Travelling Well

Right now, the most irritating adverts on television have to be those in the new Expedia campaign. You know, the ones with all those bright young people in the Expedia office, all demonstrating how well travelled hey are, and all speaking in different languages, (which makes them ideal for international TV campaigns - no dubbing, they just change the sub-titles to whatever the local language is). Anyway, the most irritating of this irritating campaign is the one with the guy getting frantic over the apparent disappearance of his picture of Waikiki from the office's fridge door. There follows a cacophony of voices jabbering about 'Mikey's Waikiki' as the news spreads. But wait, it hasn't disappeared at all, it has just been moved to a different place on the door, much to the pillock's relief. Apart from the fact that it is utterly moronic, the thing which really irritates me about the ad is the way in which it is effectively trivialising the whole concept of international travel.

The sole reason that 'Mikey' went to Waikiki in the first place, the ad seems to imply, is simply so that he can get a photograph to put on that bloody fridge door, to compete with his colleagues' photos. Never mind any ideas about travelling there to experience the local culture, admire the scenery, broaden his mind, or even just enjoy himself in a new location. No, it's just so that he can say he's been there. 'Travelling' simply becomes an objective in itself, with no other purpose than to be able to say that you did it. Not that there's anything new in this. I remember, many years ago, whilst driving around Ireland with a friend, encountering a group of Americans doing something similar, except that their schedule seemed to consist of a list of landmarks they crossed off as they visited them. They barely had time at each of them to take a picture to prove they'd been there, before having to move on to the next one. Less a holiday than a checklist. By contrast, our idea was simply to drive around Eire in a clockwise direction, sticking as close to the coast as possible. If we saw an interesting looking sign, were told of something interesting to see by locals, or just liked the look of somewhere, or the sound of its name, we took a detour there. Consequently, we found lots of interesting stuff and events, way off the beaten track and met lots of interesting people, and ended up in a pretty mellow state. Oh, and we didn't take many photos - we just enjoyed the experience as it happened. That's proper travelling.