A few years later, I was back in England—this time as a student of art and architecture (no, not creating my own :)). I showed up the first of the year.
For the next few months, I got to know London in a really fabulous way. I love London! I had a great time becoming familiar with the subtleties of London culture. It began to feel like a home away from home.
And then . . . .
SPRING BREAK!!!
[Cue Psycho slashing music! Strings, strings, strings, strings!!]
Americans descended upon London like the plague. Not that I have anything against Americans in London.... (I was one, after all. :)) But they all came at once!
The city was changed.
Everything was more crowded. Dollar bills filled the donation bins. The locals seemed to disappear.... Instead of the usual dispersement of wandering patrons throughout a gallery, crowds followed each other to sardine themselves in front of something like Sunflowers by Van Gogh. (Furthermore, Americans aren't as quiet in galleries....) Bridges were suddenly crowded with tourists snapping pictures of Parliament, or St. Paul's, or the Tower of London. Those obnoxious tourist buses (for folks who go to a city to sit in a tourist bus) were out and about in droves.
The foot traffic on the sidewalks shifted sides, for heaven's sake...! :)
It was a different place! Really a very stark, unexpected, jarring contrast! (Kristin can back me up on this. It's true! :)) And I couldn't help but feel really, really sad for these thousands of people who were taking a trip of a lifetime, but had no clue that they weren't experiencing the real London.
A couple weeks later.... The American plague was gone, and London went back to normal.
And I logged away this rule of thumb: I'll never travel during Spring Break, either. (Not unless it's a place no one would go in Spring.... Like...?) What's the point of exploring a new culture if you'll just find a bunch of other visitors there? And even if I'm just visiting exotic Montana or something, I want to see exotic Montana the way the locals do! I want to see the quiet days! (Are there unquiet days in Montana? ;-)) I want things uncrowded and authentic. I want to soak up the culture. I want to wander a "tourist trap" on the days when it's left the most normal—the most natural, or the most empty, or the most quiet—and when it's being explored the way its own culture explores it.
And I definitely don't want to be one of those people who visited London during Spring Break 2001 without realizing that in the weeks before and the weeks after...it was a different place. They almost came at the right time. So close....
Strike Three against Summer travel. You're out, Summer. :) (And take Spring break with you. ;))
5 comments:
Spring breaks happen at different times, all over the months of February and March. I've even seen one spring break in April. Is there just a more common break period? How would you know? I bet the airlines know....
If I'm in a place and it's crowded, it occurs to me it must be spring break. ;-) Airlines definitely know. Haha! Or blackout dates on Disneyland passes. :) (Or any other pass! Seems like there's generally a two-week swath.... Maybe four.)
February is the best though, man! If some weird place has their spring break in Feb (that's not even spring!) then you've got it MADE! You can travel on your own break and NOT hit tourist season! Where does this exist?
Our lovely current town of Bedford has a February break and an April break, each a week long. Not that we're tied by public school system calendars yet. Wayne's teaching schedule, though, does tie us. What are the odds that his college and our kids breaks will line up someday anyway? Or even that we'll still be in this town with two week long breaks when they start school?
One word:
SABBATICAL.
Yes!!!!
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