
The Lost Art of Staying Put - kawera
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/lost-art-of-staying-put-ellmann
======
foodislove
The first time my mother took me to Beijing, it was a mess. There were few
streetlights, few shops that sold western amenities, yet I loved it. It was
different. There was no Starbucks, yet every little alleyway there were stalls
that sold dumplings to deep fried dough to stinky tofu.

Now, all the alleyways have been closed down. Starbucks, KFC, Macdonald's and
other generic shops dot the landscape. Every major city now serves Starbucks
styled over-roasted coffee along with obligatory Gucci, Toyota, and Apple
shops.

It takes a lot of effort to really experience something different. Perhaps the
author is right that it's about brownie points these days, but I'm an old
school romantic and I still love that feeling of visiting a city or town that
I've only heard before in books.

If I'm lucky, a place turns out to be better in real life than my dreams. No
doubt there are real costs for mass travel and the impact is often negative.
But that's the by product of a Nash equilibrium whereby I do want to see the
world and all its wonders.

~~~
carlmr
Kind of made me think of my first (and only, non-layover) visit to Beijing.
Also ate food in the alleyways. This was only 8 years ago. It's sad that this
experience is lost to time.

I did go to China again last year. Even in remote non-Beijing towns there's a
Starbucks or two now.

What can we do against this globalized sameness? How can we uphold traditions
in our own countries, to not let them succumb to these trite business models?

~~~
bmaupin
My guess is capitalism is the main driver of most of this "globalized
sameness," in which case we could vote with our wallets. But I know from
personal experience that's easier said than done.

~~~
capisce
The locals in those places _are_ voting with their wallets.

------
timlukins
I can’t sympathise enough with the author (Ms. Ellmann's) description of my
home city - where she also lives - as a destination.

 _" Edinburgh, where I live, used to be a fine old mirthless town. Twenty-
first century marketers have turned it into a fairground. Half the year the
city’s few green spaces get trashed by Ferris Wheels, vomit, German Christmas
markets, vomit, outdoor exhibitions and exhibitionists, vomit, coffee bars,
beer tents, and ice-skating rinks.“_

She captures the sentiment I’ve been mulling on recently: the _city-as-theme-
park_. Once you take out the industry, possibly the finance (see Brexit) and
nascent tech - what have you got left, apart from public sector? Is this a
modern trend for our time? How many other cities around the world are
increasingly dependent solely on travel and hospitality?

~~~
lmm
What else is the world for? Cities, along with everything else, exist to
satisfy human 1) needs 2) wants. With 1) getting increasingly cheap, most of
the effort is being spent on 2).

~~~
kiliantics
Most people don't want these bullshit consumer funfairs though. It's just that
the people with the money are somehow convinced to want them and that's why we
get them.

~~~
lmm
I think that's the opposite of true. I think most of these consumer things
succeed because people actually enjoy them, but articles like this pretend to
hate anything popular/mainstream because that's the socially respectable thing
to do.

~~~
kiliantics
I grew up in an area that catered to tourists and there was so much public
spending put towards attractions for tourists that had no utility for locals
while many useful services were neglected. I think this is a large part of the
argument behind the article - that locals are losing out because the rich
travelers need to be catered to - and I think it's a pretty legitimate one.

------
vinceguidry
I came expecting a thoughtful how-to on squeezing more juice out of routine
and boring-ness, what I got was an irate classist polemic that just didn't
know when to end. It segued all-too gradually from amusing and clever rant to
listening to that one uncle rave incoherently for hours about racist bullshit.
I daresay he got paid by the word.

Now I know what a half-boiled frog feels like. I couldn't even finish it.

~~~
ballenarosada
Classist?

~~~
jzymbaluk
Disgustingly so.

These lower middle-class dolts who scrimp and save to go on vacation are
RUINING cities for REAL travelers like the author. These poor idiots don't
even deserve to travel! Why can't they just learn their place and stay put?

~~~
reureu
I’m not sure we read the same article. I didn’t hear the author claim anybody
should be traveling, including her. I read it as traveling ruins the things
that you’re traveling to see, and that everyone should focus more effort on
staying put. I didn’t catch any exceptions to those statements.

------
peterwwillis
If you know even one person who works for an airline, you can tell from the
beginning that this article is just emotional mindless trash.

The author pines for the "good old days" of Edinburgh. Talk to anyone over 50
from Edinburgh. It wasn't great. It wasn't even nice. I mean, you're in
_Scotland_. This was never the promised land. It's perhaps more plastic now,
but the vomit was there already.

