Travel isn't just visiting places
Esta edición hecha en Chile
Greetings!
I am writing this, or at least starting this, from the Dallas airport because I am en route to Chile! I am hosting my first (and hopefully not last) yoga retreat in Valparaiso, Chile. By host I mean I am teaching, I found the hotel, organized all of the activities, marketed it, and arranged all of the details. It is a lot of work! I enjoyed it though. I have doubted myself quite a bit throughout the process but have also had moments of confidence. I’m currently in the “oh wow this is happening mood”. It has been a roller coaster. But, I am not here to talk about that!
Does visiting happy places make you happy?
I want to kick it off with something lighthearted, Afar wrote a short article about the annual world’s happiest country list. To no surprise, Finland tops the list and all of its Scandinavian neighbors made the top ten.
In a previous edition of this newsletter, I linked a journal article about tourist spending at destinations and whether there is a relation to local happiness. The happiness country index stresses that “our success as countries should be judged by the happiness of our people.” This isn’t necessarily tourism-related, but it is tourism-adjacent. The Afar article mentions that Finns pin their happiness on a down-to-heart lifestyle and spending time in nature.
When I think about my desire to visit Finland as a tourist (I’ve yet to go) I imagine most of my time being outside hiking or walking, participating in winter sports, and taking a sauna. All of those are things that are ingrained in Finnish culture and part of a tourism experience in Finland. You’ll never get the full local experience as a tourist because you’re visiting a country as a guest. However, participating in activities that locals enjoy is one way to experience what makes locals happy.
Another way that you experience local perks as a tourist is when you go to a destination with affordable and excellent public transportation, safe, paved sidewalks, roads, and sometimes bike lanes. If there is water, electricity, heat, sanitation services, and recycling services, all of these make it a good place to live and a good place to visit. I thought this article was yet another example that destinations with happy residents who have their social services needs met welcome many tourists.
Amsterdam attempting to manage unruly tourists
What happens when a destination has had it with tourists? They enact laws like Amsterdam has done to mitigate and manage unruliness. I enjoyed Amsterdam when I visited, I thought it was a picturesque walkable and bikeable city. Locals probably like it for those reasons too and new laws will protect some of those charms because tourists will no longer be allowed to smoke cannabis in the red-light district in the evenings. This is a good thing! I am 100% okay with cannabis being legal. It isn’t my thing but if people want to consume it responsibly, that is fine with me. I do disagree with people consuming it irresponsibly and being rude and ridiculous when they’re a guest in another country.
Amsterdam residents and the city government probably wanted a little peace from the unpleasant environment that raucous tourists were creating. This is fair. No one deserves to live in a chaotic environment if it can be helped. I don’t really think this is just some NIMBY problem. Their problem is one that is created when overtourism happens. A destination can be undesirable to live in because it lacks the public services that I mentioned above, but it can also be unpleasant for locals when badly behaved tourists outnumber the residents and disturb the peace.
It's a tricky balance. There is a lot more to sustainable tourism than simply being a good guest in another country - but that is a start and something we can all strive toward and encourage. Popular tourism destinations really can’t seek perfection or an equal balance, they’re more or less going for some sort of harmony between locals and tourists.
Chile!
Because I’m here, so why not? As mentioned in the opening paragraph, I’m in Valparaíso, Chile hosting my first-ever yoga retreat. I visited this city in 2018 and now I’m back. That was sort of a site visit for this trip. We’ve booked some tours and excursions through two different companies. Shout out to Cascada Expedicions and Getaways and Discoveries South America. Please hire them for any tours or travel or airport pickups if you visit Chile. We are having a fantastic time here!
Today, we took a cooking class with G&D and the chef is also a street artist here in Valpo. He told us about a National Geographic article that he is mentioned in and I’m linking it for you here so that you can read more about why I think this city is interesting and special. The writer did an excellent job of describing the city. I’ll definitely come again, I love this place. But, I also have so many other places in Chile that I want to visit. Chile is not just Patagonia. You should also consider the Lake District, Chiloé Island, and the cities in the Atacama desert (not just San Pedro). Visit this official tourism website for Chile.
That’s it for this edition! I had to keep it short and the content lighter due to lack of time since I’ve been busy touristing and being a guide all day long.
Thank you for reading.
Sonya
