Portree, Scotland, 2013
Just…DON’T. Whatever the question is, whatever the issue is, the answer is, “No.” “Don’t.” “Ever.”
Quay Street lines one side of Portree Harbour, on Loch Portree. The water side gives access to boats, and offers moorings. Opposite are old masonry buildings repurposed for inns, cafes, and shops, prettified to target the tourist trade. It’s a narrow street, mostly pedestrians, but also providing access for pick ups and deliveries, loading and unloading. As someone who lives in the heart of a popular travel destination, I understand the impulse to post this warning. Someone once gave me a bumper sticker that said, “If we call it tourist season, why can’t we shoot them?” I thought it was funny; some tour operators did not. In today’s world, maybe it isn’t.
F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” Without intending to pat my intelligence on the back, travel is a conflict I struggle to resolve. I love visiting places I have not seen, and returning to some that I have, but the industrial scale of tourism which has inundated Savannah sometimes makes me wish others would just stay home. I’m appalled when I see a horde of photographers in a scrum at an iconic but fragile landscape, but then I’ve photographed some of those places and shared those pictures and may be culpable for helping create the mob. I don’t know why anyone would want nearly the same photo hundreds of others have already made, often better, or at least with better light, but then I have hundreds of photos of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.
The best I’ve come up with so far is to try to behave as respectfully and unobtrusively as I can, although I don’t always succeed. And when working with guides, pay attention to the way they interact with the community–are they part of it, or just using it as a commodity? Tip accordingly.
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Betty Calhoun-Hardin
Having lived in Savannah, (near to) Myrtle Beach, and now Blue Ridge, I can totally understand the bumper sticker sentiment. Like you, however, travel is an exhilarating affair, opening the mind & heart. I try to be understanding & patient with those who want to share in my “home” & welcome the funds they bring to the local economy. I too, however, try to step softly & with conscience $ respect when visiting outside my normal environs. I have less respect for “the natives” who think they are due a monopoly on their space & can’t abide any changes to their lives rather than be involved in learning or helping to guide or regulate changes for the betterment of all.
bdurrence
Betty–I don’t disagree, but as someone on the front lines of trying to influence local policies for over 30 years, and having served 4 years on Savannah City Council, I can tell you it is difficult for the average citizen to participate. In politics, many people will make the effort to support and vote for candidates who share their ideological bent, but effecting policy is a much more complicated issue. It is a regulatory process that happens out of the spotlight. Even if you leave out the possibility of corruption and backroom deals, participating in the process means taking hours away from work to go to planning meetings, if you can get the time off, and can afford to do it. It requires many more hours of homework to be able to participate knowledgeably in the conversation, and you are usually facing a petitioner and their $400 per hour attorney, who get to make a full presentation of their proposal, while after sitting for several hours you may get 3 minutes, and then the petitioner gets more time to rebut your comments. If the petitioner doesn’t like the volume of opposition, he can simply ask for a continuance since he is going to be paid for being there however many times he has to come. And the board (generally appointed, not elected) hearing the presentations is made up mostly of people who have a flexible enough schedule to serve (architects, developers, lawyers, etc.), making them more like the development faction before them than the opposing citizens. Also, just the fact of the proposal being made usually means the opposition is expected to make some sort of compromise, which means they have lost ground before the conversation even starts.