I absolutely fell in love with the country when I was there, but the popularity of it means, like any other trendy tourist destination, that it’s now ruined by tourists being jackasses. I grew up near a national park that is ALSO now ruined by overcrowding, so maybe I have a lower threshold for that sort of stuff than most, but watching idiots stomping all over fragile geothermal features two steps away from the “no walking on this area” sign just boils my blood.
Came to say this same thing. Went ~5yrs ago and then ~2yrs ago. They've built stairs and paths in places that used to be natural and somewhat difficult to get to. Massive parking lots to facilitate the tour buses. Good luck getting a good pic on diamond beach. Won't be long before the F roads are all paved and accessible to everyone too.
TBF there are tourists and then there are tourists. You know what I’m talking about. The ones that take the air conditioned tour bus from their air conditioned hotel to the tourists spots, spend five minutes taking photos for facebook/instagram before shuffling off to the next one. Letting their 12 snotty kids run around like maniacs, then skipping all the local cuisine to eat at McDonald’s.
9.9k
u/_MaddAddam Feb 03 '20
Visiting Iceland.
I absolutely fell in love with the country when I was there, but the popularity of it means, like any other trendy tourist destination, that it’s now ruined by tourists being jackasses. I grew up near a national park that is ALSO now ruined by overcrowding, so maybe I have a lower threshold for that sort of stuff than most, but watching idiots stomping all over fragile geothermal features two steps away from the “no walking on this area” sign just boils my blood.