We have an entire planet here; you don't have to go only to tourist hotspots. Of course, I'll admit there's many very boring places that probably aren't worth your time and money, like Oklahoma, and some very dangerous places that you should avoid, like El Salvador or Syria, but there's lots of very nice places in civilized countries where you can go, which aren't chock-full of tourists. As a bonus, they're pretty cheap to stay at, since there's not so much demand for lodging there. Even if you confine yourself to western Europe, there's lots of places to go without running into throngs of tourists.

True - I love the boring US states! I have fond memories of a coast to coast US trip in 1992, early summer, stopping at small towns in mid America. Everything seemed so peaceful, sleepy, and warm, and the people so friendly. Watched a meteor shower one night, went to an open air cinema another. Lovely.

>Everything seemed so peaceful, sleepy, and warm, and the people so friendly.

I'm guessing you aren't black...

Those "peaceful" towns are now either full of old people because the young ones have moved away, or a bunch of opioid and meth addicts. America's small towns are falling apart. Things were really different in 1992; that's over a quarter-century ago now.

There's far more to traveling than hitting up tourist hot spots and fighting your way through people to see something, though unfortunately that's what most people, especially on HN, seem to synonymize with "travel" which explains why it's so common here to poo-poo "travel" as something lame and boring.

Then again, most Americans get, what, two weeks off in the year? It makes sense to me how travel then becomes an all-inclusive resort trip instead of the more enriching slow-boil flavor of travel that provokes the best experiences and potential change in your life and perspective. Pretty hard to get that in two weeks.

> Let's be honest though, travelling is becoming less fun in the era of mass travel.

Traveling is not the only way to create experiences. I (the person you replied to) have no interest in it. I'd rather spend time/money on a local motorcycle racetrack staring at the upcoming corner and figuring out the best line.

We’re tourist hot spots ever all that special? Travel is still amazing, lame spots are now super lame :)

World's full of 2nd-tier places to visit that are damn near as good as 1st-tier, but have 1-5% the visitors, putting them way the lead, experience-wise, except for taking instantly-recognizable "I been thar!" photos.

World population should level off before those 2nd-tier ones start to get swamped, too. So that's nice.

Believe it or not, they have got worse based on my experiences in the 80s versus now. Think about it - whole regions of the world were effectively shut out of tourism either by economics or politics back then e.g. China, India, Soviet Union.