I am on vacation in what must be the most naturally beautiful part of the Earth. It is also the part of the Earth that everyone knows is beautiful, so people from all over the world are traveling here just to see it. There is also no other compelling reason for those people to come to this place. The result is, that those people really stand out across this backdrop, in a way that they wouldn’t in a place like, say, New York City.

People are fucking weird.

Actually, there’s another dimension to consider. The places themselves are so popular that significant investment has been made to make them more accessible. So you can step off of a plane and drive (or be driven) for a bit, and then all you have to do is walk for a bit when you get there. If there were more of a barrier, like you had to be able to hike in the woods, pitch a tent, and carry supplies for a 3 day excursion in the wilderness, it would filter a lot of weirdness out. The weirdness would collapse to a single type; you’d end up with outdoorsmen. And you would be an outdoorsman yourself, so a kinship would naturally form.

Instead, the only thing I have in common with these other people is that I can pay for airfare, hotel rooms, and a rental car. I guess that puts me in a kind of global elite of immense privilege, which I otherwise have nothing in common with.

I haven’t actually said what I find weird. I think maybe I’ll try to do that later, if I still care to write about this.