I spend a fair bit of time over there on your side of the pond in the US - I live in the UK. Often getting revenge on my eldest son in Maryland for all the years he abused us - leaving his washi
I spend a fair bit of time over there on your side of the pond in the US - I live in the UK.
Often getting revenge on my eldest son in Maryland for all the years he abused us - leaving his washing on the bedroom floor.
Opening the second carton of Tropicana - when the first one is still half full.
However - I dont want to tread on toes but a "Cultural Difference" is bugging me.
Something I notice over there in the US and not here is:
"Which is the Best?"
If I ask for a good restaurant or beach or shopping mall or anything - then it always starts a heated debate amongst relatives because I have to have "The Best"
I've also noticed that on the Travel Forums its not allowed to have 2 or 3 "Best".
Hence all the Fans and Fertiliser.
Just a cultural observation.
But I'm scared to ask folks now.
Surely "Anytown USA" has a dozen Fine - Affordable - Pleasant Restaurants. etc...
The concept of the "Best" of everything just leaves me shaking my head.
I just dont get it. Give me 3 or 4 good choices then I'm happy.
Garry, you and I don't agree on everything but on this issue I'm with you. I wonder if the syndrome cannot be partly blamed on travel magazines and other media who've replaced real content with travel articles and whole issues of periodicals devoted to "The Best" of anything one can think of. I've now cancelled my subscription to one in particular, Conde Nast Traveler, that almost seemed to consist of not much more. I found it infuriating every time one landed in my mailbox, to think that I was paying for nothing but lists of high end hotels, various airlines and other useless material. And the premise is so faulty in any case. Best for whom? Certainly not for any criteria I care about.
The second and a related category of fertilizer is the requests for "must sees" and "must dos" that we're subjected to around here. I wish Frommer's could add an automatic delete feature anytime the word "must" appears. I for one would be pleased.
I share a lot of that feeling, but I demur on the "must see" "must do" question, because I think it opens the opportunity for a dialog: "What's important to you? If you think about that, we can suggest things you might LIKE to see or do, rather than MUST."
I think the "10 Best" mania is closely related to the phenomenon that has changed movie journalism from "what was the movie like" to "how much did it gross this weekend?"--a topic that, in my childhood, was only of interest to people in the trade. As well, in the recent weeks of the Republican primary we've seen what seems like more coverage of the pollsters and what they say than of the candidates and what they are saying (or not).
It's sad...but superficiality and triviality seem to be the themes of the day. Drive past and take a picture. Check the book and go to the "best" restaurant. And miss the whole point of why we go about and poke at things and try to understand the people and world around us.
Sometimes I'm grateful for belonging to an older generation...
If only it worked that way though - what you say, PHeymont, about opening a dialog. More often than not, when the "must see" question is asked it seems to me that what's wanted is precisely what you describe starting with "It's sad". Not what interests the asker, because they seem often enough to not really know why they're going to the place they ask about but are instead really asking "what is it I should be interested in, what's everyone else interested in so I can drive by and take that picture. Isn't that what the "must" is about? What "must" I be interested in so that I'll know I've been there? World through the viewfinder?
As a citizen of the offending country, I have to say I agree with you. As a Psychology major, I'm always studying human behavior. I've concluded (you all are going to help catch the tomatoes that will be thrown aren't you? LOL) that it's more of our collective obsession with 'control' than with making sure that everyone gets the best. Our control obsession is maddening. It began about 20 years ago and I keep hoping that it will burn itself out someday. Of course, I could be wrong and my theory will certainly be challenged. LOL
So Garry, does that mean I'm really not the World's Best Dad like my old Tee shirt says.LOL
I think some of Best of lists are fun because like PHeymont says about must sees and do's,they get the conversation started.
Several of the Between Bites blogs were like that on here and I enjoyed peoples opinions of what they thought was the best Pizza in NYC or the Best Sandwich was.
