Travel FOMO Leading To Overtourism? Here’s How to Avoid Both

Now that the year end is upon us and we all are frantically booking our winter holidays, have you been feeling a little lost while deciding on the destination and things to do over there? Do you feel anxious about missing out on many things in the limited amount of time you would be spending at a place? Are you also booking the first flight to the most famous or ‘Trending’ destinations?

Well, to start with, most of us feel the same. While trying to check off the destinations from our ‘Bucket List’ we tend to over-expose an already crowded tourist destination. And in the process of ‘Covering’ the ‘Top Attractions / Experiences’ at a place, we accidentally take the joy out of traveling.

Over the years, I have learnt to outgrow this fear of missing out on popular destinations and experiences. I discovered that what is trending, need not be appealing to everyone. We all create our own experiences and perspectives while traveling. Here are my tips on how to achieve this state of mind and have extraordinary experiences at ordinary destinations:

1. Happy Holiday is a State of Mind

Overthinking and over-planning your itinerary might not go right all the time. If there are ‘Top 10 things to do at a place’, as per social media, then select top 3 or 5 which appeal to you the most. The objective of social media or travel publications is to give you maximum information and not to burden you with an exhaustive itinerary which allows you no peaceful time at a place.

Do only three things instead of ten but immerse-in the experience. Listen to the sounds, see the sights and taste the flavors, instead of being in a hurry to reach the next place which you think could be serving something better.

2. Explore your own ‘Best Places’

When you say you have been to a destination, what do you mean by that? Does it mean you have been to the famous places over there or that you experienced the place from your own viewpoint? I travel by the principal of ‘Go Local, Eat Local, Live Local and Help the Locals’. This has enabled me to see ordinary places in a completely different outlook, given me stories to remember and new friendships to cherish.

If a rainy day or a lack of transport spoils your itinerary, then ‘just walk around the neighborhood or speak with the residents’. Who knows they might just invite you for a fantastic local meal, which you would have never found at the fancy restaurant you were planning to go to.

3. Be Mindful of your Experience

There is an old Buddhist principle of Mindfulness which means being present in the moment with your mind, senses and soul. I know that it is easier said than done, but not that difficult to achieve either.

Many years ago, I visited Gyuto monastery in Dharamshala for the first time. The calm vibes around the monastery completely engulfed me and I could barely utter a word. After spending almost an hour near the sanctum sanctorum, I heard some commotion outside. It was lunch time for the monks. I observed that they sat down in rows with their respective meal bowls and ate in complete silence. I asked one of them who was standing beside me, “don’t you people talk while eating? He replied, ‘They are trying to focus on every bite of food with all their senses, being completely present with their meal, enjoying all the flavors in entirety.

That is one of the ways to practice Mindfulness. Would you rather be enjoying the sunset you are witnessing or thinking about your dinner reservations at the ‘legendary’ restaurant? The #epic trip isn’t made of super experiences, it is made of what you felt when you were there?

4. Explore Tiny Treasures

An exotic little bird perched on your hotel’s balcony, a wild fern that you encountered during a trek, a bunch of local children going to school you saw during your drive around town, a street-delicacy you tasted from a non-descript eatery or an unknown waterfall you encountered during a morning walk into the hills are all your own tiny treasures which you take home with you. Focus on these little findings and you will never be disappointed with your journey.

Every place in the world has such tiny sources of happiness which we all ignore and try to achieve the bigger things to check off our list.

5. Go Offbeat and avoid Over Tourism

The world is too big to be experienced in a lifetime and it is too beautiful to see only a part of it. Social media has ‘mainstreamed’ some destinations which are on everyone’s wish list. A continued influx of travelers to these destinations is destroying their ecological balance. Remember, they are popular because of their beauty and because the residents took good care of them.

Overcrowded travel destinations are a turn off for all of us. Are you trying to escape from the traffic, crowds and pollution of cities only to encounter the same things at a holiday? Instead, why not go to places that have similar geography but are less frequented by tourists? This will reduce your carbon footprint on an already fragile ecosystem and give you your own unique experiences.

Travel holds different meaning to different people. It may be healing, liberating, calming and so many other things for us. What if there aren’t enough beautiful places left for us to snuggle into? By giving into travel FOMO we ain’t just putting ourselves under undue duress but also engraving our negative footprints on already overburdened destinations.

Experiencing everything everywhere in the world is impractical. What we can do is enjoy the places we go to at our own pace, in our own light.

Follow my travel adventures at Tripoto and Instagram @Soulful_Worldview