To the Editor: I was part of the overtourism problem too. (“Tourists made Europe a nightmare. I was part of the problem and it will never happen again,” Opinion, July 26th)
I’ve been making travel films for 45 years, and like Rick Steves, my message was to just get on a plane and go, but I never imagined travel would explode.
In 1985, I made a film about Alaska cruises. Two ships sailed there every week, carrying 600 passengers. Even then, the little port town was crowded. Today, there are at least 20 ships sailing there every week, many of which carry 3,000 passengers. The charm has gone.
In 1974 I spent eight weeks in Venice, Italy, shooting a film. To say it was magical is an understatement. Today, St. Mark’s Square is like Times Square.
But the saddest thing is that no one sees what they came to see. During my first visit to Paris in 1968, I stood in front of the Mona Lisa and enjoyed the moment. Today, no one sees the Mona Lisa. Everyone is busy taking selfies and never spends a second looking at the painting itself.
Yes, the Mona Lisa is perfect for Instagram. But what did you see? What did you learn? How were you moved?
Doug Jones, Los Angeles
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To the Editor: We are two people in our 80s who have spent most of our lives traveling abroad as tourists. Last month we traveled to Scandinavia, a place neither of us had been to before.
We started from Bergen, Norway, arriving two days before the tour started, we wanted a few days on our own to explore the destination and recover from jet lag so we walked all over Bergen.
We love seeing how people live in the cities we visit – eating at local restaurants, talking to locals, walking around and discovering what life “off the grid” is like.
For the rest of the trip, we toured Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Estonia, giving us a deeper insight into local life and culture. Of course, there were a lot of tourists in the usual places, but going out on foot on our own gave us great experiences in places we had never known before.
Even though we can no longer travel far, we always continue our adventures to learn something new, even if it’s just within our wonderful city.
Flea and Michael Tereland, Westwood
