Member-only story
Why Travel Snobbery Somewhat Misses the Point
It forgets the essential variable in visiting a place
I’ve been a travel snob.
There, I said it.
Before the age of 26, I thought the Canary Islands were a pretty grim place full of drunken British tourists wearing more sunburn than clothing.
Of course, this assumption was not based in research. Little snobbery is. It was based on the adverts, the posters in high street travel agent windows and what I’d heard about resort holidays to the islands.
It all sounded very much package-holiday central. Very much forget-the-culture-let’s-get-chips-and-speak-in-loud-English-so-waiters-understand-us. Granted, there are small subsets of British tourists in specific Canarian towns like that.
But judging the Canaries by that would be like judging the UK by Leeds on a Friday night. Besides, my idea of being abroad might be different to other people’s, so who cares if we’re all just having a good time?
Despite never planning on going to the Canaries, I ended up there for three months. I wound up visiting Lanzarote, Graciosa, Fuerteventura, Tenerife, La Gomera and Gran Canaria. I spent a full month in Tenerife, perhaps the most infamous island in my head for touristy holidays.
