Why do people travel to other countries just to stay in luxury hotels?
Joy asked:
Seriously. If you want to experience another culture, then why stay in a 5 star resort that’s more American or British than anything else? If I wanted the Hilton with a prepackaged exotic meal I could just stay in America. Why doesn’t anyone ever just backpack across Europe or Asia anymore? Why doesn’t anyone go off the beaten path? And speaking of such, aren’t there programs where students or people can swap families for a month or so like they used to have?
Clinton
Seriously. If you want to experience another culture, then why stay in a 5 star resort that’s more American or British than anything else? If I wanted the Hilton with a prepackaged exotic meal I could just stay in America. Why doesn’t anyone ever just backpack across Europe or Asia anymore? Why doesn’t anyone go off the beaten path? And speaking of such, aren’t there programs where students or people can swap families for a month or so like they used to have?
Clinton
Tags: Asia, Backpack Europe, luxury hotels
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:43 am
You know thats a good question….really
August 22nd, 2008 at 11:11 pm
well i guess the people want to feel save and want to have a little piece of home with them
August 25th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I travel when I am on vacation. Vacation is suppose to be enjoyable so I stay in a luxury hotel but I still go out during the day and experience local cuisine and meet local people but when I sleep I want confort and safety.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Lots of people backpack around Europe, maybe the people you know have lost their sense of adventure, or have lives that are too structured to allow for such freedom.
In the past 5 years my wife and I have taken my 81 year old father and 75 year old mother on 3 backpacking trips around Europe….Scotland, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Germany [Munich during Oktoberfest], and Italy of course!.
While it’s not for everyone, we prefer not to stay in big impersonal ‘luxury’ hotels, whether or not our budget would allow it. We usually stay in small family owned hotels, but have spent the night in youth hostels, boats, farmhouses, a lighthouse and other places. One place we stayed was 98 stairs to the door of the apartment, but it had a million dollar view of the plaza beneath it. The smaller local places, you actually meet the people who own the establishment, learn about their kids, see their soccer trophies, etc. To me that’s part of the fun. As a result, we have friends all over Europe.
Yes there are programs that enable people to stay in each others’ homes. I know a few people who do that.
August 27th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Backpacking is a budget way of doing things, if people can afford luxury and comfort I say go for it.