| Do 
                          not leave your homes
                          It's been 
                          a gradual transition, but it's finally happened. Something 
                          has replaced The Gap as my vote for the creepiest place 
                          on Queen St. W. The glowing white sign with red, plain, 
                          sans serif lettering: The Flight Centre. 
                         The office 
                          is always brightly lit, the sign with its prices visible 
                          to passers-by any time of the day or night. It's hard 
                          not to look -- the magic-markered-in numbers 
                          could have dropped to a reasonable range, after all. 
                          Maybe you could fly into Prague this weekend and surprise 
                          your old girlfriend? Or why not check out Bangkok -- 
                          it's not too much more. Hey, Tokyo would be awesome, 
                          wouldn't it? 
                         As someone 
                          who travels a lot, I am not only susceptible to thoughts 
                          like these -- I've acted on them plenty. And while I 
                          believe that there's many interesting things travel 
                          can do to a person, it sort of freaks me out that everyone 
                          agrees with that. Everyone from your anarchist trainhopper 
                          to your stuffy ol' businessman agrees: travel is a good 
                          thing. 
                         What happens 
                          when something is universally viewed as good? Well, 
                          there's oversimplification going on, by default. It 
                          also creates a social pressure to do it -- "doing Europe" 
                          is an obligation, an experience without which makes 
                          you a less interesting and whole human being. 
                         Travel, the 
                          complex and problematic entertainment that it is, is 
                          most often split up into backpackers and tourists. Tourists 
                          are picked on a lot for their chosen mode of travelling, 
                          so I am going to pick on backpackers instead.
                          What's 
                          Wrong With This Picture? 
                          The backpacker 
                          steps off the bus in a small town in Mexico. He ignores 
                          the man who is telling him about a cheap hotel -- the 
                          backpacker hates touts. He finds a phone booth and sets 
                          down his pack, making sure the Canadian flag stitched 
                          on it is facing out. He flips through his Lonely Planet 
                          and starts calling the budget hostels and hotels until 
                          he finds one with a room. When he gets there, the price 
                          is a dollar or two higher than quoted in the book. This 
                          bugs him, and he points at it a few times; the lady 
                          behind the desk just shrugs. He doesn't want to be ripped 
                          off but he wants to be a bigmouthed American type even 
                          less, so he takes the room. 
                         The main 
                          thing wrong with this is not really what he did, but 
                          why he did it. Why does he hate the tout? Not just because 
                          they're aggressively offering a service, but because 
                          they're proof that what he's not doing anything new 
                          -- high in the backpacker's list of pretences is that 
                          they're some kind of romantic explorers. Somehow this 
                          is maintained even in the face of the ubiquitous travel 
                          guide. 
                         Why does 
                          he have a Canadian flag sewn to his backpack? To show 
                          that he isn't American, despite the fact that he talks, 
                          looks and acts like one. All the advantages of the cultural 
                          elite but none of the social stigma. He's certainly 
                          just as much a missionary of the North American culture, 
                          a tangible proof of the word spread by TV and CD: if 
                          they can afford to send their kids on two month vacations, 
                          they must be doing something right! Maybe if we learn 
                          English we can get some of that... 
                         Of course, 
                          why we really can afford this leisure is due to us exploiting 
                          the labour and resources of developing countries. Which 
                          is why our backpacker's dickering over an amount not 
                          worth his time back home -- on the basis that it was 
                          worth something in Mexico, and worried that the hotel 
                          owner was exploiting him -- was especially ironic. 
                         A month later, 
                          our backpacker is free of the bag of possessions that 
                          laid on his shoulders like a cross, like a kind of obscure 
                          penance for being there. He's in a bar in his hometown, 
                          talking about Mexico. Talking about how surly they are. 
                          How hard it was to eat vegetarian. How that stupid song 
                          Livin' the Viva Loca was everywhere. But man, the beer 
                          was cheap! And the way of life was totally different, 
                          such a rich culture! Did I tell you about the pinyata? 
                          
                         The backpacker 
                          is just the frontline in the tourist assault. They go 
                          in first and bring back stories that are better than 
                          any advertising. They get the natives softened up and 
                          used to a tourist-based, emasculating economy. 
                         I'm not trying 
                          to convince you that travel sucks -- travel can be everything 
                          they say it is, but nothing's without a cost. Why the 
                          Flight Centre disturbs me more than The Gap is because 
                          at least people acknowledge more of the truth about 
                          the sweatshop sweaters, while everything about travel 
                          is prozac positive. 
                         Why do you 
                          want to travel? Is it because your life is dull? Why 
                          not try to change your life and the society around you 
                          rather than escaping to a fantasyland? Why not microadventure 
                          rather than macroadventure by finding the bizarre worlds 
                          under your nose? 
                         While you're 
                          answering those questions, I'll be planning my next 
                          trip.  # This 
                          article originally appeared in The 
                          New Irregular. |