It’s a perennial challenge for holidaymakers… how to get far from Nomading crowd of tourist traps.
Because the wonders of the world aren’t wonders for nothing and we all want to see them, and all of us at the same time.
But here’s what we forget, we have it in our own hands, or legs, to veer slightly off the hubs to avoid the tourist premiums.
Now because we prefer others to do the heavy lifting for us we’ve left it up to app Getnomad.
Who have compiled a list of reviewers’ biggest tourist traps.
Off the beaten track
Many we’ve visited for ourselves but few that have stung me.
Because what God, or the merchants who think they are, takes with one hand he gives with another.
In the form of a world nearby where you can feed and water yourself for regular Earth Money before moving on to your tourist site.
What the Romans did for us
Find yourself as a backpacker looping around Rome at the end of a 100km Via Francigena walk and you’ll learn the best deals.
So rather than dining in the shadow of the Trevi Fountain which ranks high on the Nomad list.
You can pick up a pezzo slice at a trattoria take-away and sit on the Spanish Steps or Wedding Cake, the Victor Emmanuel II Monument.
Barca loner
And when it comes to Barcelona, second with Getnomad, then it’s not for nothing that Christopher Columbus points away from Las Ramblas.
To the Catalonian city’s districts and beachfronts for your tapas and Rioja.
Capital growth
With 30 years of life experience around Edinburgh and Dublin I know my way around the Scottish and Irish capitals.
And that dining at The Witchery next to Edinburgh Castle comes at a price you won’t pay halfway down at Deacon Brodie’s.
Where you can learn about how he inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Dr Jekyll & Master Hyde.
Equally those who follow the tourist trail to Temple Bar will discover a packaged Oirish Dublin for foreigners for the price of an organ.
While almost anywhere on either side of the Liffey will open up real Dublin and Dubliners and not empty your pockets.
Check it out
Bulking out the top 5 in the Nomading crowd of tourist traps are Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco and Wall Drug, South Dakota in equal first.
With the Wharf marked down for being ‘dirty, run down and overcrowded,’ with its only redeeming feature its seals.
And the Wild West world of Wall Drug described as ‘very crammed and tacky.’
While the Cold War equivalent can be found at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, an experience you can savour elsewhere for nothing.
Getnomad helpfully flags up the most expensive tourist traps worldwide.
Now or never
And whisper it, their reviewers have only turned on Elvis Presley here with a graceless attack on Graceland.
For its $84 cover charge which zeroes in on perceived poor organisation and long queues.
And ignoring its cornucopia of prized Presley artefacts and his and his family’s grave all set against Elvis’s music.
And seeing that you’ll have made a conscious decision to go to Tennessee for its music.
We’d say don’t scrimp and save… it’s now or never.
You barter you bet
Similarly it’s probably more of a First World reaction to poopoo the $70 Petra charge.
And yes, there are stalls selling Indiana Jones bullwhips.
But spending a day at one of the Wonders of the World for the price of a lunch for two is a small price to pay.
Those of us with more Western sensibilities do, of course, need to adapt to the bartering culture of the Middle East and North Africa.
And in truth all our travel experience are relative.
So full disclosure here, Jordan’s souks and Turkey’s Grand Bazaar in Istanbul good.
But I still shiver at the memory of being fleeced in Jemaa el-Fnaa in Marrakech in Morocco.
So, of course, my fellow Bandanini and Bandanettes this is just our take on what is happening far from Nomading crowd of tourist traps.
Share with us your views and…
MEET YOU ON THE ROAD
