Through Three Lenses - Notes from April Travels
May 12th, 2004, 12:41 PM
#23
Thanks to all for the positive feedback. I'm always nervous about these kinds of posts being an exercise in egoism, another deadly sin.
Like I said at the beginning of the post, I don't think it's a good idea to draw sweeping conclusions from minimal data. I realize now that the cruise segment is rather negative-sounding. But it's absolutely not my intent to dissuade anyone from going on a cruise, Mediterranean or otherwise. We love the shipboard experience, we love the ocean, and for a "package tour" type of experience it's a great thing. And one thing to note, especially in Europe, is that a cruise is a wonderful means for older or mobility-impaired folks to have a first-rate, yet affordable, holiday experience - elevators, accessibility, available assistance for getting around - which would be denied them, or severely constrained, with independent travel.
Looking for the quaint to the exclusion of the everyday or the ugly is nothing new in European travel. We all do it all the time - just look around the topics on this board. What troubled us was that there were people on the boat who were looking to the cruiseline to be enablers of this selective vision, even when they knew how selective it was.
But the real Europe (the rest of it, that is) was plenty visible once you got ashore, and many, many people on the ship were fully engaged in experiencing the culture, the life, the energy of the places, even if there were others - a minority - whose one goal in Florence was to see the statue of David and then adjourn to the designer shops.
We all choose how we spend our time, whether traveling or not. Gandalf said it best: All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
Like I said at the beginning of the post, I don't think it's a good idea to draw sweeping conclusions from minimal data. I realize now that the cruise segment is rather negative-sounding. But it's absolutely not my intent to dissuade anyone from going on a cruise, Mediterranean or otherwise. We love the shipboard experience, we love the ocean, and for a "package tour" type of experience it's a great thing. And one thing to note, especially in Europe, is that a cruise is a wonderful means for older or mobility-impaired folks to have a first-rate, yet affordable, holiday experience - elevators, accessibility, available assistance for getting around - which would be denied them, or severely constrained, with independent travel.
Looking for the quaint to the exclusion of the everyday or the ugly is nothing new in European travel. We all do it all the time - just look around the topics on this board. What troubled us was that there were people on the boat who were looking to the cruiseline to be enablers of this selective vision, even when they knew how selective it was.
But the real Europe (the rest of it, that is) was plenty visible once you got ashore, and many, many people on the ship were fully engaged in experiencing the culture, the life, the energy of the places, even if there were others - a minority - whose one goal in Florence was to see the statue of David and then adjourn to the designer shops.
We all choose how we spend our time, whether traveling or not. Gandalf said it best: All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
May 12th, 2004, 01:29 PM
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Very interesting ! I agree, this is a trip report. Not a daily diary of breakfast jams but a perceptive summation of ones total experience.
And, I love your style--are you a writer by trade? Mille grazie !
And, I love your style--are you a writer by trade? Mille grazie !
May 12th, 2004, 07:38 PM
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What an intelligently written, illuminating, and provocative trip report!
You chose to share it with us here on Fodors, for free, when it could (and still should) be in a magazine.
A very generous gift! Thank you.
You chose to share it with us here on Fodors, for free, when it could (and still should) be in a magazine.
A very generous gift! Thank you.
May 18th, 2004, 08:41 AM
#33
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This was so fascinating...I've traveled in the U.S. but am just planning my first trip across the ocean (to London)..and hope that I can get my nose out of a travel book long enough to notice some of the little yet significant things. I also agree, if you're not..you should be a writer.
There was nothing in your report that I did not enjoy reading about.
But since this is my first trip, and I
am very new to this forum..I also want to add that I also enjoy the other trip
reports I read..(what they ate, what to avoid, etc.) My son says I'm obsessed
but I've learned so much!
There was nothing in your report that I did not enjoy reading about.
But since this is my first trip, and I
am very new to this forum..I also want to add that I also enjoy the other trip
reports I read..(what they ate, what to avoid, etc.) My son says I'm obsessed
but I've learned so much!
May 23rd, 2004, 05:11 AM
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Wonderful! This is the best trip report I've read in years -- and there have been several that stand out. I've yet to put together a report on our recent experiences in Africa. You've inspired me to share how much more we learned about the culture and people that made it much more than just a trip to an exotic location.
May 23rd, 2004, 07:17 AM
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Hi, Gardyloo. Thank you for your lovely report. As an inveterate questor for travel writing, I truly enjoyed yours. No routes or timetables just perceptions. Your ability to make comparisons between then and now enhances the storytelling. And you were able to remark on less than attractive attributes without being mean-spirited. That's hard to do but essential to conveying reality. Please keep posting your observations.
May 23rd, 2004, 08:07 AM
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Gardyloo, I am so glad you got back to us and posted your thoughts about Israel, especially given that you had had some reservations about going.
I have often thought about the young Israeli couple on their honeymoon that we met in Siena in 2000. How hopeful things seemed then, and how despairing now. We can but hope that human beings will eventually get tired of expending so much energy on so much hatred.
On a lighter note you get the alliteration award: "gobsmacked Germans goggling at Gaudi" (say that three times and get a prize!)
Are trip reports exercises in egotism? Yes, I understand the risk. But travel for leisure by definition is something one does for oneself; I've always felt it was unrealistic at best and pompous at worst to think of travel abroad as some kind of unofficial ambassadorial appointment. On the other hand, your report was valuable to me in that it gave me pause to think. I'm glad you mentioned the risk of overgeneralization, and that you tried to qualify your remarks about your cruiseship mates. For as you discovered, there are worse things than being naive about geography, and one of them is a tendency to indulge in hate graffiti, as in Sardinia. Now, that's egotism.
Cheers, I enjoyed every word.
I have often thought about the young Israeli couple on their honeymoon that we met in Siena in 2000. How hopeful things seemed then, and how despairing now. We can but hope that human beings will eventually get tired of expending so much energy on so much hatred.
On a lighter note you get the alliteration award: "gobsmacked Germans goggling at Gaudi" (say that three times and get a prize!)
Are trip reports exercises in egotism? Yes, I understand the risk. But travel for leisure by definition is something one does for oneself; I've always felt it was unrealistic at best and pompous at worst to think of travel abroad as some kind of unofficial ambassadorial appointment. On the other hand, your report was valuable to me in that it gave me pause to think. I'm glad you mentioned the risk of overgeneralization, and that you tried to qualify your remarks about your cruiseship mates. For as you discovered, there are worse things than being naive about geography, and one of them is a tendency to indulge in hate graffiti, as in Sardinia. Now, that's egotism.
Cheers, I enjoyed every word.
