AIBU to be frustrated at this trend of turning nice places into queues?

[Emori]

I've noticed this phenomenon across Europe, specifically in Italy, Spain and Greece in the past year where I've been somewhere on a day out, tourist attractions so obviously always going to be busy with lots of people taking photos etc, now there's an additional queuing etiquette which is something else. It's like there are certain points within the attraction where people get fucked off with you just walking around like a normal person and instead expect you to stand in a line to take a photograph. Even though there's no official signs to such effect. I find it really spoils my enjoyment, appreciation and concentration. Am I alone in this?

And you have to book so many things weeks or months in advance now or else it's sold out.

Very tedious and doesn't allow for spontaneity or accounting for the weather. I don't want to risk the weather being shit when I do something in a month's time or plan the rest of the day around a half hour slot to enter an attraction.

I'm a bit of a philistine when I think about it. I like going to places with famous sites/buildings/museums etc. but I refuse to queue for anything. I'm happy enough to see the outside of things only and buy a pic of the inside or see it online, museums are the exception but I never take pics in those places. I do confess to taking selfies when travelling alone but I actually enjoy having others in the pic in the background, it just seems more authentic to me. I'm quick at taking pics because I feel a bit self conscious so don't hold others up.

Last week I was in Rome. OMG the heat, and the queues for places like the Colosseum, the Vatican, the Roman Forum etc. were miles long. Not a chance I would do that. I can see them from the outside which is all I really need. Maybe I am the odd one out though.

Funnily enough I didn't see many wannabe famous instagrammers around. In fact I was at Trevi (heaving) and there was a queue to throw the coin in and it was easily a mile long and getting longer. I stood far away and eventually got my pic including the queue and it looks great!

I now take pics of queues for fun. LOL 😊

Yes, I feel I have to allow a lot of time to get there in case of delays, then end up waiting around for an hour or more. The venue will sometimes let us in early, but rarely straight away.

Depends on where you are. I have picture of me near the Mona Lisa with about 20 people strangers in the pic as well. People can't always expect to be alone.

But at a time when even the queue to get to the Mount Everest summit is crazy long, then I think it's a losing battle

That's crazy, especially as the Mount Everest climbers will have had to walk past several frozen corpses to get to the summit. These photo queues could prove fatal, surely? At least, if something goes wrong there will be plenty of people around to help, although good luck persuading one of them to lend you their oxygen tank.

It will reach peak and then people will want to live differently.
I'm not sure I even want to see any of the major sights or tourist spots any more.
Crowded, stressful, and bad for the locals (humans and wildlife).

OP I raise you … a few years ago in Sorrento - and if you’ve been you will know how ridiculously busy the place is and how narrow the pretty streets are - we went for a wander one evening and suddenly the moving crowd stopped and bottle necked . It turns out some Beautiful Person has her minions preventing people entering a piazza to ensure she had a clear shot and room to dramatically saunter through whilst another minion filled her. The selfish woman honestly though it was her right to stop foot traffic so she could get the perfect instagram vid of her in a pretty place.

Fuck off you vain entitled twats

I agree, OP. Live and enjoy first, photos second.

We live in an age where the photo no longer records an event, it is the event. Which is a shame.

I’ve stopped going to places where it’s seen on ‘a strict agenda of must sees’ - and are on some kind of a list particularly it seems with Far Eastern or American tourists . They have become completely unpleasant experiences in so many cases - I live in Bath so it’s bad enough here at certain times of year and a lot of weekends -particularly when Rugby is on or something like the recent Jane Austen festival . I still go to other city’s but don’t rush for the obvious sites, go to more ‘local’ areas and potter etc . Off to Amsterdam in a few weeks which I like and staying in Haarlem - 15 mins on train and lovely in its own right and far less being banged into by backpackers and instagram tourists

Yes, I think it becomes particularly dangerous when one clumber is excruciatingly slow, because they delay everyone else, and that impacts oxygen supply, and trying to get up and down before it gets dark.

