Disappointments

Ok I’m going to risk sounding like an arrogant prat. I’m going to confess that not every place I’ve been fortunate enough to visit has been amazing, wonderful and/or incredible. I blame it entirely on the 21st century. Six hundred years ago travellers were still conquerors, discovering lands for the first time and being amazed by what they saw, simply because it was novel and therefore exotic. (When I say ‘the first time’ yes, I fully acknowledge my white Western colonial bastard perspective.) Nowadays, before you even step foot on a place, you can Google a place, read about it in a magazine or book, watch YouTube videos and, if you’re really diligent, talk to the people of just about any nation on this planet. Possibly even other planets! There’s little ‘new’ left. I’m pretty sure I can run an internet search on a backwater African village, population 42 and ‘discover’ the opening times of their local market.

The point is, these days we run the risk of not only ‘knowing’ our destination before we get there, but consequently being totally underwhelmed by it. I was choking with indignation when, gazing out over the Colosseum, I overheard one person say to another ‘Mmm... it’s not as big as I thought it would be. A bit disappointing’. I was astonished and even a little bit upset. But the truth is, I arrived at the Great Wall of China and thought ‘It is amazing, no doubt, but really..... it’s just a wall. The surrounding scenery is far more spectacular’. Before you choke too, consider that it was minus 8⁰C, I was woefully underdressed, I’d just ridden in a tiny tiny glass gondola that was so frightening it made me cry, there were hundreds of people, I slipped over on the ice and I’d already seen this image a thousand times. It was only later when I found out something about its history – the incredible story behind its creation, it’s woeful underutilisation and its fascinating construction – that I actually appreciated what I’d seen.

Appreciating travel icons actually takes a bit of work and, ridiculous  I know, a little of our own imagination. It’s still about connection, and for me it always will be.

I’ll leave the last word on travel icon saturation to my mother. An Italian senior citizen, sceptical and impatient at the best of times, she was excited about seeing Uluru. She had already heard so much about it. Her tour bus pulled into the carpark with hundreds of other vehicles. She noted people were having silver service dinners, sipping champagne, others were chattering excitedly about the imminent sunset. Everyone was lining up their cameras and videos for that special moment when the sun dips over the horizon. She was all hyped up for it. Well, the moment arrived and although she could hear the ‘ooohs’ and ‘aahhhs’ around her she couldn’t figure out what was going on. Then suddenly everyone was getting back into their cars and driving away. ‘That was it’, she said. ‘We drove all this way to see.... what?’. She was truly perplexed. I’m not sure what she was expecting, but someone explained to her that the novelty was seeing the beautiful colours of the rock shimmer and deepen in the changing light.

In true form she snorted in disgust and muttered the Italian equivalent of ‘Well, f..k me’ as she clambered back on the bus. ‘That was a f...g waste of time’ she said.

It made us laugh for years. :-)