Travel is one of the most eye-opening, empathy-instilling, educational
practices a human can muster. What the author is really railing against is
_mindless tourism_ , not travel. But they're too narrow-minded and angry to
think past their blunderous miswording.

I am all in favor of limiting tourism, and virtually eliminating eco-tourism.
But travel? Honest-to-god, mind-expanding, awe-inspiring, information-sharing,
culture-trading, value-shifting travel? The world needs _more_ of it now than
ever. If I have to listen to another fucking nationalist prick talk about how
their country needs to be more white and be more hostile to foreign nations
and peoples, I'll puke.

If you want to save the planet, curbing plane rides is not the way. Every
nation's pollution has different causes and solutions. And pulling back from
technology is not going to help us - it would cause the death of countless
millions that would have died years ago if their health wasn't extended by
modern innovations. Being smarter about how we use and regulate it would be
the best benefit.

For every tourist flying to Japan to see the cherry blossoms in spring, we
should be instilling in them the need to get into the suburbs and have natto
with a host family. Sitting there with their bowl of soy snot, silently
contemplating how a city with no trash cans can be so clean, they might
appreciate their own breakfast more, and begin to think that their world can
change if they simply choose to. That's what travel can do.

------
LearnerHerzog
Is travel not still for (almost exclusively) the wealthy? I haven't left my
home state in over 10 years, due completely to lack of money.

~~~
always_good
No. I think Vagabonding by Rolf Potts is a good book for people who think
this, unless your idea of travel is only to go to Paris and stay in a 5-star
resort the whole time.

[https://vagabonding.net/book/excerpt/](https://vagabonding.net/book/excerpt/)

> For some reason, we see long-term travel to faraway lands as a recurring
> dream or an exotic temptation, but not something that applies to the here
> and now. Instead — out of our insane duty to fear, fashion, and monthly
> payments on things we don’t really need — we quarantine our travels to
> short, frenzied bursts. In this way, as we throw our wealth at an abstract
> notion called “lifestyle,” travel becomes just another accessory — a smooth-
> edged, encapsulated experience that we purchase the same way we buy clothing
> and furniture.

That's just my favorite part of the excerpt, not supporting evidence for my
first sentence though. :)

~~~
PaulRobinson
Quibble: there are no 5-star "resorts" in Paris, for the same reason there are
no resorts in London or New York.

There are hotels, though.

~~~
always_good
It was supposed to be an obnoxious idea. A resort being a compound you don't
even have to leave at all, its own amusement park.

------
ajeet_dhaliwal
It's a well written piece and very funny. I don't agree with the message
though. Let's try to make travel cleaner rather than just decide to sit in one
spot and not go anywhere. There's something about travelling from one place to
another that humans enjoy, it's a journey. I'm back living in London, UK now
for 6 years after having spent 10+ years in Canada and I do not need to own a
car so I do not. However I miss cruising. It's just a joy driving and going
from place to place in of itself.

------
cageface
I've been living as a nomad for the last seven years and had tons of
experiences I wouldn't trade for anything. But I prefer to take my time and
spend at least a month in each place I visit.

However I can also relate to the homogenization the article describes. Even
Vietnam is starting to suffer from this generic urbanization. You can still
find undiscovered places if you're willing to really get off the beaten path
but a lot of these places are undiscovered for a reason.

~~~
dfcowell
I've been living in Saigon for 4 years. Even within this highly touristed
city, you just need to venture 5 minutes outside of the city centre to see
Vietnam as it really is.

I've spent time in 5-6 different cities and towns and for sure, if you stay on
main street it's very generic, or sterile. Rent a bike, set out in a random
direction for 20 minutes; you won't find any TripAdvisor listings but the
local culture is alive and well.

Most people expect to land somewhere new and have the local lifestyle at their
fingertips, but that's not what the beaten track optimises for.

------
jameshart
And how about that airline food, huh? What’s with that?

------
allsunny
Ahh, whatever happened to the lost art of "getting to the point." :-)

------
sandworm101
Way too long. Was this author on something? This reads like the rambling
manifesto of a movie protagonist. We get it. You hate tourists. But check the
mirror. I bet this guy has flown more places than most. It is the standard
false sense of ownership, the tourist trying to keep all the other tourists
away from 'his' favorite places.

