Having read Should You Adapt When You Travel? and having traveled quite a bit myself, I agree with the article.

But I have further comment.

I don't recognize the distinction between 'authenticity' and 'adaptability' as Akila (The Road Forks) writes of. The adaptability aspect I have no problem - but the authenticity I do. Maybe it's just the wrong word for me; maybe she means 'not changing' - I believe that is what she means.

Culture is a lot like baggage. In that, I have always had the blessing of traveling lightly whereas others - such as Akila and her own examples - may carry more cultural baggage. She mentions vegetarianism as an example, and while it is a personal choice for her that choice was made more possible for her by her culture. There's nothing wrong with it. It is sort of funny how vegetarians identify eating vegetables as a lifestyle but rarely identify eating meat as a lifestyle. Akila seems above that.

But I don't have that issue. I don't have the problem of religion. Adaptation has always been easy for me because I live outside of the cultures that so many people cling to unquestioningly. And that has given me a lot of different ways to look at things.

This train of thought, thanks to Akila, got me on a train of thought that lead to what we now call tourism - which is the manufacture of a more acceptable culture for tourists so that they spend money.

For example, my first few trips to the Dominican Republic were hampered by conferences at all-inclusive hotels that insulated me from the Dominican Republic. And even when I stayed there, my then girlfriend and her family tried to 'protect' me from aspects of the culture, like the corner stores and bars. Que? I walked, I explored, I took the bus out to the mountains and I got lost - perfectly lost - and enjoyed what I learned by adapting to an environment while I was still learning the language.

In Nicaragua, one of my favorite places on the planet, I rented a car and one of the first questions I asked Steve Herrick was how to tell the fuel attendants to fill the vehicle in the local dialect (Hechar Full!). From there, I tore through the countryside and spent a fair amount of time... lost. Between Managua and Estelli are such beautiful roads and sites, though cows can be a bit of a problem here and there...

The list could go on.

And because of that experience I have built up over the years, I wonder how much of what Akila calls 'authenticity' comes with a price tag of 'tourism' - the more 'authentic' one attempts to remain, the more likely one is to stick to the tourist areas.

And those areas are good if you want umbrellas in your drinks. But if you want to explore the real world and gain new perspectives, adaptability is the way to go. The more, the better.