Every vacation destination has a few distinct "tourist traps."
If you've ever been on a vacation to a popular tourist destination, you know all too well what I'm talking about. For the ultimate test, pick a place you've visited and see if all of the following apply:
1) Gem Mine
I remember doing this when I was little. It was exciting to find the littlest flecks of color in the sand. My dad and I used to tumble rocks, so I'm not going to lie, I used to love this.
2) Old Time Photos
Usually you can find multiple of these in tourist-heavy towns. I love playing dress up and I love posing for pictures, so I'm also guilty of enjoying these. I still have a picture of my sister, my mom, my grandma and I all in fishnet stockings posing with fake guns around an old car.
3) Go Karts
Depending on the place, some towns have more of these than others. One of my favorite places to visit is actually known for their go karts (and this picture is from there)-- Wisconsin Dells.
4) Mini Golf/Putt Putt
Bonus points if it's adventure themed.
5) T-shirt Store
For some reason, they always sell hermit crabs, and there's always a buy 2, get 1 sale.
6) Name on rice/name on ring
Tourist towns with lots of shopping always have a cart set up somewhere where you can have someone write your name on a grain of rice for a necklace, or engrave your name in a cheap ring, in case you forget your name while you're there.
7) Ice cream
You can usually find these anywhere, but tourist towns have a LOT of options, and it can be hard to decide. If you ask me, just visit one every day. Problem solved.
8) Assorted Museums
In case you wanted to know more about the place you're visiting than you do your hometown.
9) Chicken tenders at every restaurant
You might be thinking, "every restaurant everywhere has those." No. Most restaurants have chicken strips. Chicken strips are real chicken. Chicken tenders have that flavorless yoga mat texture to them because they're made out of the same cheap paste as chicken nuggets.
10) Hidden Grocery Stores
It's like they WANT you to eat at all the restaurants.
11) Water or Theme Park. Or both.
These are usually the big attraction in a lot of tourist towns. Some places have multiple of each!
12) Airbrush, Henna, or Real Tattoo Parlors
Who doesn't want to come home all tatted up? I think the tattoo parlors hope you get so spontaneous or drunk on your vacation that you get a ridiculously regrettable tattoo. As for henna or airbrush-- that's for the people who want to feel rebellious without the commitment.
13) Caricatures
In case the unflattering sunburn wasn't enough, you paid someone to distort your face on a picture.
If you've ever been on a vacation to a popular tourist town, I know you've seen most, if not all of these. There's a reason places have the above attractions-- because mostly they're fun, and they contribute to memorable vacations. We are all guilty of buying into these things, but it's part of the fun!
I hope you have a fantastic summer-- travel safe!
