I recently read "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. Yes, yes, it did come out, like, four hundred years ago. Shut up. But I read it. Amongst many other various topics, he talks about these kinds of shared memories. In one case he mentions "transactive memory" but I'm not sure if that's the term here. Basically, I'm talking about shared memory across multiple persons. No, no, not like ESP. It's more like, well, I know my friends Spencer and Dillon are more car buffs than I am. So, I don't learn a ton of information on my cars because, in addition to not being that interested, I really on them for knowledge and recommendations on cars. Spencer's pretty much driven ever car ever made since he's rented 401,638* cars over his lifetime. I'm not sure why he was surprised he got pulled over for doing under 95 in that Model T on 285. So, you see, I am sharing memory with Spencer and Dillon. I don't know all about cars, but I know they know all about cars and I know them so I go to them when I need information. People do this all the time. I mean, really, our contact list on Facebook, on our phones, Google accounts, etc, are all shared memory. I don't know Spencer's phone number by heart, but I know where to get it.
I mention all this to say this: the collective memory, the collective knowledge, or travelers about traveling, and really kind of the world in general is ASTOUNDING. Let me try to describe it, but I'm sure I'll fail miserably. What do you do when you try to plan a trip? How do you a pick a destination? You throw a dart at a map? You heard about a place from a friend? Read about it in a book? Then what? Why you plan it, of course. How? You Google it? Lonely Planet? TripAdvisor? Wikipedia? Travel Agency? Then what? Book flights, hotels, hostels? Ok, so you get there. You research some more. Talk to a local tourism office. The hotel front desk. The friendly hostel staff. So you've some idea of what to see. And you go out and see it, or at least some of it, and ultimately you are the judge of what is good or bad. Maybe on your list you've got some museums but the first few things you say sucked and you're like "I don't want to walk my ass through some boring museums** after that nonsense. Let's find some lunch, booze, and a futbol match."*** So, now what? Lonely Planet and the rest have let you down. Talk to travelers. Talk to them. Seriously. Where have they been? When a second person mentions a place without you mentioning it first, it's like getting the second source in journalism: IT'S GO TIME.
When you talk to people who have traveled, who are traveling, who have been traveling, you learn SO MUCH. You learn about places you've never heard of and you learn more about places you have heard of. You learn more about places you've been to. You really find the right way to do things. Guidebooks don't have all the information, and even if they seem to, it could have changed. When the traveler says "Go here, take this bus, no one will tell you the bus exists, but it does", LISTEN TO HER****.
These people have been there. They know about it. They know some of the best and most unique ways to experience places. It's not intuitive and they have learned by experience. Learn from them.
When I was hiking the W in Torres del Paine National Park in the Chilean Patagonia, on December 9th one of the girls I was hiking with mentioned "Navimag". It immediately registered with me, though. I, today, December 21st, the day I am writing this article for the first time, I found the e-mail I sent myself the day I first heard the word Navimag, I word hadn't heard since. I sent that e-mail on September 23, 2013. I heard it from Ryan Springer, an American from Pittsburgh traveling in Buenos Aires at the time. We were at Hostel Estoril, on the 6th floor, on Avenida de Mayo in the middle of Buenos Aires, one block from the National Congress building. The e-mail was titled "Navimag" and the body was empty. I sent it as a reminder to myself to Google it. It's a cruise you can take, well, it's the company I suppose, from Puerto Natales to...somewhere. Or maybe multiple places. Puerto Mont and Chiloe are my guesses. Ryan had also told me about going to see the Gray Glacier. I didn't know at the time, but he was describing the first leg of the W.
Do you see? Do you see that?? The things he's talking about, one of them I was currently doing when I heard about the second thing, independently, from another traveler whom I was trekking the W with. I heard about it and said, "That's two sources. Two independent sources. It MUST be good."
