The
anti-tourist travels very similarly to the drift strategy. A strategy Daniel Kalder used was picking the
most unknown places on a map of Russia to visit. An anti-tourist is someone who goes on the
roads less taken. Kalder describes an
anti-tourist as someone who’s “humble and seeks invsibility” (Kalder). The anti-tourist doesn’t travel to achieve notoriety
or to brag about where they have been, instead they travel for deeper meaning.
When talking about commonly visited sites, he says “you just wind up following
an almost automatic path.” (Kalder). He says some sites have just been
dissected so much that they lose appeal.
When defining anti-tourism he does
state what it isn’t. The idea of the word is not against traveling, it’s
against traveling to the same places as everyone else. He was visiting Russian places that “even in,
like, enormous guidebooks they don’t mention these Republics” (Kalder). By going to these almost invisible places,
Kalder learned a great deal about Russian culture and history that he wouldn’t have
learned by visiting St. Petersburg or by reading a text book. That’s the beauty
of anti-tourism, finding a treasure trove of information and culture in places
most people would not even consider looking. I have found times when visiting
more remote places can be a better experience, because the story of those
places are more unknown, they haven’t been repeated over and over. Sometimes the road less taken offers more
than what meets the eye.
Source:
Kalder, Daniel. Interview. To
the Best of Our Knowledge. WPR,
Madison. 17 Aug. 2011.
