When out hiking reality often change, in resorts… not so much

Text and CreativeCommons By-NC-ND drawing by Frits Ahlefeldt, Hiking.org

When hiking you see the places you pass through from many perspectives, from the mountains, the forests and endless beaches, but often when hiking, you also see the industrial areas surrounding the cities, the clear-cut forest areas, the mines, the falling apart farm buildings and the old car wrecks, you pass through the poor fishing villages and the forgotten mountain monasteries, where visitors seldom come, because there are no smooth roads leading the buses to them

When hiking you get to be part of a reality that most often is free and can be shared by everybody. Even the poorest can afford to walk, and they can do it as well as all the rest.

When we walk we all share the experiences literally on “equal footing”, no matter background and bank-account.

The resorts are a different experience,  they are most often illusions carefully designed, build and run as bulletproof comfort-zones, to please those who are rich enough to afford them, most often at grave costs to the rest… So next time you want to go somewhere for real: pick a hiking trail, not a resort, and bring a backpack, not a Pina Colada… 😉