Debunking The Myth of ‘Authentic’ Travel

It’s a traveler’s biggest letdown — scaffolding covering the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, giant construction cranes obscuring the skyline of the Pyramids or children in remote villages wearing Brittany Spears t-shirts.

We’ve all had moments like that, moments where we felt somehow cheated, like our experience was not “authentic” enough. But in fact, those are the most authentic moments you’ll find. Moments where you are forced to concede that the world is not the way you want it to be, it is the way it is.

Gary Arndt, who has been traveling for three years now and blogs at Everything Everywhere, recently wrote a post railing against the idea of “authentic” experiences. It’s worth a read if you find yourself frequently disappointed when you encounter a McDonalds or Starbucks abroad; it will shatter your illusions quite quickly.

However, while I agree with Arndt’s basic premises, I do believe that there are ways to make your travels more “authentic,” it’s just important to be clear about what you mean by authentic. The world is modernizing and changing all the time. If you’re disappointed to find that Samoans like television (one of the examples in Ardnt’s piece) you’re asking the rest of the world to deny themselves what they want so that you can have what you want — a “authentic” experience based on your preconceptions of what’s authentic and what isn’t.

Television is authentic. Construction cranes are authentic. Brittany Spears is authentic. Everything is authentic because it exists. If you’re looking for what used to exist you’re better off staying home and taking up archeology.

That said, I think when many vagabonds start to feel that something is inauthentic it’s because they spend too much time in hostels, interacting primarily with other travelers. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it can lead you to feel that your experiences aren’t unique and that, in turn, can make them feel less “authentic.”

That why Rolf’s book, and much of this site, emphasize getting off the beaten path, cliche though that phrase may have become. But getting off the beaten path doesn’t mean going to the most willfully obscure place you can find, it means getting you out of your expectations. When you shed your expectations, everything is off the beaten path.

If you’re feeling let down by the rut of hostel after hostel, feeling that “nothing is authentic anymore,” challenge your travel preconceptions. Why are you staying in hostels anyway? Homestays are often cheaper, so are services like couchsurfing. If you want to meet someone other than fellow travelers invest the effort to learn the local language and talk to local people.

And try not to project your preconceptions on them. If you discover that nomads in Namibia love their cellphones more than their camels, well, that’s how life is. That’s authentic.

If you find that modernization troubling, then throw away your cellphone, grab a camel and disappear into the desert — that’s the only way you’re going to escape it. Because the real source of that feeling of disappointment, that feeling that your experience is not “authentic,” isn’t the world you encounter, it’s you. And you’ll never outrun yourself.