What is Detourism?
Surfers chase the endless summer while old timers chase the bucket list. Meanwhile tourists flock to overpriced, overrated, over documented places where they dream about being somewhere else. Then they end up needing a vacation from their vacation and going back to work feels like a relief because it’s familiar. Detourism is the vacation you always wanted.
As kids, we couldn’t wait to grow up. We made plans, imagined adventures, and believed there would always be time. Then “when I grow up” becomes “someday,” and someday quietly becomes, “I’ve always wanted to” and always wanted sadly becomes, “I wish I had…” I can’t speak for anyone else, but I know what someday has meant in my own life. It’s where dreams go to wait until they’re forgotten. It’s the excuse that makes it easy to believe there will always be another season, another vacation, another chance.
Detourism is what someday becomes; the bucket list during a never ending summer.
It’s choosing to go right when GPS says go left. It’s pulling over for the historic marker everyone else drives past. It’s wandering into the places that don’t make the brochures, where the stories are still waiting for someone to stop and listen. The routes that are almost forgotten, and adventures you didn’t know you were missing.