The Big Question
Now let’s move on to the big question. How are we going to make all of this work?
A few days ago I’ve received a very valid question asking, “how do you think you’re going to travel using the internet?” I would like to answer this question using 2 different scenarios.
Scenario 1: We have decided to go to China. First we find a travel agency to plan our trip. Then we ask relatives and friends if they know anything about the location, get all our paperwork ready and finally, get ready to board the plane.
Once we get there, after the initial culture shock, we start going to different places. Take as many pictures as we can so that when we get back we can upload them to our flicker account.
By the time we visit most of the fun and historical places, experince the ethnic background and authentic food, it’s already to time to start packing again to go home. We can’t believe the amount of stuff we bought and we begin to look for creative ways to pack everything in our luggage. Once we get home, we relax for alittle bit before going on another adventure.
Scenario 2: We decide to go on our trip using the internet this time. After going through a few seemingly easy steps of plugging the computer in and pushing the Power button, we begin browsing through the pictures of this new location on Flicker.
Everything you want to know about the place is a click away. All the historical and cultural places, trends, perspectives, food; anything you want. Since you began thinking about food, you start to feel hungry and since you were planning on going to Mc Donald’s at this new location, you decide to go out.
All of a sudden you realize that you’re getting bored but at the same time you’re not tired at all. You decide to go out to Starbucks with a friend and after taking a few sips off of your coffee, you begin to have a conversation about the places you have seen today.
I know right about now purists are already saying this is not even remotely close to actually being there and experiencing all those things. Ok that’s a valid argument but if you think about it, in about 6 months what you are left with is the same thing. A few pictures and some mental notes. The only thing lacking from the second scenario is face to face communication but this doesn’t mean that you didn’t communicate with anyone. Isn’t the whole point of using Twitter is to communicate with people even if it’s not face to face?
And just because this is a different way of travelling, in no way does it interfere with us going on regular vacations; enjoying the beach, the sun, the ocean, etc.
- Posted by inwotr.com at 07:59 pm
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I strongly disagree. Real travel (as opposed to playing the tourist) changes you in ways that Internet “travel” can never do.
Scents that stick somewhere deep in your mind and if ever you only get a whiff, you’re back at that place. People you connect with, who are glad to see you back (if you ever manage). Ordering food by walking into the kitchen, and pointing at things. Learning a new way to cross a very busy street in Damascus that from now on will be “the Damascus method” and applied at other busy streets in other countries. Learning from other cultures and religions, being made welcome. And so on. All such things are possible only with real travel (and forget about McDonalds and Starbucks, please - those are at home).
Which is not to say that “Internet travel” isn’t an interesting concept. It is. Which is why I’m here.
But it’s not remotely similar to travel through real 3D space and meeting real people.
I agree with Marjolein, perhaps Web 4.0 will add smell tags to flickr pictures! But seriously, while I agree that internet travel is not the same as real travel, it’s a great concept for learning about people and how they live. Perhaps with more understanding of each other we might find that elusive global harmony.
I disagree Marjolein and Roberto. We have to compare same things. Real travel and travel on the internet. There are so many differanceses between real travel and travel on the internet. Our topic is just second one on here. I prefere to real travel but it means doesn’t ” i can’t get some tips about places”. Are everybody can visit whole countries their life???
I like the format and am curious where we’ll be next month. It somehow sounds similar to http://www.dopplr.com/ from the traveler’s perspective but without a user interface. I am sure following pots will identify what’s needed to make it work.
You are both right of course; internet travel can’t be the same as real travel, but there’s every reason to think that it can be fascinating and fun. Flickr in particular adds a brilliant dimension to virtual travel as not only can you see usually high quality photos of the places you decide to ‘visit’, but you can start a chat with the photographer by commenting on the photos.
Here’s an example http://www.flickr.com/photos/rizhi/2434241630/in/photostream/
Better still at capturing atmosphere (though sadly not yet smells:-) are videos. Here’s another example from a journal (mine I’m afraid) of an evening in Bombay http://herrylaw.blogspot.com/2006/10/bombay-nights.html/ This is linked from the Flickr photostream so you might find it even if you don’t find the journal.
I’m looking forward to following your travels - and in particular finding out how you intend to record them so that we can all participate!
Big Question…
Big Answer…
So what ?
NetTravelling you’ll never be bitten by a violin spider (or camel spider of course)
See what I mean ?
G@ttoGiallo,
no I don’t see what you mean. If you’re talking about risk - remember that staying at home is a risk as well: your lamp may fall on your head and kill you! If you’re talking about discomfort - remember that many people travel precisely to get out of their comfort zone (and learn things that way they could never have learned any other way).
So what about spiders? I like spiders!
NetTraveling is different, not necessarily worse, than real-world traveling though.
you should taste the food in other countries… you will see that the food in america is the worst in existence… even in the poorest countries in the world the food quality is much higher then in the states.
only with nettraveling you can never tell if i’m right or wrong.
(of course i’m right but you should taste it yourself!)
What I meant is that travelling on the net isn’t really travel.
Apart from spiders’ bites…
(it’s a joke, spiders are terrifying and at the same time so fascinating… I’d fallen beneath their spell - lol)
… a net traveller will never know what it is like to cross a golden shore alone in the evening, on the opposite side of the earth or how it can be living for a while with an amazonian family in the rain forest and so on.
In short, real travelling is worth to take some risks, as to be bitten by whatever you want.
Nonetheless, surfing the net is better than just sit down waiting to read ‘the end’ on the sceen.
Coming to a choice - the big question - I take my backpack and go!
Me, I do both, I try really hard to do some real travel every year, but in preparation I do a lot of Internet travel. And then I try to write about it while traveling, which isn’t always easy in places with foreign keyboards! (I want to add a Twitter API interface before I leave again…)
Bitten by the travel bug!
[…] a hard time imaging how this works, but I think I’m one of the purists he mentions in his blog. You can definitely learn all you want about a place online, see pictures, read blogs by people who […]