Travelling is an important part of life, giving us a taste of something new and opening our eyes to the potential and possibilities of parts of a world yet new. Like any part of life, however, our view on travel can be skewed by the opinions of others, often to the detriment of our enjoyment.
An often-seen unfortunate component of travel-culture is that elitism, or travel-shaming, is rife, and this is an issue we want to talk about today.
The Why
Answering why people often judge others by their personal choices is not a simple question. There can be any number of reasons this can occur, from personal hang-ups to feelings of superiority or inferiority, and even simple ignorance. Whatever the cause of this judgement may be, the result is often the same; we can change our plans for the benefit of our supposed social good.
Instead of this, let’s consider the benefits of moving in the opposite direction.
Forging Your Own Path
While there are elements of travel which can appeal to everyone, like taking film cameras on hand with them it is, at its heart, a very personal experience. What is right for someone or the masses could easily be wrong for you. Rather than pretend otherwise, it can be best to acknowledge when you are a square peg being forced into a round hole and instead take your own path forward.
There are a million examples when this can be the case, with every step of the journey.
In terms of initial travel, some people simply will not travel if they can’t fly by first-class, or through a certain airline. These can be the type of people who scoff at economy–class travellers, as cliché as that idea can sound. While many of us will never travel by first-class anywhere, we have to wonder: where exactly do we draw the line?
We’d much rather have the extra money saved for a real experience at our destination, regardless of what the elite might think.
More commonly, these disparities occur once we are within a country. This is often a case with those people who espouse the benefits of being fully enveloped within a culture at all points.
While this might suit them, some of us would much prefer to do things our way, by using a car rental service in a large country such as Spain due to the vast distances that need to be travelled between cities, with an example of this being car hire Malaga, which provides that extra bit of independence over where to go. This is also a viable option for anyone visiting the UK, even though distance isn’t as much of an issue. For instance, London offers a lot of attractions to tourists, but hiring a car provides the option of being able to travel to other interesting places nearby such as Brighton as well as rural villages traditionally associated with England.
Neither of these choices is wrong, and to act as if one is the only way is nothing short of base arrogance.
This is the same for food. Trying new things in a new country is great, but at some point, we can crave the familiarity of home. Whether through an upset stomach or just wanting a more relaxed experience, your choice for something like a chain restaurant is never wrong, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Most of us don’t get the opportunities for travel we wish we had. This makes planning out what we want to do and making our own choices all the more important. While we would never suggest going to a country and only doing what you do at home, understand that finding familiar comfort in some aspects is entirely okay.
It’s up to you to find the balance, regardless of what anyone else might think.