I think COVID is partly to blame, people got used to social distancing and queueing for everything, so it's normal to them to queue especially the 20 something's who spent their formative years during COVID. That coupled with the obsession of wanting 'the shot' of 'the thing' in the perfect outfit.

It's bloody ridiculous though, and I hate it. Like queueing in a line at bars!

Yeah and I am happy that the train makes it accessible for some who otherwise couldn't go. However the downside is you have crowds of people....and they all tut at you for "jumping the queue" to reach the top. Sorry, but I've spent 3 hours hiking up, got 2 hours to hike down...I'm not spending 45 mins in a queue to get to the top.

I'm just going to the top. I don't care about a photo. And also if I wanted to sit at the top and enjoy the view while eating a sandwich I would....I wouldn't sit right next to the trig through.

I don't think they were cheeky and that's totally what I do. And to be honest if I wanted to take a quick photo I still would...I'm not bothered about other people being in the background. Because lets face it there isn't an "entrance" or "exit", people have just decided there is - but they have no authority.

When I was in my twenties (early 2000s so not ages ago) I backpacked Europe and it was already pretty bad. St Marks square was jammed but we still only had camera with film so it was shoot and hope for the best in a few weeks time.

I have really wanted to take my husband to some of the places I have been. We’ve been to Paris, London , Zurich, Vienna in recent years and it’s actually ruined my memories of the places I went to. It’s so manufactured that it seems to have lost its authenticity.

Luckily we live in Africa and can still enjoy some really untouched places but I find most European cities are better in my memory bank and in my photo albums.

I think it’s shows how respectful people are and how we understand other people will want to have a look or get a photo without some random cunt in the background.

I can only imagine the sort of self entitled person who gets in a flap over someone having an uninterrupted moment to enjoy something.

Perhaps is because of twats like them that the decent people self selected to queue.

Yeah, it’s all for the ‘gram.

people queue up at a beauty spot in Santorini to take a photo looking like they are the only ones there, then they get out the way and the next person jumps in, on the other side of the camera are 100s of people all jostling for their shot.

it’s horrible.

They're not enjoying it though, are they? They're posing with their backs to it.

I reckon someone could monetize a SM account by doing the reverse and showing what’s behind the perfect pic. I think there are already a whole lot of instagram vs reality accounts and pics.

That why when I was well enough to climb hills I picked other mountains to climb

I don't like crowds .

But I am so grateful that the mountain railway can get me up into the mountains.

In fairness we queued for around 3 minutes for a photo so it really wasn't that bad

I dispute that there should be any kind of hierarchy between those climbing and those getting the train though. Everyone has equal rights to share the mountain. You only get about 20 minutes at the top if you are returning on the train

We shared our carriage with someone and got chatting to them and they were terminally ill and this was a very special trip for them. Just because they can't climb a hill doesn't make them less deserving of the experience at the top.

I think more people need to say no, it's a public space, this would really annoy me

@nomas That photo of Everest!!! 😱

I guess it's Insta culture as well as post-covid whatevers... people like to present themselves having the 'acceptable' good time, YOLO, etc... but does anyone really look at those photos apart from the people in them? Are they any more interesting than when your family would bring round their holiday slides and you yawned through the umpteenth: 'There's Aunty Brenda standing by a camel'?

I think it’s about faking a certain ‘lifestyle’ and thinking you are making other people envious.

It’s lost its punch thought hasn’t it when everyone knows what is really going on…

@Ontheedgeofit 'It's lost its punch' is a great expression for that! 😄

I guess, when Aunty Brenda went, it was expensive and novel to travel abroad... now the 'yoot' I know do it many times a year... while lecturing others about climate change... We're burning through the planet like we've got a spare one in our back pocket...

The same thing happened with houses - used to be just somewhere you lived - you decorated as and when you could afford it, according to your taste, working around the hand-me-down furniture. Now there's seasonal decor, colour of the year... 'future landfill tan'...

Remembering the paintings can't be the point, they aren't even looking at them properly! It feels more like "photos or it didn't happen" - you only experience your life by seeing it on Instagram

Cracking up at "moon calf". So appropriate for these poor saps being dragged along by vain partners.