one thing I find hilarious about tourism
is like people will spend thousands of
dollars all the discovery that comes to
travel costs so much money and then
they'll tolerate stuff they would never
ordinarily tolerate in their normal
lives like eating not even on real
chairs out of a styrofoam box waiting in
long ass lines sweating their ass off
look traveling to Europe in summer
is a nightmare don't come
I don't mean that in a xenophobic sense
obviously I'm an immigrant here I love
this continent I love my life here I
love France I love Paris I am years into
living here but this continent can
provide very different experiences let's
say depending on where you're coming
from how long you choose to spend here
and what you're doing let me ask you
this why do some people come here and
have an amazing experience and other
people come here and end up hating it
you know I've explored this before but
people seem to have a love-hate
relationship with cities or places like
Paris and you think to yourself is it
the same city we're all talking about
here's the thing travel can be so many
different things I've been on many trips
in my life some have been deeply
meaningful mesmerizing memorable and
then some trips
I've not been that I would describe but
those other trips as more like
superficial and forgettable and I'm
starting to notice patterns in what
creates the first kind of trip the kind
of trip that we all want to have the
positive kind versus the second kind of
trip the negative kind and I am making
this to help you avoid those negative
trips this is why I say don't come to
Europe in summer unless you really know
what you're getting yourself into and do
not let the long warm days of summer
fool you this is a very complicated time
of year to travel here so here is the
secret here's the reason why travel in
Europe sucks in summer is because people
utterly lack creativity honestly and
this is going to sound a little bit
condescending but I've made this mistake
as well okay I am I've also been a fool
most people are sheep when they travel
it's that effect right where if you see
a bunch of people looking at something
you want to look at it as well you're
like what's so interesting about that
they take photos of things that get
photographed like four billion times a
day so instead of spending a fortune you
can get the exact same photo just by
Googling it you know it's that same law
all that same facet of human psychology
which says a restaurant that is full and
busy is better quality than an empty
restaurant sometimes that's totally true
and sometimes it isn't and that is how
you end up with the problems that make
travel in summer here terrible hordes of
people long lines for all tourist
attractions are anything to do like
museums or bookstores everyone is in the
exact same places try to do the exact
same things and because of the laws of
supply and demand because there's so
much demand you're getting seasonal
pricing which is why you end up paying
a fortune for a crappy spot 10 15 years
ago Airbnb used to be this really cool
way of stepping into someone's home but
companies have to make a profit right
and it's changed now I feel like
sometimes I am paying an arm and a leg
for a place that feels entirely done
just for Airbnb it's not someone's home
honestly if I were to draw it out I
think seasonal pricing would look
something like this summer is by far the
worst and then of course there's a few
other moments throughout the year that
are tricky holiday weekends the end of
the year but summer is by far the worst
extended period okay I'm going to come
back to why so many people inexplicably
put up with airport insanity and Airline
chaos but to properly do that let me lay
out the criteria of what I think makes a
wonderful trip I think this will help
make it clear where things are going so
wrong and I have a feeling most of you
are going to agree with me on this I'm
looking for authenticity I want to
connect with locals I don't want a
sanitized version of the culture I want
the real deal I don't want to feel
rushed I want to expand my mind I want
to steal new things I want to eat the
food
[Music]
okay so having said that this is why I
moved here because when you move
somewhere permanently you have way more
time to experience what that place has
to offer and as I've said before
years into living here I have an utterly
different experience than what the
tourists experience of this city I know
all the places to avoid the tourists I
know when to go out and when not to go
out I'm keep discovering the hidden gems
I honestly have a midnight in Paris like
experience sometimes and it's glorious
and that only came after years of
navigating the city and I also recognize
you can't just move to the other end of
the world every time you want to
experience a new culture which is why we
have travel a temporary visit a
temporary stay somewhere and this is why
I have preached the value of the next
best option in my view which is slow
travel which is basically taking your
time somewhere not maximizing the amount
of things that you do but coming in and
immersing yourself to the best of your
ability I honestly couldn't give a
about the tourist attractions I don't
want to feel rushed I want to just feel
the way of life and personally I think
spending a proper amount of time in one
place is better than doing 14 countries
in seven minutes which is a very
American approach to try travel but can
you blame them they get two weeks of
vacation a year so why wouldn't they
Speed Run Europe another problem with
traveling here in the summer people
don't adapt at this stage in the game
the sad reality is that heat waves are
gonna happen they happen every summer
why anyone would want to travel during a
heat wave is beyond me why would you
want to sweat like a pig why would you
be running to the shade just to survive
it's also dangerous you can get
dehydrated heat stroke personally I
think it's horrible and one of the worst
ways to experience a place the reason I
say this is it's just a part of Summer
at this point right traveling precisely
when heat waves are highly likely to
happen is kind of like stepping outside
on a rainy November day and getting
surprised that you got wet if you want
to have a more authentic experience in
any place in the world you even speaking
some of the local language will make a
