Standing on top of the ancient world, the Acropolis, I reflected that somewhere, somehow, someone will be turning up their nose.
A relative of mine walked the Via Delarosa and said they felt no passion.
While a former Travel colleague thought the Trevi Fountain a wet blanket and the Leaning Tower of Pisa on the decline.
And Big Ben just a clock… it is, in fact, the bell not the clock, but we won’t quibble. See http://www.visitlondon.com.
I’ve yet to walk the Via Delarosa. I have an idea that it will be moving but have an open mind. https://info.goisrael.com/en/the-via-dolorosa.
I love the Trevi Fountain https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/04/see-rome-on-e50/. Also see http://www.romeinformation.it.
And Big Ben and London. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/06/23/carole-king-youre-beautiful/.
Now everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
And to share it.
Although in today’s world too many people are only too willing to thrust their own negative judgments on you.
Whether you want to hear them or not.
You need to have something to say and you feel you have more kudos if it involves giving someone or something a kicking.
It is a growing Travel snobbery that I feel has crept in from the world of food snobbery.
Travel snobbery gives you ownership of a destination or an out-of-the-way natural beauty spot.
You know the type… ‘oh, I went there before the tourists swarmed all over it.’
And ‘shouldn’t tourists with selfie sticks be banned?’
Or ‘oh, I hate people who just want to tick destinations off their bucket list, they’re not proper Travellers.’
Now let’s deal with some of those complaints individually:
Not everyone’s cup of tea
I get it. If you don’t feel it, you don’t feel it and it doesn’t mean you don’t have a soul.
But is it just attention-grabbing to suggest the Trevi Fountain is well meh?
Really, you won’t be diminished if you just say that you can understand how other people are enchanted by it.
But that you just don’t get that same feeling.
I mean I was underwhelmed when I first set eyes on the Mona Lisa.
I’ve been thinking, when I’ve been drinking, is it because there is so much pressure to be impressed?
You can go one of two ways.
Either be bowled over by it because subconsciously you feel you should.
Or rally against it because you don’t want anyone to tell you what to think.
Are we really taking control of our own thought processes?
OMG… I’m turning into Carrie Bradshaw.
Those selfish selfies
A favourite post-holiday grumble is that you can’t get anywhere near the site because of selfie-stick holders.
And let’s call it like it is, or point the finger at the naysayers to call it as they see it…
They’re usually Asians.
Now one of the stranger things I’ve seen on my travels is a group of Chinese visitors at the Tiso shop on top of the Jungfraujoch railway https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/swhisskey/
I was told by my Swiss guests that they were buying their watches and taking selfie pics there so that they could show them off to their friends and family back home.
Which was worth shelling out the extra cash.
Now I’ve been lucky enough to be given a number of selfie sticks on my travels.
But they’re all sitting broken in a drawer now, more plastic!
Nor do I really know how to use them. I’ve backtracked and stopped using them.
And there’s a great by-product you get to talk to real live people when you ask them to take your pic.
Buck it list?
We all of us have limited time on this planet.
And we all want to see the world’s great landmarks.
At the same time.
In the same place… the Sistine Chapel.
Yes, people shouldn’t take photos with flash. But what to do… confiscate phones?
It does detract from your enjoyment when the stewards whistle snd holler when yet another person flashes (the camera on their mobile).
It’s overtourism, and while it’s unrealistic that we can cut the numbers visiting the chapel, and I wouldn’t want to…
We can let in fewer people at any given time, reduce the time you’re there and create more slots.
Simples.
MEET YOU ON THE ACROPOLIS
