Did you hear about ero-tourism? It isn’t as bad as it sounds. Its etymological root is a combination of the Greek god of love, Eros and tourism – the idea is to discover love while traveling. It’s a new fad in experimental tourism, advocated by Joel Henry.
It’s all about two people going to a destination separately and using their love/knowledge of the other as a GPS to find each other.
I discovered this concept in an in-flight magazine and was thoroughly excited by it (oops, pun unintended!). And last weekend, I synthesized the concept and pushed it to a new level.
My travel plan went something like this:
Destination: Chicago
Knowledge of city: Almost none
Bio-compass: Non-existent
Ability to read maps: Laughable
Travel companion: A new friend
Plan: Explore
Budget: Shoestring
Well, it was a thrilling experience, to say the least.
We randomly got down from the CTA train somewhere in downtown and ran into a Halloween Day parade, complete with several bands, hundreds of tiny tots and parents in costumes, trick-or-treaters, cheerleaders, and horse-driven carriages.
After we parted ways with the parade, we ran into the Cadillac Theater and Sears (now Willis) Tower, left them also behind and got completely lost in our quest to board the loop train. We walked around streets for almost an hour and because we didn’t know where we were, didn’t know which bus to board and in which direction. We eventually found our way and the loop station.
At the Art Institute later that day, we decided to split and meet again at an appointed hour at an appointed place. We were living dangerously because we didn’t have cell phones and hence no means of communication, in case we couldn’t find each other. Fancy, this was how people lived for 5000 years before wireless telephony!
Encouraged by our success in finding each other, we went on a wild goose chase to get the best view of the Chicago skyline from the lakeshore. It was a bloody long walk and by the time we reached the pier near Adler Planetarium, we were too exhausted to enjoy the sight.
That night, we drowned our fatigue in glasses of Sangria at an Italian restaurant near our hotel at O’Hare. I had blisters on my feet but my mood was upbeat.
The next day, we stumbled on to the river walk along Wacker Street. It was a great day to do that walk – fall colors were setting in, the sun was bright but not warm and Chicago River was charming. We discovered a nice restaurant to have lunch, which served us chocolate martini and iced tea, along with several “healthy” meal options.
We did the regulation visit to Magnificent Mile, visited a few shops selling clothes too small for me, and then fell into a bus, whose driver was so sweet that she made an unscheduled stop near the station we had to go to. And watched over us after we got down. When we (of course) turned in the wrong direction, she honked and put us gently on the right path.
Oh, by the way, did I mention the conversation we had with a cab driver, who theorized that American men like Indian women because they’re usually virgins?
It’s all about two people going to a destination separately and using their love/knowledge of the other as a GPS to find each other.
I discovered this concept in an in-flight magazine and was thoroughly excited by it (oops, pun unintended!). And last weekend, I synthesized the concept and pushed it to a new level.
My travel plan went something like this:
Destination: Chicago
Knowledge of city: Almost none
Bio-compass: Non-existent
Ability to read maps: Laughable
Travel companion: A new friend
Plan: Explore
Budget: Shoestring
Well, it was a thrilling experience, to say the least.
We randomly got down from the CTA train somewhere in downtown and ran into a Halloween Day parade, complete with several bands, hundreds of tiny tots and parents in costumes, trick-or-treaters, cheerleaders, and horse-driven carriages.
After we parted ways with the parade, we ran into the Cadillac Theater and Sears (now Willis) Tower, left them also behind and got completely lost in our quest to board the loop train. We walked around streets for almost an hour and because we didn’t know where we were, didn’t know which bus to board and in which direction. We eventually found our way and the loop station.
At the Art Institute later that day, we decided to split and meet again at an appointed hour at an appointed place. We were living dangerously because we didn’t have cell phones and hence no means of communication, in case we couldn’t find each other. Fancy, this was how people lived for 5000 years before wireless telephony!
Encouraged by our success in finding each other, we went on a wild goose chase to get the best view of the Chicago skyline from the lakeshore. It was a bloody long walk and by the time we reached the pier near Adler Planetarium, we were too exhausted to enjoy the sight.
That night, we drowned our fatigue in glasses of Sangria at an Italian restaurant near our hotel at O’Hare. I had blisters on my feet but my mood was upbeat.
The next day, we stumbled on to the river walk along Wacker Street. It was a great day to do that walk – fall colors were setting in, the sun was bright but not warm and Chicago River was charming. We discovered a nice restaurant to have lunch, which served us chocolate martini and iced tea, along with several “healthy” meal options.
We did the regulation visit to Magnificent Mile, visited a few shops selling clothes too small for me, and then fell into a bus, whose driver was so sweet that she made an unscheduled stop near the station we had to go to. And watched over us after we got down. When we (of course) turned in the wrong direction, she honked and put us gently on the right path.
Oh, by the way, did I mention the conversation we had with a cab driver, who theorized that American men like Indian women because they’re usually virgins?
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