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> I used to think like lqet, and my travel habits reflected that, traveling to obscure places (at least for an American) to "get away from the crowds." that s

> I used to think like lqet, and my travel habits reflected that, traveling to obscure places (at least for an American) to "get away from the crowds." that seems odd to say the least. it seems highly probable to me that popular tourist attractions are popular because they're desirable to go to. sure, there's some marketing drum up in there but there's something seriously weird about going to less desirable places solely to get away from the crowds. it's almost as if you're signaling you're somehow superior or better by doing something other people aren't doing, even if that thing is objectively worse. value signaling made manifest via tourism or something.

9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
Famous/extremely popular sights are often less rewarding because they are so famous/popular: for example, it's highly unlikely you'll be genuinely astonished by the enigmatic smile of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, because a) you've already seen it a million times and b) there's a jostling mob of other tourists five rows deep around it, so you can barely see the damned thing. This is why the "traveller" (vs tourist) holy grail is to find places that are genuinely impressive and spacious enough to still be enjoyable.
- maximente 7y ago
  that's fair, but i'm thinking more things like machu picchu which, while uber popular, are probably pretty hard to find in less amazing versions. so yeah, while certainly only limited to a few places, i think there's a class of spots that one cannot necessarily reproduce in a lite version. so especially if one has limited travel opportunities, i think they're worth going to. venice is probably one of those although admittedly i haven't been.
  - Celexior 7y ago
    La Ciudad Perdida, a not inca-version (for the amazing part I am not sure about that).
robryan 7y ago
There are plenty of good things that haven’t been made attractions and put on the tourist map. See this a fair bit where places in Australia will have big car parks with tourist busses coming in and out all day, setup with foreign language signs. But then have similar places nearby with none of that.

9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago

Famous/extremely popular sights are often less rewarding because they are so famous/popular: for example, it's highly unlikely you'll be genuinely astonished by the enigmatic smile of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, because a) you've already seen it a million times and b) there's a jostling mob of other tourists five rows deep around it, so you can barely see the damned thing. This is why the "traveller" (vs tourist) holy grail is to find places that are genuinely impressive and spacious enough to still be enjoyable.

maximente 7y ago
that's fair, but i'm thinking more things like machu picchu which, while uber popular, are probably pretty hard to find in less amazing versions. so yeah, while certainly only limited to a few places, i think there's a class of spots that one cannot necessarily reproduce in a lite version. so especially if one has limited travel opportunities, i think they're worth going to. venice is probably one of those although admittedly i haven't been.
- Celexior 7y ago
  La Ciudad Perdida, a not inca-version (for the amazing part I am not sure about that).

robryan 7y ago

There are plenty of good things that haven’t been made attractions and put on the tourist map. See this a fair bit where places in Australia will have big car parks with tourist busses coming in and out all day, setup with foreign language signs. But then have similar places nearby with none of that.