I write stuff on the internet for a living, and people are welcome to chime in with their takes, both positive and negative. I’ve been doing this for over half my life, so I’m used to the varying opinions on many topics, and I welcome criticism, especially when it’s constructive.
I’d like to dedicate a post to addressing a subset of OMAAT readers who seemingly always take issue with the way that I travel. I’d label these people as the “holier than thou” travel crowd, who think they are the ones who travel right, and everyone else travels wrong. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that these are also people who generally only leave negative comments and never have anything nice to say, but keep reading. I digress…
I totally understand if you don’t like how I travel!
Let me address this in the form of an example. I recently wrote the introduction post to my latest trip report, about a birthday trip to the Golden Triangle. Reader Cletus commented the following:
Siri, plan a trip to Thailand, but isolate me from local people and culture as much as possible.
I responded as follows:
I’m a little confused. So you believe there are no worthwhile experiences to be had in Bangkok, the Golden Triangle, etc.? Yes, I generally stay at major international chain hotels, because reviewing those is part of what I do for a living. But does that mean I can’t have other interesting and meaningful experiences?
Cletus responded with this:
You’ve never provided evidence of having done so. You only ever stay inside your luxury hotel, and have highly-curated experiences there. You’ve never posted about interacting with a local person who wasn’t serving you.
I responded as follows:
Sorry, I’ve never “provided evidence” of having interacted with a local anywhere who wasn’t serving me? That’s just ridiculous hyperbole.
Hey, you’re more than welcome to rib me for perceiving that I only stay in hotels. But just because my blog is primarily about a certain thing doesn’t mean it’s the extent of everything I do.
For example, if I go to Brunei or Qatar and hang out with locals who I know, does that qualify as being isolated from the local people?
And let me go on to ask you something. How do you go about interacting with locals in a way that’s in no way transactional? So for example, if you visit a city for a first time, what’s your approach to sightseeing, when you remove anything where there could be a financial aspect to it?
Cletus didn’t respond to that, but then commented the following:
But how often do you speak to Japanese people who don’t work in your hotel or a service establishment? How many kilometers per day do you walk on your own without the assistance of a handler, or without being carted around in a taxi or Uber? Do you even have a Suica card?
So I responded as follows:
When I travel, assuming it’s not super cold, I average around 20K steps per day. Now could you answer the question I posed to you below, please?
He still hasn’t answered the question…
I think everyone should travel the way they’d like to
Let me share my take on all of this in a little more detail. I completely understand if people think the way that I travel doesn’t sound fun, and think that many aspects of my travel sound isolating. I also understand why many people don’t like the extent to which my hotel reviews have focused more on luxury properties (that’s something I’ve addressed in a separate post). That’s all totally fair. But I also think this misses some really key points.
First of all, covering airlines and hotels is my business. Virtually all of my travel has a “business” angle, in the sense that I write about it, and I consider that to be my niche.
And you know what? People are sometimes right when they say that during parts of my travel, I don’t actually see that much. For example, I often try to review several hotels in a city, and will stay one night at each. As any OMAAT reader can attest to, I write very detailed reviews and take hundreds of pictures on a one-night stay, and that’s a full time job. Yes, in those situations I eat at hotel restaurants, and I explore every hotel amenity. And in those situations, I often don’t see a lot.
For example, during the recent trip in Thailand that’s being criticized above, I made three one-night stays in Bangkok. Yes, during those three nights, I barely left the hotels (we also spent three nights at one hotel, where we did spend a ton of time outside the property).
But what I find so odd is that this is quite literally the definition of a “work” trip. If someone else is sent by their boss on a business trip to XYZ destination, do you criticize them for not experiencing more of the culture? I’m not a backpacker in my early 20s who is exploring the world and is free of all obligations. I’m in my mid-30s, have a family, and need to be efficient with my time.
Next, when I do travel and have time (in other words, I’m staying somewhere for more than one night), I do everything I can to have meaningful experiences, from visiting museums, to going out to nice meals, to walking endlessly (I consistently walk a ton when I travel, as that’s my favorite way to explore).
Maybe I should write more about those things. To be honest, part of the reason I don’t is because it’s really the only time when I travel where I really “unwind.” When I’m at hotels, on planes, or at airports, I’m documenting everything, I’m waiting to basically knock down the door on every restaurant as it opens, so that I can get pictures without anyone in it, etc. I’ve also written about the unglamorous reality of my review trips.
So when I actually get to go out and do things without meticulously documenting everything, that’s when I truly get to relax.
Let me push back a little against those who consider themselves to be the enlightened class of cultured travelers, and want to go online to tell others how they’re doing things wrong. Let me start by mentioning that most happy people I know are just living their best lives, and not just trolling the internet, telling others how poorly they’re living their lives. 😉
It basically comes down to the crowd of people who think “I’m a traveler, and everyone else is a tourist,” and those people are generally pretty insufferable. It’s fine to think the way that you travel is great, I just don’t understand the desire to judge others. If there’s one lesson I’ve learned from travel, it’s to judge others less. I think these people largely just aren’t honest with themselves. If you remove any sort of transactions from visiting destinations, what does that really leave?
From museums, to a local dining experience, to a food tour, everything is on some level transactional, and has a business element to it. Cletus asks “how often do you speak to Japanese people who don’t work in your hotel or a service establishment?” I mean, I suppose it’s a fair point, but if you eliminate any monetary incentives, what does that leave us with? Going up to random people on the street and demanding they speak with me? Also, just factually, most Japanese people who don’t work in hospitality also don’t speak English.
You can have meaningful experiences with locals even when there is a transactional element to it. This dude is asking me to “prove” that I interact with locals. As an example, I have friends in many places I visit, and I’ll often meet up with them. They’ll even show me around, and will generously be my guide for the day. I need to prove that? Should I give their names, dates of birth, provide timestamps of what we did, etc.?
Bottom line
The way I travel shouldn’t be the way you travel. For that matter, the way I travel would definitely be different if I weren’t writing about airlines and hotels for a living. I’m really lucky that I get to do what I love for a living. While it’s not always as glamorous as some people may assume, I really enjoy it.
When people accuse me of sometimes barely leaving a hotel… well, sometimes they’re absolutely right! When you stay at a hotel for one night and want to write a very detailed review, that takes some effort, and compromises need to be made. However, when people accuse me of never leaving hotels or interacting with locals, well, that’s just not accurate.
I collectively spend a few months per year on the road, and it would be irresponsible if I just did that purely in a way that maximized the fun I had, with no business element to it, given that I have a family. I certainly don’t always get the balance right, but I do my best, and I figure it’s worth at least providing some perspective on why…