The Dark Side of Travel
The real danger for travelers may not be what you think. In this episode we talk about the dangers that travelers bring with them to the places they visit.
Okay, let’s be real. The first thing people ask us when we travel to new far off places is “aren’t you worried?” or “Is it safe”?
People are worried about the dangers involved in traveling.
Perhaps the real danger in visiting most places (okay, besides North Korea). isn’t a danger to the tourists but the danger WE CAN CAUSE to the places we visit?
An instagram photo of us with an oblesik in France (which was originally taken from Egypt), posing from the spot in Egypt where they took it from.
I love instagram so much but Instagram can be a good example of this.it seems so innocent and there are many great things about being able to share your photos with others and travel vicariously through others photos (#instatravel anyone?) but are there hidden dangers too. We’ll talk about these during the episode (click play already is what I’m saying).
Sacre Coeur and tourists
Not just content to shine the light on instagram we also talk about Airbnb. Airbnb can be a beautiful way to share a local experience in an affordable way, but it can also be destructive to the local economy and affordable housing. How can you make a conscious choice that supports both your travel dreams and the local you’re visiting?
There are more dangers of tourism, over traveling, risking safety for the perfect picture, harming coral and sea life and more.
Although we explore this dark side to travel in the episode we don’t end it with the conclusion that one shouldn’t travel, because the biggest danger for travelers is to not go.
Teresa with Egyptologist Heba A Amer
The biggest danger of all is to live your life cloistered in your own bubble that you never gain the empathy and understanding that the joy of travel and understand can give.
So what is the solution? We don’t come up with a magic answer, but we give lots of ideas and tips in the podcast episode to make conscious decisions that invest into the communities you visit, avoid erosion and destruction of over travelled spots.
Listen to the episode below and let us know your thoughts in the comments!! We love to hear your feedback and let us know what you want to hear more about!
Any questions? Any recommendations? Any opinions about this subject? Add your voice to the conversation! — comments are never disabled!
In Egypt with Mostafa El Faham - Our good friend, Egyptologist & owner of the tour company we are partnering with to take our friends/family to Egypt in 2020!
Also in the episode we talked about our upcoming trip to Egypt - are you interested in coming with us? If so email us at teresa@theheandsheshow.com
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