Sunday, May 26, 2019

Beaucoup de Voyageurs

For many of my “reflections” posts, I always encourage people to travel, to experience other cultures, to try something new — even if it’s not so far away. People appear to have done this in a big way. While I certainly can’t take credit for people traveling en masse (I do after all only have three readers), I feel it necessary to add some qualifications to this travel boom. It has become clear to Nicole and I that there is such a thing as too much tourism — a breaking point if you will, not just for us, but for the destinations themselves.

 While we were away, I was reading an article about the construction of a new airport near Machu Picchu. As it stands now, Cuzco has been the gateway to the Sacred Valley, and the act of just making it to Machu Picchu has made the experience that much richer because it simply isn’t . . .simple. Whether one hikes the Inca Trail or takes the train, it has been part of the experience. And in spite of these efforts, it certainly hasn’t prevented people from showing up in large numbers. Nicole and I visited during the offseason, when the Inca Trail was closed, and the train from Cuzco was not running the entire distance. And yet, Machu Picchu was overrun by tourists. The new airport isn’t even that much closer. It is not like 777s are landing a couple miles from the site. Anyone who has seen the surrounding terrain knows this would be impossible. The concerns about low-flying aircraft disturbing the ruins may be a bit overstated as well. I think most articles about the new airport are missing the biggest point. A new airport, one with longer runways that can accomodate larger aircraft directly from the United States is pure greed. Without the airport, 15,000 people are visiting the ruins every day in high season, twice the maximum number recommended by UNESCO. Peru has taken virtually no steps to protect its tourism cash cow because it makes them a lot of money. While it is a beautiful location, I must admit that my last visit was very frustrating. There were simply TOO MANY PEOPLE.

 While Peru is condemning its most famous ruins to almost certain destruction, some cities in Europe are trying different tactics. Cities like Venice and Amsterdam have reached breaking points. Amsterdam has dismantled its famous sign that countless tourists have taken selfies in front of. They are trying to disperse the hordes to other areas of the city, or even other areas of the country. They are also trying to appeal to a “different” type of tourist. Many come to Amsterdam to drink, smoke pot, and have a “good time.” This has led to arrests and harassment in the red-light district. Clearly there is a problem.

    So if we go back to our most recent trip, I observed some things that I find a bit concerning. Santorini no longer has the capability to sustain the throngs of people that clog its narrow streets every day. At any given time during our stay, there were at least two cruise ships docked just offshore. In high season, that number can quickly rise to five. The Santorini airport has more than 23 flights a day from Athens alone plus countless others from cities all over Europe. If you have seen the airport, you would wonder how any of this is physically possible. Its terminal is smaller than Durango Regional Airport in Colorado, which has maybe 3-4 flights a day total. All of these people arriving by ship, aircraft, and ferry soon crowd the two main towns of the island. If one person stops to take a picture, look at a menu, or simply look around confused, the 200 people behind them must also stop. It is not an enjoyable situation. And yet, what is my point? Avoid Santorini? I can’t in good faith tell people not to go to the most famous Greek isle. If a person were to book a trip to the Greek Islands and not go to Santorini, all of their peers would question their judgment because all of their peers are jerks who are perpetuating the myth that Santorini is amazing. While I agree Santorini has the potential to be amazing, in its current state, it is a chlostrophobic’s nightmare and a selfie-taker’s photo op at best. And that’s really the problem. People find ways to crop the crowds out and take that perfect selfie with the blue domes and the sun-kissed white buildings perched on the cliffside. They share it on facebook or Instagram and all their friends can “like” it and be jealous. What they don’t show is the line behind them to take the same selfie, or the fact that their choice to wear a sundress and wide-brimmed hat wasn’t actually thoughtful because it’s 50 degrees and the wind is gusting at 30mph over the cliffs. BUT to take a selfie with a puffy jacket and jeans would spoil the myth and surely wouldn’t impress their friends.

 When Nicole and I got to Paros, it was like our vacation had begun (some five days after we left Los Angeles). Perhaps it is coincidence, but more likely it is that we were someplace real. We saw homes with laundry hanging across alleyways, kids hanging out by a school, old men sharing a smoke at a taverna. It sounds absurd, but you don’t actually see any of this in Santorini. All you see are other tourists. And my whole point in encouraging travel in the past was for people to experience something new. How can this happen in a place where so many other people are just the same? When we picked up the rental car in Santorini, the agent looked at my license and said, “Lots of people from California this week.” My face sunk a little. They were probably the people in the sundresses and wide-brimmed hats taking selfies. Californians are really good at perpetuating myths about good weather. It’s been the worst weather in Southern California in decades. It never rains in Southern California? I’ve shot more instrument approaches into LAX because of bad weather than any other airport this year. We are 15 degrees below our average temperature, and have seen fewer days of sun this year than any other time since I moved to Los Angeles. You wouldn’t know any of this because Sundress McGee, who interestingly enough was also a contestant on ABC’s The Bachelor, has led you to believe that SoCal is perpetually 75, sunny, and perfect beach weather ALL THE TIME.

