Travel is Universal – Debunking the Travel Myth

Ever been judged or mocked for your travel choices by a fellow travel-blogger? Casually in a conversation or in a Facebook group? Didn’t like it? Felt like giving it back and clearing a few myths, didn’t you? Well, this post is all about debunking the travel myth.

**What a waste of money. 2 weeks in that wonderful country. Concentrate in one area, or just on south island, othwise you only can say “I have been there”, but you have not experienced the beauty of NZ. Spent 3 months 2 years ago, go again for 3 months in November*

– commented one travel-blogger on my post that I shared on a Facebook group about How to spend 13 days in New Zealand. 

I was more inclined to correct his grammatical errors and tell him to take some time from the 3 months and learn how to spell otherwise properly & use the correct form of tense where he’d be going again but then I let go of that temptation.

I had earlier seen people on a different post judge a traveller just for committing the cardinal sin of doing 10 countries in 50 days.

Let’s address a few travel-blogger myths in the room. Because if I say elephants, they’ll misunderstand me and blame me for body shaming them and the argument will lose it’s purpose.

TRAVEL MYTH 1 – DURATION OF STAY DEFINES THE AUTHENTICITY OF TRAVEL

Now this is a thought chain that exists in many traveller’s heads. They feel that if you haven’t stayed in a country for a stipulated amount of time that they approve of , then you haven’t experienced travelgasms like them.

They have this inherent “holier than thou attitude” where they feel superior to everybody because they feel they’ve spent more time than others.

For them it’s about ticking all 235458 places that Tripadvisor suggests (even if half of them don’t appeal or make sense to you). They wear it like a badge of honour and dismiss others who don’t follow their line of thought.

DEBUNKING THE TRAVEL MYTH

People have jobs. People have responsibilities. They have a life outside of travel too that needs to be taken care of.  They don’t have months together to spend in a country. You can do what you like and nobody’s opposed to that.

Then why not just “live & let live”?

Travel doesn’t have a set time-frame. Trust you me, the things that somebody else has done & experienced in a country for a particular duration-  he/she can vouch for them as they have felt the authenticity more than what a judgemental brain can ever take.

What a place did to them or how it made them feel is completely unique to them. You’ll never understand it. You can take 5 people, make them stand in front of a painting and ask them what the painting is about and there’ll be 5 different perspectives/opinions on it.

Just because you have a perspective about something, doesn’t mean it’s right and has to be accepted universally.

You staying at a place for “x” amount of time doesn’t warrant the right to demean others who haven’t. They’ve tried to squeeze in as much time as they could from their work schedule and planned a vacation that means something to them.

So yes, people can choose to stay for 2 weeks or 2 months at the same place and can vouch for having explored the country in a unique way in their own right.

They can cover multiple countries in a selected span of time and that’s their choice. Stop judging them. As long as we do what we want and when we can, we don’t have to worry about others.

TRAVEL MYTH 2 – SPENDING MORE OR LESS MONEY MAKES FOR BETTER OR WORSE TRAVEL EXPERIENCES

This is an Economic Times bestseller if written a complete article on.

The issue here is the comparison between budget backpackers and luxury travellers. This has 2 sides to it –

• A budget backpacker thinks he is smarter because he’s spending less – be it on his accomodation or his choice of transport while travelling. That gives him more to spend on travel experiences and day trips. He thinks people spending more on accomodation and travel are wasting their money.
• A luxury traveller looks down upon a budget backpacker and thinks spending more gives him a more authentic feel of the destination and he has travelled better as his money has afforded him a richer experience.

DEBUNKING THE TRAVEL MYTH

Nothing is wrong or right. Budgeting is an individual or circumstantial choice that a traveller makes based on his financial constraints.

Would a budget backpacker staying in a dorm or hostel deny a 5-star accomodation if he could afford one? Would a luxury traveller not want that discount code or  help from a local contact to spend lesser on a particular experience? Your guesses are as good as mine.

• Just because you can’t afford it, doesn’t mean people who can – are fools and are wasting their money. It’s their choice and individual wish to stay in whatever standard of accomodation they want and enjoy their experience. It’s their choice if they wish to hire a private car and roam around the city. Doesn’t mean you get bitter about it. They have the money to splurge and so they will. To them, comfort matters more. Let them be.
• Similarly just because you can afford it, doesn’t mean you get to sit on a high horse and look at budget backpackers with pity. For all you know, a budget backpacker has made more local friends thanks to living in a hostel/dorm and has found ways to spend far lesser money on the same thing that you have opted to do. Even luxury travellers love discounts and freebies and that’s where the budget backpackers are more proactive. To budget backpackers, resourcefulness and street-smartness come naturally. Let them be.

TRAVEL MYTH 3 – TOURISTY PLACES IMPLIES BAD TRAVEL AND OFFBEAT PLACES IMPLIES GOOD TRAVEL

There is a constant comparison between different sites in a country based on whether it is most visited or less visited. The quality of the place is thus, decided by the number of visitors it attracts.

And funnily an entire travel style is judged to be good or bad just based on that choice. Again, there are 2 sides to it –

• A person who believes in travelling the path less taken quickly dismisses a famous mainstream tourist site as a bad choice for travel. He has an inherent superiority complex in him because of this particular offbeat place he has explored or a special local dish he’s eaten.
• A person who arrogantly believes that if you cover 4 famous places listed as 4 gems of that country in a magazine (that earns a commission from selling those 4 places to you), then you’ve done it all. There’s nothing else to be explored and everything else is below their standards.

