Travel tips: Why you can't ever say you've 'done' a country

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This was published 8 years ago

Travel tips: Why you can't ever say you've 'done' a country

By Ben Groundwater
Updated
Think you've 'done' Paris? You're not even close.

Think you've 'done' Paris? You're not even close.Credit: Getty Images

"I've done Paris."

So says the person who spent a few nights in the French capital a couple of years ago and plans never to go back.

"I've done London. I've done the USA. I've done Bangkok."

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No. You haven't.

Of all the painful sayings travellers tend to come out with ("You should have been there 10 years ago"; "I hate places with lots of tourists"), this has to be the most annoying, the claim that you've "done" somewhere. It's a traveller's conceit, this genuinely held idea that after a couple of days or weeks or even after a few months in a destination, you can say that you've done all there is to do. You've seen all there is to see.

And it doesn't have to be a city you're referring to, or even a whole country. There are people out there who think they've "done Asia". They've "done South America". How will that ever be possible?

So you've 'done' South America, well how about Villarica volcano in the Araucania region of Chile?

So you've 'done' South America, well how about Villarica volcano in the Araucania region of Chile?

This is the ultimate in the "travel by guidebook" attitude, the feeling that you have to tick boxes when you're on the road, that you have to hit all of the attractions and the restaurants and shops that Lonely Planet tells you to hit. And then you're done.

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It's an attitude that stifles exploration, that revels in seeing travel as a list rather than an experience. It disregards those chance interactions you'll have with other people, those undiscovered nooks and crannies of a big city, the joy of just spending time and soaking up.

To say you've "done" somewhere means you think you've ticked all the boxes. It means you think you've done the things you need to do.

"I've done it." It's an annoying turn of phrase to hear, but the people who are suffering the most are the ones who speak it. To have an idea that you've "done" anywhere in the world and you'll never need to go back seems an enormous folly to me.

I've had some of my best recent travel experiences by revisiting places I've already "done".

I went back to Buenos Aires for a third time. I'd already been to a football game there, I'd been to a tango show, I'd shopped in Palermo, I'd eaten at Puerto Madero, I'd wandered around La Boca. What was left to do?

This time I ended up in suburbs I didn't even know existed, places like Villa Crespo and Coghlan. I saw street art by international artists that had cropped up in the past few years. And best of all, rather than go to another tango show, I went to a tango lesson, and learned to embrace the Porteno passion.

"Done" Buenos Aires? Not even close.

After having previously spent three weeks in Tokyo, I could have said I'd "done" it, but I returned there last year as well, and found some incredible new things. I dined in a tiny alley of smoky restaurants near Nakameguro station. I discovered the joy of a Tokyo whisky bar. I saw 12 people in excessively large, cartoon-character weightlifter costumes crossing the street in Shibuya.

There's always joy in revisiting a place you think you know. During the past few years I've been back to London, Barcelona and Los Angeles. Been back to New Zealand. Been back to Vietnam. In each place I've found something new, and felt joy at being reunited with the old.

That's not to say I can't understand the desire from travellers to go somewhere new every time they leave Australia. And that's why it might be a lot easier to tell yourself that you've "done" certain places and don't have to worry about seeing them again. It's hard enough choosing between new destinations to visit without taking into account the fact you could go back to the old ones and have just as good a time.

It can sometimes feel like a waste, booking travel to somewhere you've already explored.

But still, we need to drop this mindset that anywhere can be "done". Especially entire continents! Those who've "done" South America – have you been to Lambayeque in northern Peru? Have you hung out on the beach at Itacare in Brazil? Have you hiked up Villarica volcano in Chile?

Maybe you've been to Rio and walked the Inca Trail. But you haven't done South America.

The great thing about travel is that the world will never stay the same. Cities will change, countries will change, whole continents will change. New things will emerge. Old things will be rediscovered. Trends will come and go.

And we, as travellers, get to go back and delve deeper and explore everything all over again. We don't ever have to be done with anywhere.

Where have you travelled to that you would like to go back for a second or even third or fourth time? Leave a comment below.

Email: b.groundwater@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Instagram: instagram.com/bengroundwater

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