the simulated experience of travel [1.a]
"Indeed, in most cases it would appear that souvenir hunting is not a meaningful examination of place so much as it is a litmus test of our own whims and preconceptions as travelers."*
The passage above puts souvenir hunting in the order of simulation. Souvenirs are now mass produced to litter the shelves of various locales across the world. And we know that. We buy souvenirs, not because they are actual real artefacts from the location where we have travelled, but because they are something we buy in order to complete the experience of travelling-- absurd is the concept of going somewhere without returning with something. Our souvenir consumption exists on the order of simulation because we do not seek anything real in it, yet we do it anyways because it is part of our "whims and preconceptions as travelers." It is practiced in order to fit a societal concept of what travel should be.
Yet this article suggests that while much of our souvenir hunting exists in the order of simulation, our travel experience can still stand true and authentic. But I cannot help but be skeptical of that: today's travel getaways of tried-and-true locales like Paris or even to less frequented exotic locales have the scent of simulation to them. Numerous travel agencies sell "authentic travel experiences" for us to bottle, distill and possess as our own. A few photos of us standing in front of phallic-shaped monuments, token "native peoples," identical-to-postcard scenery confirm and seal the package. Even the itinerant backpacker goes, perhaps more to escape, more to have the "experience" than to truly be in a place.
What is travel? Does true travel still exist? Can we meaningfully examine a place? Or has today's consumer society completely eradicated any trace of the real. We go to places not to find a real locations populated by real people, but rather discover spaces completely dedicated towards recreating the experience of travel. The real world has been replaced by a world of simulation.
There are no longer places to go to, only simulated spaces. And so we cannot really go about a meaningful examination of a place, only consume the repetitive sensory perceptions of a space.
*this post responds to and quotes from Rolf Potts' article Why We Buy Dumb Souvenirs.
http://travel.news.yahoo.com/b/rolf_potts/rolf_potts4230 It's not necessary to read the article though to understand the post.
2 comments:
well I agree-- it is still possible to experience the real as we travel because we don't live in a world that is fully simulated. it is still a world created by God and there is something about other places that cannot be eradicated by consumerism, tourism and the "experience of travel". but i think, it's becoming harder and harder to find and probably impossible to experience without the taint of "simulation"
having a "real" experience is something that we can't actively seek. Its something that comes to us, and they happen all the time. traveling seems to go against this passive approach to having "authentic experiences," but it all depends on what we are thinking, or rather how we are thinking. (perhaps that we are even thinking about the experience in the first place) i dont know if that makes any sense to anyone but me.
huy
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