DEBUNKING THE TRAVEL MYTH

There is no set pattern for travel. Just because some places are more Instagrammed and included in a majority of the nicely marketed holiday packages, doesn’t mean they’re given the “be all and end all” status as far as exploration goes.

Would an offbeat traveller not want to do a famous touristy place even if it is good? Would a traveller who doesn’t have an idea and hasn’t done the research mind if an offbeat place turns out to be better than a touristy one? You have a clue of the answers, don’t you!

There can be touristy places that are really good & offbeat places that are really bad. Stereotyping of any kind reflects lack of knowledge. Let’s understand this through a few points –

• Some people due to lack of time in a certain location might choose to just cover the more known places. That’s their choice and they can live with it. You don’t have to make them feel guilty about not covering this amazing offbeat place that you explored. Yes, if they ask you, then it’s your responsibility to help them out and give your suggestions and tips. That would be appreciated. But don’t join the “What you’ve seen is too mainstream. Overrated places. You haven’t seen real “insert name of the country “. No. A superiority complex of that kind is not cool.
• There are people who visit the 4 places that their package screamed out loud and then, have the arrogance of having explored the country dissing the lesser known places. There are a lot of these offbeat places that fail to find buyers and marketing agents. So obviously, they aren’t a tour agency’s favourite. You not knowing about these places is your ignorance. Not anybody else’s fault. There are plenty of not so popular hikes, little cafes, lesser known monasteries, museums, waterfalls that are worth exploring and are worth their weight in gold as far as travel experience goes. So, be humble about your journey and learn to listen.

TRAVEL MYTH 4 – SOLO TRAVEL IS THE REAL DEAL AND GROUP TRAVEL IS SHITTY

You must have come across this intelligent person who has a disregard for anything that starts with “Group”. 

He believes that if Columbus hadn’t discovered America, then he certainly would have.

Even his group discussion in school consisted of only him. He is neck-deep in the misconception that every group trip is just about a PT teacher like guide who tells people to wake up at one time, orders them to get ready like a herd of sheep and slaps their butt with a stick if they hang around at a place for a little more time to click pictures.

DEBUNKING THE TRAVEL MYTH

Group travel/day trips aren’t bad. In fact, the group travel that I have experienced has been wonderful. Group travel helps you to organically socialize with people without having to look for them because you’re on the same tour by default.

Best part, they’re usually as clueless as you are and if they aren’t, then you only end up learning more from them.

A tour guide is a travel expert of a particular place. He introduces you to a place, it’s history, culture, evolution and mixes it with a healthy dose of humour in a way that even Google can’t. Respect that.

What’s the fun when you have reached a place travelling solo,  click pictures, look around but have no clue of what the place is all about? You don’t want to google and alternate being staring at the screen and breathing in the place.

In such situations, even the staunchEST of supporters of solo travel wish if there were a storyteller – a voice that accompanied the beauty they are witnessing to turn their experience into a wholesome one.

Besides for people who are first-time travellers to a particular country, security and safety is the biggest concern. Group travel removes that fear and gives them the cushion of assurance that they really need when travelling with family, friends or even by themselves.

So understand this one basic thing. Solo and group travel- both have their boons and banes. Neither one is superior or inferior to the other.

TRAVEL MYTH 5 – ONLY OVERSEAS TRAVEL IS ACTUAL TRAVEL AND TRAVELLING IN ONE’S OWN COUNTRY DOESN’T COUNT

This is my personal favourite as far as travel myths go.

Some people constantly plugin the name of an overseas destination (that they have visited) in a discussion and go on rambling about it despite knowing that the other person is not getting it because he hasn’t been there.

These ultra-cool people feel that only if you have travelled to another country, have you actually travelled. Inter-city travel or inter-state travel to them- counts as a school picnic.

They keep flaunting and shouting from rooftops about the number of countries they have visited and disregard other people’s travel experiences in their own country. It’s an ego thing.

More number of countries visited = the sun shines out of their ass.

DEBUNKING THE TRAVEL MYTH

Travelling one’s own country is essential. You understand your roots and culture on a deeper level.

Don’t belittle someone who has only travelled within the country or has ticked a lesser number of countries than you. They might have their own reasons for doing it. You got to respect that and again be grounded about your travel situation.

If you’ve travelled more overseas, then you can help or assist others who haven’t and wish to do the same. And they can return the favour with their experience of in-country travel.

Let it be a give & take synergy between travellers. That information exchange and assistance is something genuinely beautiful. It helps maintain a level of respect between people with different sets of experiences.

Exploring any place is travel.  there is no rule that says only globetrotting makes you a traveller. to any place is And everybody brings something different to the table. So a bit of humility won’t hurt. In fact it’ll only make people comfortable in coming up to you and asking for travel advice/help. Wouldn’t that feel good?

CONCLUSION

Travelling isn’t a competition. Nobody gets a medal and a cash reward for completing all the countries in the world. Everybody has their own pace, preference, convenience and choice as far as travelling is concerned. Nothing is wrong or right in travel.

Travel is a feeling. Can a feeling be measured by quantity, quality, duration or any other parameter? No. It’s just supposed to be felt.

We all have that one blockbuster travel story that we can proudly share with people. We all have experienced magic in one way or the other. Each one of us as a traveller brings something unique and special to the table.

So let it remain a pure feeling & don’t let any travel myth deter you!

Let’s respect each other. Support each other. Appreciate each other’s stories and learn from them. And if possible even travel with each other. Let’s experience this magical feeling of wanderlust and create memories that last a lifetime!

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