American Travel Blogs (0/V): Introduction: Why Travel Blogs

Jonathan Culler, in his essay ‚’The Semiotics of Tourism’, makes the distinction between a tourist and a traveler. A tourist, is thus, a person who runs from one sightseeing attraction to another, eagerly checking the hot-spots deemed most beautiful, oldest, most meaningful, most ‘definitely-you-want-to-check-it-out’. The traveler, on the other hand, is supposed to be a mature version of the tourist. Less excited by overcrowded typical tourist attractions, and more interested in the local culture and history.

The reason for choosing the blog medium to analyze the ways in which Americans see Romania and Bucharest is that blogging is inherently personal. Travel blogs are the honest versions of travel guides. The blogging medium is where the balance between objectivity and subjectivity is always visible, more so in vlogging, the video format of a blog, which is also analyzed in this series. As such, it is easier for the reader or the viewer to decide whether what they’re looking at is the experience of a tourist or a traveler.

Sure enough, about half of the bloggers analyzed here prove to be somewhat between a tourist and a traveler, at least concerning Romania, as they attempt a rational way of looking at Romania, which implies a minimal historical understanding of the space. This, in turn, means that they manage to some extent to de-exoticize Romania, to ground it in reality, and make it a palpable place for other people who maybe have never even heard of it. Furthermore, it means that instead of complaining abut the heat, the bad roads, the buses and trains forever late, they can understand why these things happen, and take them in their context. A counter example would be the vlogging couple thebudgetsavvytravelers, that truly depict the average tourist: quick, hopping form place to place, attempting at all costs to stay away from the locals. In a stark contrast, Earl, from wanderingearl.com, another blogger analyzed in this series, stresses the importance of connecting with the people of the places one visits.

As such, some of the bloggers and vloggers analyzed here enforce negative stereotypes of Romania, visible in what they choose to put up, some idealize it, while some look at it with an honest eye. Moreover, much like their American counterparts in the 19th and 20th century, their travels eventually address an audience, and as such, they are performed, in what Stow deems as a “professional end”, considering that all the bloggers and vloggers analyzed in this series have quit their jobs and now making a living off of blogging.

#KarinaPatrascanu