------
carlmr
Loved the writing, am guilty myself though.

~~~
ForRealsies
Really? I lost interest between a gratuitous comma and needless metaphor.

~~~
carlmr
Yes, although I did notice a stray homophone(pedal/peddle) and a non-sensical
sentence, I thought the writing was funny and original.

------
totalperspectiv
TL;DR: Travel today is more about scoring social points than being changed by
the place you go. It's also a waste of fossil fuels and generally immoral.
Solution, get more involved in a real way with the place you actually live.

I think I like the overall point, but I don't think it's 100% true. There are
ways to travel that do produce a meaningful experience, it's just not
comfortable. But the point that many people use excuses like service projects
or leisure as a reason to fly 4000 miles strikes a chord that I've never
really been able to put my finger on.

~~~
Banthum
Another mode of travel doesn't seem to be accounted for: Travel for pleasure.

Not to score social points. Not for meaning. Just to relax and feel good for a
week.

Weather can be a big factor. In the middle of five months of winter, daily
snow, not seeing the sun in weeks, and working hard in an office every day, a
week relaxing in the sun somewhere warm can be very beneficial - and not just
in a trite or self-indulgent way. Seasonal mood disorders and work-related
stress are real problems and time far away is a real solution.

Plus, if we're here to enjoy life, then self-indulgence is also one ingredient
of a good life (accompanied by others). You don't have to be seeking "meaning"
every moment of every day like a Terminator seeking his target.

~~~
totalperspectiv
I agree with you, live life, be happy. The point the author is making is that
people aren't even doing it for the reason of pleasure. It's more a function
of people fulfilling a fantasy that's been manufactured by society to make
people feel as though they MUST travel, or they're boring and doing it wrong.

~~~
slfnflctd
The wool over my eyes was pulled aside on this particular illusion a long time
ago, thanks to a buddy taking me on a semi-spontaneous road trip for a few
weeks (during one of my worst depressions) that ended with us living in
another state we'd never been to. At one point we sold grilled cheese and
veggie burritos at a less-than-formal festival to raise road funds and it was
an amazing experience of connectedness with others. Most office workers
looking for some time away would never even consider such a trip.

When you really drill down into the reasons for your average consumer
behavior, a lot of it is being pushed around by weaponized stories without
recognizing or being honest with ourselves about it. It's a multi-faceted
problem, but is probably most obvious with 'vacationing' activity. Think about
what the highest costs of a typical leisure trip are-- getting there/back,
food, and lodging. Unless you have a really compelling reason to be there,
it's hugely wasteful on those points alone.

------
cafard
Actually the bafflement set in a couple of paragraphs down. Did anyone else
find this overdone?

------
ocfnash
My faith in the article's objectivity is called into question by the fact that
it reports:

"An American Airlines flight attendant bullied a tired mother of twin babies
over her stroller, and then readied himself to punch a passenger who rose to
her defense."

Whereas the Guardian's account of what seems to be the same event is:

"Another passenger comes to her defence and threatens to punch the flight
attendant, who in turn challenges the passenger to hit him."

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/22/american-
airli...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/22/american-airlines-
says-sorry-to-woman-hit-with-buggy-by-staff-member)

~~~
dsfyu404ed
A couple weeks ago there were four people who were shot and killed in Boston
that just so happened to be on the same day. NBC called is a "surge in gun
violence" and you flip over to Fox and it's "four murders"

Nobody writes a story in a way that maximizes conflict with their personal
opinions. No editor tweaks things to make a story less in line with the
organization's stakeholders.

The narrative changes a lot based on who's writing the story. Whether you
slant things intentionally or not or even at all is another story. I would not
be surprised if the flight attendant and passenger got in a yelling match,
threatened to punch each other and the people writing the articles just tilted
things in favor of whichever side they favored based on their opinions and
information available to them.

~~~
carlmr
>based on their opinions and information available to them.

based on whether they got money from the airline ;)

------
jzymbaluk
What an unpleasant individual

------
marze
Rant of the year. Epic.

------
moneytide1
"The wealthy-and-mobile 20 percent are causing most of the environmental
damage in the world."

I watched "There Will Be Blood" again recently, and it is such a powerful film
to me because it is all about the onset of this relatively "free" energy era.
It used to take more effort to go from A to B, so we carefully calculated our
reasons to go.

------
brndnmtthws
Spot on. There's nothing quite like going to a very different place you've
never been, though. I'm not sure how else to get that feeling without actually
doing it.

