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M. E. Rothwell's avatar

This is a topic I think about a lot and I think you’ve really hit the nail on the head. I’m rather obsessed with the concept of ‘place’ and love the idea of trying to get under the skin of somewhere. However, I also think it’s basically a futile exercise because how could an outsider ever fully understand all the tiny nuances and hidden secrets of a culture they’ve just skimmed over.

I do occasionally like to indulge my own sense of superiority and think I’m better than other tourists for about 5 seconds😅 but in reality this is about as stupid as getting annoyed at all the other cars in a traffic jam. You are part of the jam too and are no less ‘guilty’ than anyone else.

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Andrei Atanasov's avatar

Fascinating essay. I’ve always acted a bit smuggish when I’ve heard friends talk about trips they’ve been on, and all the “cliche” places they visited that everyone always goes to, all while patting myself on the back because, surely, had I been in their place, I’d have found much more interesting places to visit. Goes to show how little I know.

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