I suppose the most important thing that happens when you listen to these people is trust, trustworthiness, and confidence. When you get to a know a traveler, a person really in this case, and you get to trust them, you end up trusting their recommendations. You're going to trust what they say over what the guidebook says.
One more thing: how do we capitalize on this? You can't. Or, at least, I don't know. I don't know how you market trust like that. I'm sure someone in marketing has, so get on that.
*Approximately
**Not all museums suck. Just most. The Louvre and the Smithsonian are exceptions.
***This has never been my experience, I swear.
****Sneak preview of my post on one Paige Rylander
I mention all this to say this: the collective memory, the collective knowledge, or travelers about traveling, and really kind of the world in general is ASTOUNDING. Let me try to describe it, but I'm sure I'll fail miserably. What do you do when you try to plan a trip? How do you a pick a destination? You throw a dart at a map? You heard about a place from a friend? Read about it in a book? Then what? Why you plan it, of course. How? You Google it? Lonely Planet? TripAdvisor? Wikipedia? Travel Agency? Then what? Book flights, hotels, hostels? Ok, so you get there. You research some more. Talk to a local tourism office. The hotel front desk. The friendly hostel staff. So you've some idea of what to see. And you go out and see it, or at least some of it, and ultimately you are the judge of what is good or bad. Maybe on your list you've got some museums but the first few things you say sucked and you're like "I don't want to walk my ass through some boring museums** after that nonsense. Let's find some lunch, booze, and a futbol match."*** So, now what? Lonely Planet and the rest have let you down. Talk to travelers. Talk to them. Seriously. Where have they been? When a second person mentions a place without you mentioning it first, it's like getting the second source in journalism: IT'S GO TIME.
When you talk to people who have traveled, who are traveling, who have been traveling, you learn SO MUCH. You learn about places you've never heard of and you learn more about places you have heard of. You learn more about places you've been to. You really find the right way to do things. Guidebooks don't have all the information, and even if they seem to, it could have changed. When the traveler says "Go here, take this bus, no one will tell you the bus exists, but it does", LISTEN TO HER****.
These people have been there. They know about it. They know some of the best and most unique ways to experience places. It's not intuitive and they have learned by experience. Learn from them.
When I was hiking the W in Torres del Paine National Park in the Chilean Patagonia, on December 9th one of the girls I was hiking with mentioned "Navimag". It immediately registered with me, though. I, today, December 21st, the day I am writing this article for the first time, I found the e-mail I sent myself the day I first heard the word Navimag, I word hadn't heard since. I sent that e-mail on September 23, 2013. I heard it from Ryan Springer, an American from Pittsburgh traveling in Buenos Aires at the time. We were at Hostel Estoril, on the 6th floor, on Avenida de Mayo in the middle of Buenos Aires, one block from the National Congress building. The e-mail was titled "Navimag" and the body was empty. I sent it as a reminder to myself to Google it. It's a cruise you can take, well, it's the company I suppose, from Puerto Natales to...somewhere. Or maybe multiple places. Puerto Mont and Chiloe are my guesses. Ryan had also told me about going to see the Gray Glacier. I didn't know at the time, but he was describing the first leg of the W.
Do you see? Do you see that?? The things he's talking about, one of them I was currently doing when I heard about the second thing, independently, from another traveler whom I was trekking the W with. I heard about it and said, "That's two sources. Two independent sources. It MUST be good."
I suppose the most important thing that happens when you listen to these people is trust, trustworthiness, and confidence. When you get to a know a traveler, a person really in this case, and you get to trust them, you end up trusting their recommendations. You're going to trust what they say over what the guidebook says.
One more thing: how do we capitalize on this? You can't. Or, at least, I don't know. I don't know how you market trust like that. I'm sure someone in marketing has, so get on that.
*Approximately
**Not all museums suck. Just most. The Louvre and the Smithsonian are exceptions.
***This has never been my experience, I swear.
****Sneak preview of my post on one Paige Rylander
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