Comments on: Getting “Off The Beaten Path”: Just Another Traveler’s Cliche

By: Shivya

Shivya — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:45:59 +0000

Very interesting points, Nora. For me, offbeat travel is just about going to places that are not swarmed with tourists. If it’s a popular tourist attraction, I have Google. But if I can land myself in a place that doesn’t even have a tourist map, I can discover it in a way that no one might ever have. That to me is going off the beaten track.

By: Nora

Nora — Wed, 25 May 2011 11:35:53 +0000

@Tom – I’ll respond to that question with another question: What is living off the beaten path? I think that once a place is largely “known” it’s no longer off the beaten path, even if it’s “known” for being off the beaten path!

Who is defining the path, and if you’re talking about living (as opposed to traveling through), you open up a whole new set of criteria for what the beaten path is – and why you might want to be living there or not!

By: tom

tom — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:30:05 +0000

so what do you do when you live “off the beaten path”

By: Nomadic Interviews: Nora The Professional Hobo

Nomadic Interviews: Nora The Professional Hobo — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 15:03:31 +0000

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By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:42:20 +0000

Very good article Nora, I can relate to your thoughts.

It’s easy to make the unfamiliar familiar. To make the familiar unfamiliar you’ve got to look much deeper.

There’s a rewarding experience to be had in both.

But for me, the latter is where the real experience lies.

For the wannabe pioneers: If you choose not to experience things because others have experienced them before, you might as well experience nothing.

“Why feel the need to meet locals of another country when you don’t even know your own neighbors?” So true Aaron!

By: singlewithluggage

singlewithluggage — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:03:47 +0000

Interesting post that I found while researching my own post on ‘getting off the beaten path.’ I’ve lived and traveled extensively around the world. In terms of connecting with your self, your travel partner/s, and maybe even connecting briefly in a moment of pure joy with someone in a way that crosses cultural, language, and perception divides- nothing beats getting off the tourist trail. Using Thailand as an example- jump on your motorbike in Chiang Mai during earlyish morning, find one of those markets on the outskirts of town where everyone communicates only in Thai, huge plates of food cost 15 baht, and you may not be sure what you’re eating. Share a smile and a few moments communicating with someone, admire their food, TRY their food, be surprised, be uplifted, and then be on your way feeling very much the beauty of a simple moment of connection.

By: got

got — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:11:25 +0000

I understand your points. However, one of the reasons to travel is to get away from your normal surroundings, meet new people, see different ways of doing things, seek new experiences….and perhaps to challenge one’s perceptions, understandings and even physical limits. Otherwise, why leave home?
And to travel thus means to take an informed decision to put oneself into a different and new envronment – and it’s up to the individual to decide how challenging they want this to be: a club in Ibiza, or the top of K2!

I dont want to appear prententious (!) but you might like Baudelaire’s “Invitation au voyage” – he goes on an extraordinary journey to exotic places, and when back home he recounts his fascinating travels..only to conclude that all humans are consumed by greed, lust and sin. Happy reading!

By: Nora

Nora — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:57:04 +0000

Wow – thanks for the comments, and I agree with you both! Here I thought I was going to come under fire for being so cynical! (I should watch what I say…it could yet still happen….)

By: Aaron

Aaron — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:14:50 +0000

Bravo!!

How tired I am of hearing about how I should be riding on the locals’ “chicken bus” rather than on the air conditioned tourist bus. This obsession with meeting, eating with, traveling like, sleeping like “the locals” is inane.

Recently an employee at a hostel in Krakow, tired of hearing people who wanted the “local experience”, posed a question to me: “Why feel the need to meet locals of another country when you don’t even know your own neighbors?”

Aaron

By: Amanda Kendle

Amanda Kendle — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:02:13 +0000

Very good points, Nora. I have my own theory about getting off the beaten path. I think that to “really” travel (and get off the beaten path) means to “really” experience a city/country and my theory is that it takes two years of living somewhere before that happens. First year, everything’s new, second year, you’ve started to work out where to go when and you begin to really appreciate a place. The problem is, that gives most people a maximum of about 20 or 30 places to “travel” to in their lifetime. Not enough