The ethical rethinking of travel

I am a follower of all things Travel and Adventure, my eyes light up at the discovery of a new flight route to Armenia, A camel trek in the Western Sahara or a Windsurfing trip in Naxos. The thought of the unknown is what drives my spirit of adventure, I leave scribbles and notes in diaries about trips and ideas far into the future, even if they are not viable or I never embark on them, but each idea is what inspires and motivates me to keep taking steps to find what is over the horizon.

I embrace the journey, they say a picture tells a thousand words, but to me the words create the meaning of the picture, without the story, it's just another picture. Interestingly, the unbearing weight of mass tourism is opening people's ideas again to the concept of different forms of exploration and the alternative ways of spending time embarking on adventures in lesser developed areas to escape the crowds and find some genuine authenticity and peace. I've also discovered how this new found appreciation for the outdoors has inspired people to look closer to home. Outdoor pursuits are inspiring new hobbies, healthier living, ethical awareness and general respect for each other and the world we live in.

I read just recently on how the Outer Hebrides of Scotland in the UK has some of the most diverse snorkeling marine life in the whole of Europe. I am not new to this area of the world, I have a good knowledge of the Marine life in Scotland from my days of living in the Highlands during my 20's where I spent most of my free time traveling to discover new places via motorcycle.

Scotland is rich in marine life, but still I was surprised to learn about the amount of diversity within the reef system below, which in retrospect is unsurprising given how untouched the Scottish highland and Islands are by modern development. I learned something new in a place which once used to be my backyard, my home, and after discovering this it inspired me to think about destinations where I can explore below the ocean and not just above. This goes to show how simple learning and knowledge can have a ripple effect on the adventurous minded.

I visited Cambodia in my early 20's on a solo budget backpacking trip, it was my first long distance solo travel but one which inspired many future travel adventures. I remember first discovering just how relatively undeveloped the country is at least to Western standards and it was that sense of disconnect from the usual tourist trails and the rich cultural preservation to discover which appealed to me over the more popular tourist destinations in South East Asia.

I did most of my research on Cambodia using the internet and travel books and found pockets of the country which were still very much undocumented or with minimal tourism information to the outside world, adventures were still to be found for those with the motivation to step away from the path. I did a bit of scoping and discovered tip offs within forums online and pieced together locations via guide books and maps, but the only real way to find out if any of this existed was to follow the trace and discover these places for myself in person. The challenge was always part of the adventure, and the risk was worth the reward.

Cambodia is a reminder of how quickly the world can change due to tourism.

Sihanoukville which was once a sleepy medium sized fishermans town on the south coast of Cambodia is now small city within the space of a decade. The reality on the ground is that Sihanoukville's reputation existed merely as a backpacker enclave where most arrived at this Idyllic and unspoilt destination to discover a way of life still unaffected by the gaze of mass tourism development. Tourists were not arriving in coaches by the hour, it was a relatively undiscovered paradise with a sustainable tourist to local ratio mostly consisting of backpackers who had dared venture further away from the city locations of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to discover the wild coastline and outlying islands. Chickens were seen happily sleeping next to dogs on the streets, local vendors and sellers would approach you in person selling anything from lobsters to shell necklaces, hotels were being held up by strings of bamboo and the nightlife was a trial in self preservation and discipline, people were easy to meet and it was all a part of the backpacker experience whilst getting the opportunity to discover and feel like a part of the local culture. I met a few expat backpackers who loved it so much they simply never left, but they wanted to keep it this way, a relative secret paradise, until it wasn't anymore.

The always online nature of the world today proves it was ultimately inevitable that the secret would be out and people would act to take advantage of the situation out in Cambodia. How could the government say no when you have large multi national companies ready to invest huge sums of money into a relatively poor and newly developing country for the purpose of growth and prosperity. The irony is that the big business followed the same path of the backpacker in searching for the last unspoilt paradise among the oversaturated tourism sector. The locals had a fair arguement in saying they deserved a share of what the other South East Asian countries were receiving in terms of income and development from tourism, but the question is did anyone really outline the negative impact of tourism before selling them the positive? The problem with mass development is that once it is built it can very rarely be reversed and replacing cultural authenticity for something which is no longer Cambodian.

I wonder how many travelers still remember Sihanoukville before the development? I follow travel blogs and magazines but rarely do any speak of the days before, most of it has all been forgotten, much like how those intrepid backpackers discovered what are now some of the most heavily visited tourism sites in the world.

Backpackers on budgets search for affordable but genuine experiences, and when the secret is out they move on, either because they can no longer afford to visit anymore or the area no longer inspires the authentic adventure they are searching for, leaving people such as me who reminisce of the good times and talking about how "we were there" before all of what we see today became an amusement park for wealth.

I still hold a special place for Cambodia, it holds many great memories of my life. I'm glad to see how the impact of tourism is changing recently and starting to have meaningful conversations which are inclusive of the needs of the local population. There is a lot that can be said for unethical tourism built on the back of viral travel marketing found on social media, the travel industry itself is guilty of profiteering from trends which will undoubtedly lead to unsustainable long term issues. The spirit of intrepid travel and adventure backpacking appeared briefly lost behind this current gentrification generation, but both topics are two very different beasts which require a whole different conversation.

What is true however is how the intrepid backpacker paved the way and took the first steps of discovery in order for the tourism sector in many places to be what it is today, something which many people forget, but this is why it important to remember the origins of travel and the simple premise of leaving our footsteps untraced.

There is something special to me about a handwritten diary journal or sketches of drawings from past travels, The very first picture accounts of Luxor and the valley of the kings were hand drawn impressions by explorers in journal diaries, but can you imagine just how amazing this would have been at the time to be drawing what your eyes can see in front of you. Personal accounts like these can only be told from a person point of view at a single moment in time, it doesn't get any more authentic. The always online nature of social media travel for me misses the intricate details and points of these personal interactions and the deeper and sometimes darker and emotional depths of the story behind the adventure. This goes back to my earlier line about the importance of words behind a picture.

Outdoors active tourism has arguably put a spotlight again on alternative ways of travel which for me is only a good thing. Adventure travel communities still exist but are hidden from the attention of popular media, outdoor sports communities for example are still doing their own thing but exist within their own subculture rather than attempting to keep up with the viral popularity of trends.

Backpacking was an affordable way to discover the world and an aspiring life goal for many younger people, but the premise appears to have dropped considerably over the years for many reasons, the big one being that we are all increasingly skint and in a way forced into a system of doing things exactly the same as everyone else.

Still, I do believe the spirit of backpacking still shines bright if you pay attention to the details, people are making conscious ethical choices in our everyday lives towards simple and visceral experiences and actions which are meaningful rather than consumeristic, they are also doing it out of budget restraints therefore being creative in finding different ways to experience the same thing, which for me is the mindset of a budget backpacker, experience the same, but embrace the alternative to make it happen.

Adventure travel also starts in the mind, the biggest fear is normally taking the first step into the unknown, people say the world is becoming a smaller place, maybe in terms of connectivity, but the outdoors and wilderness is never as straightforward as a tourist guide or social media video, it requires a commitment and respect for your environment and awareness of your impact towards it.

I believe if people continue to show awareness and consciousness in day to day lives we can start to see the next generation of explorers enjoying everything those earlier adventurers set their sights on and achieved away from the viral frenzy we see today online, hopefully to leave a lasting positive impression on the world again.