https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020 ... ifferently

I think this is really interesting and perhaps evocative of the way travel is going to change post-coronavirus. People who are from these places are getting to enjoy the heart of their culture again and they aren't too keen or giving it back up to the drunk horde. Positive development.

Eh, nobody likes stag and hen parties. They really don't spend that much money on the economy for the effort they require to manage.

But ask the little shopkeepers if they want all the real vacationers to go away, and you'll get a different answer.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Eh those "little shopkeepers" are actually not so little, and the people who look like they are running them often aren't. Kitschy souvenir shops are really a cancer.

I don't mean the shitty Chinese stocked souvenir stores. I mean the little food and coffee places, little stores, tour guides, museum workers, music venues, etc.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Well the locals eat food and drink coffee too, you know? They also like their little stores. And I dont think museums are necessarily what bothers them either, or people coming into town to see a concert.

Its the crush of commercial mass tourism. They are tired of it and I dont think they want it to come back. Combined with the environmental impetus to cut back on short-haul flights, I think this may be one of the more lasting corona virus changes.

Cheaper prices and fewer crowds for me then. I keep on trying to get to Budapest and various events have gotten in the way. Seems like September 2021 should be about the right time.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

They do need to restrain tourism in several places in Europe. Large sections of Rome, Florence, Barcelona, Paris, and Athens (plus the entirety of Venice) have essentially been turned into adult theme parks. If I lived in one of those cities, I would be ticked off. I know tourism brings in money, but if they don't take a more active role in managing it, the places are going to start to become unattractive to visitors.

There aren't many equivalent places in the USA to what many European cities go through. New Orleans is probably your only real example of somewhere that has just been crushed by the maw of mass tourism. Places like Navy Pier, Times Square etc. never really held much appeal or cultural significance and their "loss" isn't really felt. Chicagoans vastly prefer their lakefront trail and parks to Navy Pier and are quite content with never having to "experience" anything to do with tourist traps like the pier or Mag Mile, I think we all know that much.

But Europe is quite a bit different. If I were Polish and I couldn't really go to the Krakow city centre because I didn't want to be accosted by drunk anglophones, but then one day suddenly I could experience an eight hundred year old city that just exudes the culture and heritage of my people I would not be so willing to give that back up. Especially when you consider the destruction wrought on Warsaw (which is in an unfrotuante tie for "most destroyed city by war" of all time with places like Grozny and Carthage) and all the struggles of the Polish people.

We can say this about many more places around Europe. Budapest, Prague, Venice, Florence...even Paris...its just the scourge of Airbnb and foreigner bars would be better left contained not in the center of extremely historically and culturally significance places. And really, the presence of foreign tourists should never exceed the local population (I dont even think it should be 10%, tbh). I think this is a realisation a lot of people are having on the old continent, and they are having it all at once. If that means less money, then so be it.

Really interesting that Poland, like Japan, is subsidizing domestic travel at rates as high as 90%.

See I guess I never really went for that crowd. Sure I went to Prague twice, but I went alone or with one other person, stayed in an upscale hotel away from downtown, hit the castle like everyone else but took the city bus and not a tour bus. I did the 5 week train thing with a girlfriend about 30 years ago, when social media hadn't ruined everything, and have taken probably 30 short trips since then, almost always during shoulder season or over US Labor Day.

I had been going to London a lot since the pound crashed, as it's an easy place to get around and then get a quick flight somewhere else. Last time we went in January, we spent most of our time in some decidedly non tourist areas like west Hammersmith and Peckham Rye. Other than wandering out to Wimbledon to see Centre Court and their museum, we were not around tourists except in our hotel lobby (they were on a stereotypical bus tour). We thought it was one of our best trips, except that one of our favorite restaurants in Ealing had gone out of business the week before we arrived.

We did run through tourist areas in the one day we were in Dublin (avoiding Heathrow APD paid for the airfare and hotel), and I would have hated being there any time other than a January weekday for all the reasons you mention.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

London isn't really a tourist destination I dont think. Weather sucks, crime's bad, the city is pretty ugly and while the museums are unmatched people dont really travel for museums anymore.

I like London, but consumer tourists typically dont. Paris, otoh...

One thing I don't like is that now everyone speaks English except for the small towns. In the 90s, I had a laminated card of pictograms, and I'd use that and some Greek or high school Spanish to try and communicate. That's when you could easily tell if the other person was nice or an asshole.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

That was always the amusing thing about travelling years ago. If you respected the people and places you visited by making a small effort to communicate with people in their own toungues it almost always ended up being a pleasant experience.

And then there were the arrogant travelers.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

French people still dont want to learn english. Even the teenagers and young people.

Apps make this much easier to do these days as well.

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I have a story too long to tell here about two stereotypical Texan couples I encountered at the Madrid airport business class lounge who didn't understand why the lounge staff didn't speak English. Probably 1997.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Which makes not respectfully making a simple courtesy even more egregious.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I know this is 1997 but even then anyone who works at an airport should speak english.

Sure, but should the woman who stocks the buffet be able to understand a thick Texas drawl?

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

I just learn the greeting, please and thank you. Sometimes just the greeting. The whole phone translation thing sucks, phones in general suck.

There were a couple of couples we were wandering around with in Martinique who got loud when they couldn't get a bartender to understand their request for Sprites until they agreed to buy two for $5 each. Moments later I apologized to the lady for their rudeness and got Heinekens for $2 a bottle. Strangely the other two couples and us split away from us when I told them what I'd paid, and that I had apologized for their behavior.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I mean, maybe the thick Texas drawl really makes it difficult but she should know the basics. Its an airport, english is the language of aviation.

Sometimes that's enough. Sad that many don't realize that.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

London is awesome. My wife and I spent 12 days in London about nine years ago and absolutely loved it. It's not like the other cities I mentioned in my earlier post. It's a real living and working city through and through. It definitely has tourist sites, but they are surrounded by real functional neighborhoods. Also, contrary to popular belief, the food is excellent. It's like dining in New York or Chicago, you can find virtually any type of food your heart desires.