s old? But I have been to Europe and different places in the US and it's absolutely not the same. I still enjoy travel and I still want my kids to see certain places but I know that it's a totally different experience nowadays. Esp. crowd levels and pandering to tourists vs. more authentic stuff.

If you went to Europe in your 20s, you are rich

Quite the contrary. It was more affordable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TLDR. I a rich old person who has seen the world many times. It’s gotten boring, and crowded with all these tourists. I’m posting because I want everyone to know why this years Christmas card isn’t all of us in Tahiti.

I don't know why people are getting so offended. I am not rich (unfortunately) and I have not seen the world. And is early 40s old? But I have been to Europe and different places in the US and it's absolutely not the same. I still enjoy travel and I still want my kids to see certain places but I know that it's a totally different experience nowadays. Esp. crowd levels and pandering to tourists vs. more authentic stuff.

If you went to Europe in your 20s, you are rich

Silly comment.

That’s good, stay home, more room for the rest of us

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TLDR. I a rich old person who has seen the world many times. It’s gotten boring, and crowded with all these tourists. I’m posting because I want everyone to know why this years Christmas card isn’t all of us in Tahiti.

I don't know why people are getting so offended. I am not rich (unfortunately) and I have not seen the world. And is early 40s old? But I have been to Europe and different places in the US and it's absolutely not the same. I still enjoy travel and I still want my kids to see certain places but I know that it's a totally different experience nowadays. Esp. crowd levels and pandering to tourists vs. more authentic stuff.

If you went to Europe in your 20s, you are rich

NP here. I went to Europe in my twenties and wasn't rich. I worked temp jobs in London until I saved enough money for a new trip, over and over. I took bargain courier flights where courier companies used my baggage allowance for same day freight - I don't know if such a thing exists still today. Those took me from London to Dublin, New York and Montreal. I took bargain priced buses to Edinburgh and Amsterdam. I backpacked around in 1990 on a Eurorail pass, and still have my diary where I recorded my daily expenditures. I had a budget of 26 pounds a day and averaged less than that. There was a book from Frommers called Europe on $25 a day. Let's Go Europe was my bible. I stayed in a lot of youth hostels and didn't eat in many restaurants, instead going to supermarkets or eating the youth hostel breakfasts. I stayed in the homes of people I met on the train sometimes. I took every free trip included on my pass - boat trips on the Rhine and Danube, a cog railway up a mountain in Austria, a bus trip on the Romantic Road in Germany. I headed to Eastern European, which was still emerging from communism, and had a ball because prices were still at pre free market levels. I did it all without a cent or penny from my parents.

Nowadays I'm married with grown children. Our trips include plane tickets, vacation rentals or fancy hotel rooms, rental cars, museums and attractions with fees, taxi rides, and more costly restaurants. Countries are courting the high value tourist, not the shoe string traveler that I used to be. My husband isn't going to stay in a shared dorm and eat bread and cheese or sit and watch the boats go by on the Seine at night with a bottle of two euro chuck, alas. It all costs more and we have have less contact with locals and other travelers than in my backpacking days.

Anonymous wrote:TLDR. I a rich old person who has seen the world many times. It’s gotten boring, and crowded with all these tourists. I’m posting because I want everyone to know why this years Christmas card isn’t all of us in Tahiti.

Nah, you’re just an unimaginative old geezer with more money than smarts I imagine. There are so many undiscovered places out there, you just have to know where they are. The fact that you mentioned Tahiti just shows me you’re another typical tourist yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TLDR. I a rich old person who has seen the world many times. It’s gotten boring, and crowded with all these tourists. I’m posting because I want everyone to know why this years Christmas card isn’t all of us in Tahiti.

I don't know why people are getting so offended. I am not rich (unfortunately) and I have not seen the world. And is early 40s old? But I have been to Europe and different places in the US and it's absolutely not the same. I still enjoy travel and I still want my kids to see certain places but I know that it's a totally different experience nowadays. Esp. crowd levels and pandering to tourists vs. more authentic stuff.

If you went to Europe in your 20s, you are rich

What? Why?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TLDR. I a rich old person who has seen the world many times. It’s gotten boring, and crowded with all these tourists. I’m posting because I want everyone to know why this years Christmas card isn’t all of us in Tahiti.

I don't know why people are getting so offended. I am not rich (unfortunately) and I have not seen the world. And is early 40s old? But I have been to Europe and different places in the US and it's absolutely not the same. I still enjoy travel and I still want my kids to see certain places but I know that it's a totally different experience nowadays. Esp. crowd levels and pandering to tourists vs. more authentic stuff.

If you went to Europe in your 20s, you are rich

Anonymous wrote:TLDR. I a rich old person who has seen the world many times. It’s gotten boring, and crowded with all these tourists. I’m posting because I want everyone to know why this years Christmas card isn’t all of us in Tahiti.

