Which is a better way of travelling? A whirlwind tour of multiple countries or cities or a leisurely jaunt through one of them? I will not offer any gratuitous opinion, but leave it to Frank S. Smythe- the discoverer of the Valley of Flowers to state his views.
"In these days of quick locomotion it is becoming increasingly evident that to see too much is to know too little. Locomotion may quicken, but the human brain remains substantially the same; it is no more nor less receptive of impressions than it was in the days of the stage coach. It is one of the greatest of all fallacies to suppose that the enjoyment of travel depends on seeing as much as possible in the time at the traveller's disposal. To many people, and I am one of them, there is something unsatisfactory and unsatisfying in a motor tour or a rapid dash through the capitals of Europe. Memory is the only just measure of pleasure, and the memory of some hundreds or thousands of miles of rapidly traversed scenery is as meaningless as the memory of a cigarette - it stimulates momentarily, then is forgotten."
" To enjoy a countryside it is essential to make a direct contact with it, and this is only to be accomplished by walking over it. To proceed over it rapidly on wheels is to interpose something mechanical and unnatural between the traveller and Nature. That many are realising this is proved by the walking, rambling and camping movements of to-day; they represent the revolt of the human mind from the artificial and mechanical."
Frank S Smythe, writing in "Over Tyrolese Hills" in 1936.
"In these days of quick locomotion it is becoming increasingly evident that to see too much is to know too little. Locomotion may quicken, but the human brain remains substantially the same; it is no more nor less receptive of impressions than it was in the days of the stage coach. It is one of the greatest of all fallacies to suppose that the enjoyment of travel depends on seeing as much as possible in the time at the traveller's disposal. To many people, and I am one of them, there is something unsatisfactory and unsatisfying in a motor tour or a rapid dash through the capitals of Europe. Memory is the only just measure of pleasure, and the memory of some hundreds or thousands of miles of rapidly traversed scenery is as meaningless as the memory of a cigarette - it stimulates momentarily, then is forgotten."
" To enjoy a countryside it is essential to make a direct contact with it, and this is only to be accomplished by walking over it. To proceed over it rapidly on wheels is to interpose something mechanical and unnatural between the traveller and Nature. That many are realising this is proved by the walking, rambling and camping movements of to-day; they represent the revolt of the human mind from the artificial and mechanical."
Frank S Smythe, writing in "Over Tyrolese Hills" in 1936.
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