huge difference I say that as someone
who is addicted to doing that I think
it's the best way to travel that is why
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sponsoring this video another really
important point to be made here is that
for some reason Europeans seem to love
to do construction in summer I know that
the Olympics are happening next summer
here in Paris so there's construction up
the yin yang everywhere you turn but I
think this is also more broadly true for
a lot of European cities I don't know if
it's because of the good weather longer
days I don't know what's going on but
it's absolutely insane
all the way around we got railing now
there's something else that's sad about
traveling here in the summer without any
local connections and that is that the
locals aren't here if you're spending
all day outside in lines in places where
there's you know a lot of people going
to visit you're actually spending all
day with tourists not locals and when
the locals leave it means a lot of shops
and venues are closed too so you're not
really getting the full experience in
August for example half of Europe is on
vacation this is deeply deeply
culturally ingrained and you might say
wait a second you're saying don't come
here on vacation in summer but the
locals are doing it well yeah but you
cannot compete with the locals they've
been doing it every year for Generations
they have their spots they go see family
they know where they're going you can't
compete with them it's not at all the
same as coming in here blind from
another continent and so there are
ramifications to coming here when the
locals aren't here the locals means no
gateway drug into getting invited deeper
into the local life you know you might
run into somebody make a connection here
or there there and then they invite you
to a party or to an event now it's not
hard to beat the hordes to beat the heat
to beat the lines to beat the seasonal
pricing and I'm actually going to
illustrate this through a little story
so I have been to Greece twice and the
two times I have gone have been utterly
different experiences they couldn't have
been more different the first time I
went was a couple of years ago in August
we spent like four days walked around we
visited an island it was fun but in the
grand scheme of things honestly looking
back it was pretty forgettable and I
think part of the reason why was because
I didn't experience much Greek culture I
didn't meet very many locals I didn't
get like immersed I felt like a tourist
there were tons of people there it was
hot I just remember sweating so
much now the highlight of that trip of
that first visit to Greece was when I
posted on my Instagram stories that I
was at a bar very impromptu I just said
hey if you're around come swing by I'd
love to chat love to hang out so a
little while later a group of three
Greek friends came over and joined us at
the table they were viewers of this
channel they're really excited and they
were super cool we totally connected and
in that one conversation I learned more
about Greece and Greek culture than the
entire rest of my time there it was
absolutely the Highlight so we stayed in
touch and Flash Forward now to January
of this year I decided to return to
Greece this time alone and I went to
visit them in fact my Express goal this
time was to do nothing but spend time
with them so this time around I was
hanging with nothing but Greek people in
January where there isn't a tourist in
sight not one tourist it was
extraordinary I spent time writing we
went on a little road trip through the
countryside can you press the button
only it
amazing amazing experience and let me
add I got a little bit lucky because the
weather was pretty nice it's January
after all but it's still southern Europe
and so it was sunny it wasn't too bad it
was certainly much better than Paris at
that time of year the point of this
story is that it's not really actually
that hard to have an incredible unique
experience if you're willing to be a
little bit creative and go off the
beaten path that was originally how
travel worked until it became this giant
commercial thing I do feel like the way
travel has become so commercialized it's
a bit dangerous this kind of Tourism
disguises itself as
mind-expanding cultural travel right but
it's not the same thing it's different
it's a very sanitized superficial
version of the real thing the real thing
I think most of us really want but the
thing is the real thing is not going to
be served in a solar platter for you if
it's made that easy it means tons of
other people have access to it too and
are probably doing it already in fact
this is something I believe more broadly
for life in general if you just let
other people decide what's best for you
it often leads to something mediocre you
have to think for yourself you have to
be plugged in if you can go in spring or
fall Europe is glorious those are my
favorite seasons and it's more
affordable go to the places no one else
is going last year I visited Bulgaria
for the first time and the entire time I
was just shocked it's so underrated so
cheap and the whole time I was just like
why isn't anyone else here there were so
few tourists if you are going to travel
in summer here I highly encourage that
you go off the beaten path you try to do
things a little bit different than
everyone else or at the very least I
hope you understand what you're getting
yourself into thanks for watching and if
you do come to Europe I wish you the
best luck
really quickly since you've stuck around
this long in this video I wanted to
mention that I recently released the
Amor Fati Rings which I am wearing right
now and they are available until they
run out I love how they came out they're
made out of sterling silver some of the
other items that I've released with my
brand gef have sold out so consider
snagging one of these while they're
still available if you've got two items
from the shop you can get free shipping
anywhere just as a quick reminder for
those of you that don't know the meaning
of amor Fati it is one of my favorite
phrases of all time it's Latin for
having a love of your fate or a love of
all things that happen to you and for me
it's a beautiful reminder of how I like
to live I'll leave a link in the
description if you want to check them
out thank you so much for your support
thank you