Itinerary trap

Imagine if the earliest explorers were asked to create an itinerary before they set out to travel. Absurd, right?

But that has completely changed for the rest of us. We travel after meticulous planning.

In fact, our planning is so meticulous there is a whole industry around curating trips. Travel influencers are a modern-day addition to this motley crew.

I enjoy those reels, specifically where the 2nd half pans to the crowd in any area at a famous tourist spot. We start to wonder about the point of going all the way if we are to encounter such a crowd.

I am sure part of it is unavoidable, but I find the whole exercise futile. You won't travel as often for leisure unless you're rich or do so for a living. And to that, visiting places only to meet crowds of people does not sound appealing to me.

We're hell-bent on seeing a place as has been seen before. We want to cover the exact same spots and locations. I fail to understand why.

One would argue that because you won't travel to the same place again, you'd much rather see all that place offers.
But why?

Other than clicking pictures at the iconic spots, what else are we looking for?

Shouldn't traveling after a certain age have more to do with exploring a new land based on your curiosity about our world?

For instance, focusing on food in a new place, the local markets, or a trade unique to the land. Currently, there is a hodge-podge of everything shared in the form of an itinerary. It gives you a glimpse of too many places, most of which are crowded.

We limit all there is to see by trying to see it all.Maybe two or three things are enough.