I think we can all agree that we want to travel anywhere and everywhere. I can honestly say that there are some very dangerous places on this earth that I still want to visit despite the immense risk involved. I want to see the world as many of you do. However, I struggle with places who have high tourist traffic that give you the most synthetic picture of the place you are visiting.
I am currently on my first trip to Hawaii and I was shocked by what I saw when I arrived. Everyone who works at the airport, hotels or driving the hotel shuttles was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a lei. They played Hawaiian music in the vans, and there always seems to be palm trees planted by the hotels that don't naturally grow anywhere else on the island. Maybe I’m the only one, but this bothers me.
I would much rather see the island (or any place really) through the eyes of someone who is from there and I would much rather eat at restaurants that the locals love instead of eating at a Chili’s that just happens to face the ocean. I know they must be doing all of this extra beautification and isolation from the real neighborhoods because that’s what most tourists want, but I wish there was a way to just go somewhere, y'know?
It bothers me that so many Americans want to go on vacation, but very few seem to want to go on an adventure. They want the same things that make them comfortable at home, just with a nicer view out of the window. This amazing planet of ours deserves so much more credit than that.
Do yourself a favor and the next time you go visit a new place, rent a car and explore, or pack a backpack and hike around. Either way you do it, just get away from the chain restaurants and 30-floor hotels and take an adventure. If you’re feeling super adventurous, talk to a local and really find out what happens in this new place. Even if you’ve been somewhere a thousand times, if you go for adventure and not just sitting around, it will become an all-new place, I promise.
A way to know if you’re on an adventure or just vacationing is to ask yourself one question: “am I uncomfortable?” If you’re just doing everything you’d normally do except you sleep in a little more in the morning, I challenge you to change it up. The world is big and we only have one life to live in it. Don’t just see new places; explore them.
