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Colleen Van Blaricom's avatar

I’m SO glad we got to see many of these places back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Even in non-European countries it’s getting so bad. In 2018, we hiked the Inca Trail in Peru. There were hardly any people on the trail and it was spectacular. We were shocked when we arrived at Machu Picchu and saw the crowds. Not just crowds but badly-behaved crowds. Someone was flying a drone (strictly prohibited) and the poor rangers were trying to find them. We saw a woman with a biscuit in her mouth trying to convince a llama to take it…out of her mouth! Machu Picchu was the main reason we went to Peru and it sunk way down on my list of favorite sites. We went to Sri Lanka in February thinking there would be less tourists there. While it wasn’t at European levels, I was surprised at the number of tourists (very few Americans though). Costco is now offering a trip to Sri Lanka so expect it to get bad! 😂 Sorry for the rant—I still love to travel!

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Jenn H's avatar

This summer, my husband and I had to change our (domestic) travel plans suddenly because our original destination closed due to wildfires. We decided to go to the Northwest coast, but I thought we would never be able to get reservations in August in shore towns on only a week's notice. To my shock, we not only had no problem getting nice rooms, but the beaches had plenty of room, the streets were busy but not insane, and we were able to eat in any restaurant without reservations (though we are early eaters). The parks were mostly uncrowded; at one wildlife refuge, we saw exactly one other hiker. I thoroughly savored the experience because, as I said to my husband, "How long can this last? I wonder if these towns will be 'discovered' soon and, in a few years, be totally overrun and unrecognizable?" It feels like travel is often the experience of just trying to stay one or two steps ahead of the crowds.

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