It used to be that when people went on their stupendously expensive European vacations, they did so for the high culture, the phenomenal food, the classy wines, and the charm of the Old World.
The traditional cooking of the United States at the time consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs, casseroles, and later, pizza of dubious quality.
France and Italy in particular were noted for their cuisine.
Those wealthy enough would come back from their trip along the Riviera and wax poetic about the culinary delights they enjoyed there.
The food consumed while traveling was the mark of true sophistication.
The world is shrinking these days, and we can often get a stunning variety of food (all shapes, sizes, and kinds), and inevitably some of it will be good enough and exotic enough to negate the need to travel purely for the sake of food.
This is especially true if you live in a major metropolitan area with a large immigrant population.
Gone are the days when you could only get real croissants in France, and when you could only get a real bagel in New York (although the latter is still debatable in my mind.
) Alcohol, however, still comes in myriad flavors, varieties, and forms, with differing levels of potency.
There are still certain kinds you can only get in other countries.
Up until very recently the only real absinthe had to be illegal smuggled out of the Czech Republic.
If we factor in the local moonshine, the fact it can only be obtained in certain countries, in certain places, becomes especially true.
As it turns out, most societies have some special, traditional, strange way to get drunk.
This is why I enjoy Three Sheets, a travelogue show formerly on Mojo which has now been picked up by a new network (Fine Living, I think.
) Zane Lamprey, the host, has just about the best job in the world.
He travels the globe and gets drunk on local booze, willing to imbibe just about anything with alcohol in it.
This latest season of three sheets has him drinking a fermented honey drink with the Masai people in Tanzania, replete with some dead or nearly dead bees in the brew.
Zane also gets to explore Iceland, Namibia, and Lithuania this year.
And while at first glance the show sounds juvenile, it is actually an excellent way to discover the local culture (albeit at the expense of your liver.
) Drinking with the locals allows you to make new friends, to discover how people really live, to learn some of their culture, and it often provides a mirror into traditional cultural processes which are deeply embedded in the drinking culture.
Zane has learned a lot during his travels, and in a way had a much more in-depth cultural experience than most of us get to enjoy while traveling, short of those of us visiting home-stays.
Learning Lithuanian drinking games allows you to understand a little of the country's pagan past.
That's not something you're going to get on a cruise ship.
Furthermore, beyond learning and cultural experience, travel is all about vacation and having FUN.
More and more, it isn't just the British travelers who want to party and drink wherever they are, be it home in Birmingham or tramping Dune Seven in Namibia.
Tourism equals big dollars for a lot of nations, and even ones that traditionally frown on alcohol are learning to lift or ease the ban just a little for a piece of that apple pie.
There is even a thriving scene of night clubs in Dubai, after all! When I think of a place to party and drink, I don't often think of the United Arab Emirates.
Yet the nation has tried to invent itself as a capital of opulence and excess, and any self-respecting place that strives for opulence is also going to have to allow alcohol.
You can't get those Western honeymooners to visit unless you have some kicking nightclubs for them to enjoy.
In short, booze plays a much larger role in travel than we might otherwise think.
Three Sheets has picked up on this, and I think that explains Zane's loyal, almost cult-like following that managed to spare his show from getting the axe.
Alcohol is a fact of life when traveling, and it doesn't have to be amazing wine in France anymore.
The stuff in South Africa might be better these days! Either way, oftentimes a much better tale is drinking the Afrikaner firewater in Cape Town, or sampling guavaberry liquors in the tropics.
Who needs the elitism these days? Travel should be for everyone.
Either way, sampling the working class booze, rather than the top shelf high end booze, is likely to be a better way to truly explore your destination, and hopefully make a few new friends as well.
The traditional cooking of the United States at the time consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs, casseroles, and later, pizza of dubious quality.
France and Italy in particular were noted for their cuisine.
Those wealthy enough would come back from their trip along the Riviera and wax poetic about the culinary delights they enjoyed there.
The food consumed while traveling was the mark of true sophistication.
The world is shrinking these days, and we can often get a stunning variety of food (all shapes, sizes, and kinds), and inevitably some of it will be good enough and exotic enough to negate the need to travel purely for the sake of food.
This is especially true if you live in a major metropolitan area with a large immigrant population.
Gone are the days when you could only get real croissants in France, and when you could only get a real bagel in New York (although the latter is still debatable in my mind.
) Alcohol, however, still comes in myriad flavors, varieties, and forms, with differing levels of potency.
There are still certain kinds you can only get in other countries.
Up until very recently the only real absinthe had to be illegal smuggled out of the Czech Republic.
If we factor in the local moonshine, the fact it can only be obtained in certain countries, in certain places, becomes especially true.
As it turns out, most societies have some special, traditional, strange way to get drunk.
This is why I enjoy Three Sheets, a travelogue show formerly on Mojo which has now been picked up by a new network (Fine Living, I think.
) Zane Lamprey, the host, has just about the best job in the world.
He travels the globe and gets drunk on local booze, willing to imbibe just about anything with alcohol in it.
This latest season of three sheets has him drinking a fermented honey drink with the Masai people in Tanzania, replete with some dead or nearly dead bees in the brew.
Zane also gets to explore Iceland, Namibia, and Lithuania this year.
And while at first glance the show sounds juvenile, it is actually an excellent way to discover the local culture (albeit at the expense of your liver.
) Drinking with the locals allows you to make new friends, to discover how people really live, to learn some of their culture, and it often provides a mirror into traditional cultural processes which are deeply embedded in the drinking culture.
Zane has learned a lot during his travels, and in a way had a much more in-depth cultural experience than most of us get to enjoy while traveling, short of those of us visiting home-stays.
Learning Lithuanian drinking games allows you to understand a little of the country's pagan past.
That's not something you're going to get on a cruise ship.
Furthermore, beyond learning and cultural experience, travel is all about vacation and having FUN.
More and more, it isn't just the British travelers who want to party and drink wherever they are, be it home in Birmingham or tramping Dune Seven in Namibia.
Tourism equals big dollars for a lot of nations, and even ones that traditionally frown on alcohol are learning to lift or ease the ban just a little for a piece of that apple pie.
There is even a thriving scene of night clubs in Dubai, after all! When I think of a place to party and drink, I don't often think of the United Arab Emirates.
Yet the nation has tried to invent itself as a capital of opulence and excess, and any self-respecting place that strives for opulence is also going to have to allow alcohol.
You can't get those Western honeymooners to visit unless you have some kicking nightclubs for them to enjoy.
In short, booze plays a much larger role in travel than we might otherwise think.
Three Sheets has picked up on this, and I think that explains Zane's loyal, almost cult-like following that managed to spare his show from getting the axe.
Alcohol is a fact of life when traveling, and it doesn't have to be amazing wine in France anymore.
The stuff in South Africa might be better these days! Either way, oftentimes a much better tale is drinking the Afrikaner firewater in Cape Town, or sampling guavaberry liquors in the tropics.
Who needs the elitism these days? Travel should be for everyone.
Either way, sampling the working class booze, rather than the top shelf high end booze, is likely to be a better way to truly explore your destination, and hopefully make a few new friends as well.