 Santorini is of course an extreme example of overcrowding, but even places like Taormina, a town you’ve probably never heard of, is overrun by tourism. But Taormina is an interesting example because it was impossible to walk and all of a sudden it was deserted. It is packed between the hours of 11am-8pm, and then nothing. Clearly none of the tour groups stay in town and instead all arrive at the same time at 11am. In the morning, the guy working the gelato shop looked very bored. Three hours later, he looked like he was questioning all of his life’s decisions that led him to this point. So the solution, at least to Taormina, is perhaps some staggering of the tour groups. Crowding in larger cities like New York, London, or Paris is to be expected, but these cities can typically handle it. I really don’t like being in a crowd, but it makes sense when you’re in a city of millions. It’s a problem when you’re in a small town and 10,000 people are inexplicably showing up like it’s the staging area for D-Day.

 So what then is the solution? The only way toward improving the situation is for leaders to make some unpopular and difficult choices. UNESCO, as an organization has made a list of places that it deems worthy of protection, and has set forth some guidelines for local leaders to ensure their sustainability. UNESCO sites are numerous and range from things like national parks to points of historical importance to towns that just look cute like Québec City or Guanajuato, Mexico. The government of Peru clearly doesn’t care what UNESCO thinks and has elected to take the side of money over preservation of a historical monument. And to a point, you have to understand their line of thinking (as flawed as it may be). And yet, they could have taken steps to limit the number of visitors without sacrificing the popularity of their most treasured attraction. For the extreme opposite example, I direct you to Coyote Buttes North, but you may know it as “The Wave.” And if you don’t recognize that name, you’ve definitely seen photos of it in National Geographic or over some motivational poster or just hanging in your doctor’s office. The unique wavy rock formations have intrigued many and people must ask, “Where is that?” Unfortunately, it’s not easy to get to. Sure, it’s in the middle of the desert, but that’s not the hard part. Not just anyone gets the privilege to hike the three miles on an unmarked trail across a flash flood zone to “the wave.” You literally have to win the lottery. You see,in an effort to limit the human effects on the fragile environment, the National Park service has limited the number of daily hikers. You must apply online months ahead of time (and pay a fee for the trouble), only to be rejected in an impersonal email that tells you how unlucky you were.  Coyote Buttes North, the coolest thing you’ll never see, and the true meaning of wanderlust.  


 While “The Wave,” is certainly an extreme example, it could be a guideline for other overcrowded places. I visited the temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia some eight years ago. At that point in time, there were crowds, but never did I feel that it was overcrowded. Judging by my facebook and instagram feed, that has changed. Cambodia requires a tourist visa that you must apply for ahead of time online. Would it be too much trouble to have an additional step in the process to apply for access to the temples? This way the number of visitors can be regulated, but people won’t get turned around at the gates either. Thailand had to shut down its most famous beach last year because people destroyed the coral, trashed it, and literally killed anything that made the beach pristine and beautiful in the first place. Palau in Micronesia has added an environmental protection tax to all flights arriving on the island to help save what’s left of places like Jellyfish lake. There are numerous ways to combat the issues of excess tourism, but it seems that nobody wants to act until it’s too late. Is it impossible to limit Santorini to one cruise ship a day? Maybe. And on the flip side, if those other cruise ships start going to other islands in place of Santorini, then those islands will be ruined as well. Should Santorini (and its overcrowded cousin Mykonos) be sacrificed to save a dozen others? It is a moral quandary that I don’t care to partake in.

 As a result of our experiences, Nicole and I are increasingly flocking toward the more obscure, hidden wonders of this planet. This is not just because we hate being around people and popular destinations, but we actually have had our most cherished memories in places like Bosnia or Sri Lanka. People often judge some of our choices. “You’ll get your car stolen in Albania!,” “Why would you ever go to Belfast? Dublin’s where it’s at!,” or “Aren’t the Vietnamese still mad at us?” are just a few things we have heard over the years. You could say we’re doing our part to achieve the Amsterdam goal of dispersing tourists to lesser known destinations. Next month, we will be going to cheer on the U.S. women’s soccer team at the World Cup in France, but it won’t be in Paris. It will be in Reims, a small town to the east that doesn’t even have its own airport. But Nicole and I have the fortune to be making choices like that. If someone hasn’t been to France before, they would have to go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and eat baguettes on the Champs-Elysées. We have the luxury to say no to all that, a luxury that I promise will never be taken for granted. And maybe it is because Nicole and I have had this crazy fortune to have been to so many places that only now do we realize issues like . . .crowds. Maybe a first-time visitor just accepts their fate and knows no different, and is still somehow able to actually enjoy the experience. Kudos to them for being able to pull that off. Unfortunately for us, the spoiled celebrity couple you know as Bricole, that time has passed and I think it will be some time before we end up in a super popular tourist destination again. Well, at least we’ll always have Paris.  


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