Did you know the New York Times has never printed the phrase “travel like a local”? Not once. That surprised me a bit, considering you can’t go far reading magazines, press releases, Twitter or those captioned inspirational photos on Instagram without hearing “travel like a local” touted as the next big thing.
Locals are great, of course. Travel’s greatest highlight. But still, all that buzz is kind of a lie.
Locals complain about traffic and get stuck in routines. Often the main attractions of a place are something they’ve not seen since a school trip in seventh grade. Almost without exception, I hear from locals about things I observe in their hometowns, “hmm, I never thought of that.” Frequently locals need outsiders to really see where they’re from.
I never forget I’m an outsider when I travel away from home. This new episode of the 76-Second Travel Show explains why that’s a good thing.
Also: see my top three travel destinations for 2015. (Spoiler: I have no idea.)
That shot above is from when I tried out with the Mounties.