My take on Tourism

"When I guide tourists through my city they're always in a hurry, always anxious to see one sight so they can cross it off the list and move onto the next. They're always asking about tomorrow, and the next day. Why is this?” These are words of a tourist guide character in a John Grisham novel I recently read. And ever since I read this line I can’t avoid looking back at my previous tours and its experiences. I have decided to evaluate the truth behind this statement.

Off late I have been on 3 tours - a 3 day trip to Paris, a 2-day visit to Northern Ireland and a 2-day trip to Swiss. On the outset, this looks a very handy list. But when I scratch the surface a bit, all is not rosy underneath.

All the above 3 trips are actually a blur now. It is funny I say this because it is not even a month since I came back from Paris, and Eiffel tower is too huge to become a blur. But the basic problem is all the above are beautiful places and 2 or 3 days is not enough to take in their rich history and culture. Of course, it does give me bragging rights over a few of my pals. “Hey look at my snaps taken at Swiss” beats the hell out of “Look at my snaps at Nandhi hills”. And I can tell stories (half of them bogus) about the people and flavors of a few European cities. But to be perfectly honest with myself did I enjoy the short vacation?

I would say no, because I was always in a hurry just like Grisham said. Even when I was in the Eiffel tower I was thinking about the photos and the next boat cruise. And if I think now, I actually spent only 10 minutes on the top of the fabulous Jungfraugh Mountain (Swiss) because we had to catch a train to the next place. This surely doesn’t sound like fun to me now.

All my foreign trips pale in comparison to my fabulous Goa trip 2 years back. We spent 4 days in Goa on that trip. It was August, off-season and Goa was without its usual festivities and water sports. And we didn’t exactly visit every important place in Goa either. But it was 6 of us walking the streets and taking in the sights with no care in the world. We stayed in a beach-side cottage, roamed in bikes, took a boat cruise and had 2-hour lunch/dinners. We didn’t care about time because we never bothered about the next place. After all, the next place would be another beach with a different name. In fact, we spent a whole day in Goa just for shopping. Come to think of it, 6 men spending a day for shopping is extremely funny. It was mostly window shopping and roaming except for some liquor for friends back home. We were relaxed and unwound and it was great fun because we had no expectations.

Now this is what I come to expect of a trip. Not the holiday madness where I have to get up at 6 a.m. to catch the 1^st train to a scenic place which takes 2 hours and after spending 30 minutes in that scenic place run to the next. On the downside, places like Swiss and Paris are not exactly cheap enough for spending a week to relax and sight-see. So there is no other option but to do quick trips to such places.

At the end of this thought process, I have realized that I neither want such short trips or their petty bragging rights. I would rather avoid the tension of the crammed holidays. So I uphold Grisham’s scathing assault on tourists and vote for leisurely holidays which truly are spent with leisure. Now bring me the Caribbean or maybe even Niagara?

Your views are welcome. The more controversial they are then the better.