For some reason, my entire life I have naturally tracked trends of things that happen. Everything, not just meaningful things. For example, at my previous job I was lucky enough to have an office right by the bathroom. This led me to start noticing who went to the bathroom the most (and I was good at it!). I couldn't help it. I did it completely without thinking.
Now that I'm on my trip, it still is impossible to not notice things. The thing that is the most constant though is the nationalities if fellow travelers that I meet.
In case you have never been in one, hostels are set up typically with dorm rooms with between 4 and 10 beds per room. Given that you are all obviously relatively like minded individuals, you get to talking and where the person is from is invariably the first question (note: names sometimes never even come into the picture - in Brisbane there were two girls who simply knew me as "Alaska").
That's where the trending comes in, and the first point of this post: I genuinely believe there is no one left in England. They are CLEARLY all traveling. So far, Brits are the dominant traveling nationality I have met, and it isn't close. I've met hundreds of them, and now when someone says they are from England my response is a quiet "of course you are." Granted, this makes sense given the ties of Oceania and the UK as well as the omnipresent strength of the British Pound, but still, it is pretty incredible when I can be in one 10 bed dorm and 7 of the 10 are from England.
Sure, there are a lot of Germans around. Canadiens pop up fairly often as well, and you even have the occasional squib that shows up (I've met a really cool Iraqi and an absurdly cool Dane). Interestingly enough though, I have only met 4 American Backpackers so far in my travels. The funny thing too is that amongst Backpackers, Americans have bad reputations, and based off my experiences so far with them, I tend to believe they are earned.
A lot of the younger American Backpackers I've met are needy, ethnocentric, not understanding and kind of jerks (cue jokes about me from readers).
Interestingly enough though, I have been exempt from the negativity from travelers. It turns out that Alaska is universally interesting, whether it be based around their bizarre fascination with Sarah Palin, the beauty of the state, or any other awkward fact (my favorite Alaskan comment was from a hostel owner in Paihia - "You must love it here. I heard there are no women in Alaska!" - after which he laughed like a hyena). Seemingly, everyone watches reality shows about AK too, as I had three gents from Manchester (fancy that) quiz me about the Alaska State Troopers show, a slew of people ask me about Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, and even a few about Sarah Palin's Alaska. They think Alaska is the most interesting place ever, thus, I am interesting (psyche!!!).
Back to the point though, with me heading to Thailand today, I'm sure the demographic splits will shift. Who knows what the next dominant nationality will be? I don't know right now, but I can guarantee you I will know in about 8 days.
Stupid robot brain.
Music of the day: Andrew Bird, all of his stuff
2 comments:
Interestingly enough, I think it will be Australians! Good to hear you are "exempt". I used to tell everyone I was Canadian, which was easy because I hung out with a group of Canadians. :D
So do tell! Who goes to the bathroom the most here? ;)
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