In planning where to go on Megatrip, a question that came up pretty quickly was whether we should revisit places we had already been on previous trips. Particularly ones that occupy a special, roped-off section in our travel spank bank. The question is a two parter: When investing so much of ourselves into this trip, shouldn’t we be prioritizing new places we’ve never seen before? And also, do we dare disturb a pristine travel memory?
The first question is easy enough to rationalize away (“Well we’re in the same part of the world, it won’t hurt to stop by”). It’s the second that tends to punch travelers in their dramamine coated guts. I’ve heard a lot of people caution against attempting to recreate the magic of a beloved trip from your past. The location may have changed. You might not recognize it. You may have changed. It might not recognize you.
But I think the most important factor might be that you risk shattering the illusion that the place really wasn’t ever as great as you thought it was. Perhaps its beauty and energy, so clearly etched into your memory, were less reality and more the euphoric byproducts of a jet lag and adrenaline spiked travel-colada. I think the real fear comes from an often repressed awareness travelers have, that we tend to romanticize and embellish by nature, and to revisit hallowed travel ground is to chance that being rubbed in our faces. Which would really aggravate our sunburn.
So, when deciding weather to include repeat destinations on our Megatrip itinerary, what I kept thinking about was New Orleans.
Sara and I first went to New Orleans in 2014. Thinking we were visiting on an unremarkable weekend in February to get feel for the real city, we inadvertently picked the opening weekend of Mardi Gras which that year coincided with the NOLA-hosted NBA All Star weekend. Call it insufficient research or divine providence, but we had one of the best weekends of our lives and instantly fell in love with the city.
The next year we went again, unsure if lightning would strike twice. We ended up riding a random parade trolley down Bourbon Street for about an hour before people realized we weren’t supposed to be there. Two years later we went again with our family, sure to be a more subdued affair. My sister ended up vomiting in a public trashcan on Royal Street at noon on a Sunday.
The point is, NOLA is a travel destination that, for us, never disappoints no matter how many times we go. Now of course the stakes are lower for a domestic weekend trip vs. an city on the other side of the world. But it’s enough to inspire us to roll the dice. So, provided it makes logistic sense on the way to explore new locations, we are going to revisit several locations we’ve been to in the past. Many of which we’ve constructed very sturdy travel pedestals for.
We plan to go back to Italy. We hope to return to Cape Town (if it was water). We will be going for another round of Bangkok (mostly out of necessity, not that we don’t love the city). And we will be stopping by Koh Phi Phi for a few days on our tour of several Thai islands. The beauty of Megatrip, and another factor that led us to include these places, that is that if any of these disappoint, they are more of a drop in the travel bucket than an entire bottle of spoiled exploration wine. Maybe we’ll get to Koh Phi Phi and the waters won’t seem as blue, the music volume won’t be as bearable, and the thrill won’t be the same. And that’s ok. But maybe, just maybe, we’ll make like my sister and puke in a trash can on Ton Sai Bay. That’s ok too.
More to come on this as we make re-experinece these destinations in the coming months.
