Too Little, Too Late

I've been gone for a while and in this time things have gotten heavy in the travel editorial/advice/trend world. There are a zillion new publications in the online blog and travel zine realm. There are also all sorts of new innovations and destinations - Cuba, Ecotourism, Missionary Trips etc. With all these "developments" comes a whole new wave of interest, criticism, thought, planning etc. In my opinion, it's like going to Mars or setting out to find the "brave new world". Someone has to do it, there has to be a pioneer and then everyone follows suit. There will be growth and changes, but for now there is zero perspective in how it all turns out. That is where people like me fall in. We provide some experience - not all, but just enough to encourage those who are on the brink of discovery. While I myself have not stepped on a plane since 2013, I advocate for travel on a daily basis. No matter where I am or who I meet I am asking if they have a passport and what are their plans. I am also delving into all these hot topics hoping to be of use when the things become a thing.


It is all wishful thinking. Some of these glossy pictorials and travel diaries only tell half of the story. While it is nice to lurk upon ones international exploration via Instagram you are only getting one side of the story. Even the photo above is just a bus terminal during a rainy sunset. In this latest season of "No Reservations", Anthony Bourdain says it best, "You are seeing it from my eyes, if you come you may see it differently". So with that being said, there is no blog or magazine that can tell you anything about what to expect. In fact, most of these sources based on my itty bitty experience in travel are full of misinformation. There are also those havens for traveling in a group, with a school but really not much for going it alone or going beyond age 30. Surely, if I am apart of some niche group of backpackers or thrill seekers there is some resource that is tried & true. However, if you want to curate an experience uniquely your own there is no one place to find out how exactly to do it. This is why I loathe all these new sites geared to one level of travel. 

We all know what that is. There is the travel you see on television and in magazines. There is the travel your friend's best friends cousin did last Spring. There is the Groupon click of stock images where what see is never what you get. So sites like Jezebel which offer a traveling spin-off entitled "Flygirl" just don't fit the bill. These are very narrow minded opinion driven pieces of misinformation to the beginning traveler. Why would I care who did what in an airport when I'm looking to spend a Summer on a train? It's so disappointing to see these pockets of useless information just spewing negativity on travel. Surely, I expect that everyone will seek a variety of information to assist them in their choices and maybe choose what they would like to accomplish in travel. However, I imagine young people, inexperienced thirty-somethings and people with travel anxiety being ultimately deterred by sources like these. Trust me if crap like this had been around in late 2012/early 2013 when I decided to leave - I would have never gone!
That is how deafening this noise it. It stops people in their tracks.

I hope in the coming weeks to get inspired by all these new methods and offer an alternative. No promises and no guarantees. Why? Because I myself am not there! But in this forum of bullshit and semi-useful information I might as well provide my two cents. As someone who is constantly discussing travel with real, living and breathing people versus finding remnants of Tumblr and YouTube and making a thought piece - I feel needed. We are on the edge of Summer, travel arrangement costs are quite low this year and there are new frontiers to explore beginning now. Don't allow some well paid, yuppie intern to keep you from setting foot on new grounds. Don't stop at the beach, or a cruise, or Cancun or Costa Rica. There is so much more out west, east, in Cuba, in the rainforest, in the Indian Ocean, in New Zealand, on the internet, in the library or in your head. Theses places have been waiting for your take and all these vlogs and pin boards - well they are too little, too late. That rhymed!