The myth of the unique travel experience

You travel far off any known tourist map to encounter what you believe will be a unique travel experience. No one there speaks your language or appears to have ever encountered a Westerner before. You learn enough of the local language which, combined with gestures worthy of Marcel Marceau or an Academy Award, get you by. You come home from this seemingly unique travel experience. You post stories…

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Something for everyone

In Munich, Germany, at the famous Hofbrauhaus brewery, locals hang out at tables assigned specifically for them. They also keep their beer steins locked in racks that only they and other locals can access. This, in part, is what separates the tourists from the locals. And yet even though there’s a clear cultural divider there between insiders and outsiders, everyone is welcome. It’s the same here: You may…

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