The internet has been the birth of a number of trends and lifestyle developments: travel being one area that has greatly profited in many ways. I’m not talking about e-tickets and low-budget companies, but rather about how people share information and participate in each other’s travel escapades through the internet.
Over at Brave New Traveler, I’ve been following the comment’s debate on an article entitled Dumpster Diving, a trend sometimes affiliated with Freeganism. The debate, in response to the article, is whether dumpster diving is really an ethical way to get free food when you are in a foreign country, or just something that you can tell your friends back home when you are waxing lyrical about the time you ran out of money in Singapore. Either way, Freeganism and Dumpster Diving is now becoming a trend for some travelers. While the internet has obviously not been the birth of this movement, it’s facilitated people finding out about a different way of travel that they are unlikely to come across at their local travel agent.
Volunteer travel is a concept that we’ve discussed previously on Ten Foot Square. The internet has hugely contributed to the popularity of this trend for a number of reasons. It’s much easier to find out the realities of what travel volunteering is like now, thus making it more appealing (or less for some people).
Another trend that I only discovered today is Couch Surfing, which has developed due to the internet. The site’s tagline is “a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit”. The basics are that you offer your couch to someone that is interested in learning more about your community. You take them around your area, hang out with them, introduce them to your friends, and in return that don’t treat your home like a hotel. They engage with you as much as you engage with them. The idea is to become friends for a few days and learn from each other.
While this might sound some what crazy and dangerous, when you take a look at the website, it’s clear that safety (and sanity) have been carefully considered. Hosts have to be verified to reach different levels, and you can choose to stay with someone according to how well verified they are. The phenomenon is a Kerouac-meets-ethical living lifestyle choice.
For many people, the essence of travel being a life-style choice, and not just something you do on your holidays, is reinforced by a commonality that easily be found through on-line communities and travel zines. The phenomena mentioned are just a few of the developments that have been either influenced or created through the internet, but there are many more out there. How has the internet influenced how you travel?