The subconscious human instinct to fit in is so strong. In America it’s big meals, big ambitions, big cars. Here I already feel myself absorbing the slower pace, the right-sized life. To think, with modern media and advertising, how much our base instincts are used against us, to subliminally manipulate us to consume and compete these made-up status games.

We absorb the nature of the places around us. I’m on this run along these terraced hillsides on the Amalfi coast, held up by dry-stone walls, planted with lemon groves under chestnut-pole pergolas, and I keep thinking to myself “how could you be mad about life when it’s this good?” It’s far too short to be occupied with control, nitpicking and caring about trivial shit. This is enough. This could be enough. I realize how I’m feeling now is directly proportional to the discomfort I’m putting myself in, is in this run is really challenging, the conveniences and nicities of normal travel are stripped away; but that’s maybe why I appreciate it all more.

Having stopped in Amalfi midway through my run and come to appreciate Ravello for being and feeling more lived in. Ravello isn’t as touristy because its way harder to get to.

I travel for the experience of seeing good life being lived in other ways than I might be exposed to. Harder-to-get-to places and experiences are going to become more valuable, because they naturally filter out the people who are looking for the cheaper highs of novelty-seeking.11. And for those of us willing to suffer a bit, the upside is that we savor things more when they’re difficult.

But getting there isn’t the only constraint. Old town Florence is easy to reach and still feels lived in, maybe because it was shaped by the constraints of when it was made.

Mod, writing about how tourism is reshaping Rome:

I keep thinking about the mid-2000s as the last moment of ‘authentic’ tourism to major cities… Now you have to stretch to find those kinds of experiences / interactions. I spent four nights in Rome last month, and … wow … central Rome is rivaling Tokyo for Disneyland vibes.”

And the same problem is gutting Venice. The risk is that it’s going to be deserted by the people that actually live there and make it a city, sooner than it’s going to sink into the ocean. The people who make it a city are the ones who can’t afford to stay.

So how do we not ruin a place with tourism? I don’t think the (only) answer is policy. When we’re able to articulate what we respect and revere, then you can decide you want to conserve it — but you have to tell stories about it, and tell them to the right people, so that enough of them believe it’s worth keeping around.