Make 2020 the Year You Stop Following the Crowds

It's definitely a tough time to be one of the crowd.

Tourist crowds can seemingly do no right these days, being criticized for everything from trampling over treasured global cities—resulting in rising prices and squeezed-out citizens—to trashing once-idyllic islands, watering down local cultures and contributing to an assortment of other ills.

Places like Venice, Amsterdam, Boracay, Dubrovnik and Barcelona and their battles with the vacationing hordes have dominated headlines during the past decade and with travel numbers only set to grow, there is no doubt that more destinations will join their ranks in the coming years.

So what exactly were these crowds of people thinking? Who gave them the idea that travel was fun and that the world was full of magical places that would offer them once-in-a-life experiences they would cherish forever?

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Gulp.

Well, we all kind of did.

Travel writers, TV travel show hosts, travel advisors, and travel influencers certainly played a part.

Our social media friends are to blame, too. You know the ones, the woman you used to work with who is always sharing pics of her feet buried in the sand or the guy you went to grade school with who is perpetually posting statuses like "JFK > MIA" or that couple you went to college with sharing a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower with a caption that says something like "Paris definitely does not suck"

Those posts didn't just get likes, they got people booking trips.

Yes, we definitely all did a masterful job of inspiring each other to travel during this past decade, which is mostly a good thing because there is nothing that is as transformative and simultaneously fun as travel.

On the downside though, all too often we just ended up going to too many of the same places.

Which is funny, because we don't all wear the same clothes, listen to the same music or have the same opinions on how to live our best life, so why on earth would we all decide to experience a place in much the same way? Much less a cosmopolitan city that is crammed with thousands of potential experiences.

This decade, if we think more about where it is we truly want to go, why we want to go there and what we truly want to do once we get there then we will end up in places with fewer crowds and find that people will be more spread around.

Expand the Map

Remember, it's a wonderful world out there and it is full of places that are consistently overlooked for more popular destinations. Want some of the allure of Tuscany but fewer fellow travelers? Then look at Istria in Croatia. Looking to get your feet wet in Asia but afraid Thailand could be a little too crowded? Look south to Malaysia. Santorini a little too saturated? Next door Turkey is home to thousands of miles of turquoise water.

There are islands scattered all over this planet just begging to be explored.

Buy a guidebook, talk to a travel advisor or just pull up Google Maps and start looking at the world, you'll be surprised at how many places are never talked about.

Cathedral Fatigue

As someone who writes about Europe extensively and often helps people craft itineraries to the continent, I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone mention that they have fallen victim to "cathedral fatigue" (or its cousin "museum fatigue") while on a trip.

It's usually not the result of someone genuinely disdaining historic houses of worship, it's just a natural response to the repetitive nature of seeing the same type of tourist sights over and over again.

Eventually, they all begin to blend and your ability to appreciate them goes numb—especially if it isn't something that you would normally be very interested in at home.

The good news is that it's a curable condition, one usually fixed by a day spent picnicking in a park or sunbathing on the beach.

Always remember, you don't have to visit something just because it's famous.

Just Being There is Half the Fun

The famous sights might get you the most likes and provide lots of "pinch me" moments (an essential part of any trip) but never lose sight of the fact that just breathing in the air and taking in the cityscape can be half the fun.

You're there, you made it, you don't have to hit it out of the park after that to have a great trip.

Enjoy all the little things that make a place different from your hometown. The symbols on the traffic lights, the brands in the supermarket, the models of car, the local sports teams' hats and jerseys that you spot walking around the city, the architecture, five minutes spent staring at a starry sky.

These are all travel experiences too; they don't cost a thing and you don't need to be at a specific tourist sight to see them.

Embrace the Awkward

It may seem counterintuitive to seek awkward situations while traveling, but it's in these moments when true travel magic occurs and you will leave lots of your fellow crowd members behind when you are willing to take a chance.

An example includes attempting to speak the local language. While it won't physically separate you from the crowd, it will help separate you from a large percentage of the pack.

This also comes into play when going out for meals or drinks while on a trip. Embrace the chance to go off the "beaten path" and find a place that doesn't cater only to tourists.

While doing so, there will almost certainly come a time when you will be stood outside of a business looking in, teetering and tottering over whether or not you should go inside or wondering if you are even welcome inside. Or the place is jam-packed and you're potentially going to be the only tourists there.

It will be cringy. It will be weird, but most times, it will end up being a memory you'll cherish.

I have no explanation for this other than attributing it to the mystical power of voyaging, but it seems to be an inflexible and inexorable law of travel, that the more uneasy an experience begins, the richer its eventual reward will be.

Don't Leave Home Without You

No matter where you end up choosing as your destination, remember to keep in mind who you are at home. Now, this may fly in the face of the idea of "letting loose" on vacation or becoming a "new you", but what I mean mostly is to seek out experiences that fan the fire of your interests from home.

If you are a craft brewery or distillery lover, find out who is making waves in your destination (spoiler alert: there's always one or two). If you are an avid bowler or cornhole player, seek out the local games that people play and try your hand at learning. If you're into theater, go see a performance (a ticketed event can only get so crowded, right?).

We can beat the rising tide of overtourism, but we are going to need to think outside of the box. And luckily it will only make our travel experiences that much richer.