What if I tell you to choose between spending the night at the iconic 7-star hotel Burj-Al-Arab in Dubai or in an Italian rural agriturismo in the middle of Tuscany? What about a sophisticated meal on a Parisian bateaux mouches or a homemade picnic once at the top of the Table Mountain? A helicopter tour over New York skyscraper or a visit to a local cigar factory in Vinales? A Tomorrowland package to listen to your favorite artists during one of the biggest music events in Europe or an all-inclusive Caribbean cruise?
Each of you will answer differently and that's totally normal : there's no right answer.
In a modern context of democratisation of tourism thanks to an increase in revenues, the right to paid holidays and the development of the transport sector, an incredible variety of possibilities are available to travellers.
As a passionate traveller and tourism student and employee, I have the feeling that travelling is, for many people, just an occasion to say ''I've been there'', to pose for the perfect Instagram shot, to have an exotic story to impress who stayed at home.
Let's think about every time we've said ''This place is amazing, but there are too many tourists to enjoy it properly''.
Let's take the exemple of Louvre museum, one of the most important cultural and artistic treasure in the world. Nowadays the museum has to deal with the problems of massification of tourism and the iconization of the Gioconda. In fact, most of the tourists don't even pay attention to the other workpieces, the only thing that matters is taking a selfie with the Da Vinci most famous painting. No matter which season, which day of the week or hour, the museum is not for a curious and passionate visitor anymore.
To me, travelling is first of all a feeling inside you, a thrill that begins in your heart when you start planning your trip, an extreme curiosity, the excitement of the departure. It's facing the small issues as part of the adventure, it's an unexpected joy for a street music, an ancient monument or a breathtaking landscape. Travelling is also a sense of enrichment on your way back home.
To each of us, travelling has numerous shades according to our habits, tastes, envies and needs. It doesn't necessarily correspond to a polarisation between economy and luxury, between fashion and rural, complexity and simplicity. And there's no wrong way to travel if it comes from your heart and represents a unique experience in your life that you experience for yourself.
Smart Travelling is a kind of economic theory : you allocate your resources where it's worth it for you. It can be sleeping in a tent into nature today and having an exclusive hotel with view the following day. The key is in your ability to enjoy the moment, to feel fulfilled and to have a critical eye on thing.
I’ve been living in a wonderful 5-star property near Cape Town for months and once back in Italy I organised a savage camping with my best friends : a tent, bicycles and a lot of laughs. And I can tell you the secret is in your attitude toward things, toward travelling and life.
Live for real experiences and deep emotions.