I don't know why people are getting so offended. I am not rich (unfortunately) and I have not seen the world. And is early 40s old? But I have been to Europe and different places in the US and it's absolutely not the same. I still enjoy travel and I still want my kids to see certain places but I know that it's a totally different experience nowadays. Esp. crowd levels and pandering to tourists vs. more authentic stuff.

Sadly, I kinda agree. Every is overrun and it seems like everyone is trying to "check that box" so they put a picture of themselves and their family on Social Media. It's also gotten so so very expensive. I'm kinda done...... Still a few places and experiences I want to do, but nothing like the passion I had for it 10-15 years ago.....

TLDR. I a rich old person who has seen the world many times. It’s gotten boring, and crowded with all these tourists. I’m posting because I want everyone to know why this years Christmas card isn’t all of us in Tahiti.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many posters on here wanting to pull the ladder up behind them. Visiting Europe was fine back when they did it, but now everyone else should just skip it. How nice that you got to go in your teens and twenties. Some of us didn’t and would still like to go.

You do you. I’m just pointing out that visiting Europe “back then” was a better, more fulfilling and enriching experience, having done it both then and this year. That’s not pulling up any ladders, that’s just expressing why I have lost excitement.

How nice for you that you got the “better more fulfilling experience.” The rest of us just get the leftovers.

? I can’t help it if I am older than other posters here.
Look this thread is about why people lost excitement for travel. Our responses aren’t personal to you or your decision to continue traveling. No one is preventing you from going, we’re just making the point that for us, some of the magic is gone.

Anonymous wrote:So many posters on here wanting to pull the ladder up behind them. Visiting Europe was fine back when they did it, but now everyone else should just skip it. How nice that you got to go in your teens and twenties. Some of us didn’t and would still like to go.

You seem bitter. I have not traveled as much as others here but they are right that it is a very different experience. Would you prefer people lie to make you feel better? No one is saying don’t go. But it’s different. Period.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many posters on here wanting to pull the ladder up behind them. Visiting Europe was fine back when they did it, but now everyone else should just skip it. How nice that you got to go in your teens and twenties. Some of us didn’t and would still like to go.

You do you. I’m just pointing out that visiting Europe “back then” was a better, more fulfilling and enriching experience, having done it both then and this year. That’s not pulling up any ladders, that’s just expressing why I have lost excitement.

How nice for you that you got the “better more fulfilling experience.” The rest of us just get the leftovers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to love travel and have studied abroad, was in the Peace Corps, had international boyfriends, have international friends I visited. It was formative for me when younger because I lived a very controlled and small life growing up and my parents scorned travel and other cultures. It was enlightening to understand anything that seems like a norm in the US is subjective.

That being said, the older I get the more I value actual depth and learning. When I traveled, I met local people and learned their languages and customs and tried to live similarly. I wasn't in resorts, I wasn't hiring them to entertain me. I stayed for more than a week. And what did I learn? That most of them don't travel much, and are poor by our standards, and are content. They put all their efforts into their families and communities. I brought that attitude back with me and have invested time and energy getting to know my own cities and counties. There are so many subcultures within the US, I could never get bored.

I also have gotten more into nature. Emily Dickinson barely left her garden. Within a few yards there is a whole ecosystem we can barely see. Traveling is more of a state of mind than a practice. And doing it the right way doesn't involve Instagram or photogenic poses.

Brilliantly said. This was my takeaway as well after years of traveling and living abroad.

The highlighted part is not much different than most Americans either. Sure some people are traveling more, but most people aren't traveling abroad. If they've gone anywhere, it's a carnival cruise or Disney.

I have cousins back home, who are now solidly MC (but grew up in villages without electricity running water) who value travel experiences and will make an effort to take a trip to a neighboring country every few years. It's okay to enjoy seeing other countries/cultures!

Anonymous wrote:I used to love travel and have studied abroad, was in the Peace Corps, had international boyfriends, have international friends I visited. It was formative for me when younger because I lived a very controlled and small life growing up and my parents scorned travel and other cultures. It was enlightening to understand anything that seems like a norm in the US is subjective.

That being said, the older I get the more I value actual depth and learning. When I traveled, I met local people and learned their languages and customs and tried to live similarly. I wasn't in resorts, I wasn't hiring them to entertain me. I stayed for more than a week. And what did I learn? That most of them don't travel much, and are poor by our standards, and are content. They put all their efforts into their families and communities. I brought that attitude back with me and have invested time and energy getting to know my own cities and counties. There are so many subcultures within the US, I could never get bored.

I also have gotten more into nature. Emily Dickinson barely left her garden. Within a few yards there is a whole ecosystem we can barely see. Traveling is more of a state of mind than a practice. And doing it the right way doesn't involve Instagram or photogenic poses.

Brilliantly said. This was my takeaway as well after years of traveling and living abroad.