This is a great op-ed by Cuban-American actor/writer/filmmaker Natalie Morales (Lucy on Parks and Recreation, Claire on The Grinder).

Screen shot of Flood Magazine. Photo by Sean Mennie.

Side note — the article caught my attention because I LOVE her as Lucy on Parks and Rec and yeah, I’m just a tad bit obsessed with the show. Anyway …

First, read her well-written essay (published by Flood Magazine) on her family’s experience in Cuba: Please Stop Saying You Want to Go to Cuba Before It’s Ruined.

Confession — I’ve said that many times.

I probably didn’t use the words “before it’s ruined,” but my meaning was close enough.

I’ve also been guilty in the past of wanting quaint places to stay quaint — as if they exist purely for my own enjoyment, rather than as places where real people live their real lives. My thinking has evolved over the years, and probably could stand to evolve even more.

Another lament I’ve heard many times among the adventure travel set: “This place just doesn’t feel authentic anymore.” That usually refers to something like a McDonald’s appearing in the heart of a colonial town square. There are likely legitimate gripes about that McDonald’s — especially if its existence is threatening the livelihood of a family-run enterprise that’s been on the corner for generations.

But who gives me, a visitor, the right to say what’s authentic in someone else’s town?

And, by the way, that lovely colonial square isn’t authentic, either. It was forced on earlier inhabitants by, duh, the colonists.

From my experience, these types of remarks are common among us first-world travelers who like to think of ourselves as adventurers. We love the idea of escaping the comforts and commercialism of our worlds.

That’s why I fantasized about visiting Cuba. It seemed like one of the few remaining places where you would not encounter a McDonald’s. Also, since it’s been illegal for Americans to go, sneaking in and out becomes a point of pride, a sort of proof-of-life-as-an-adventurer.

(Turns out, I’m not quite the adventurer I like to think I am … my ex-husband and I were this close to jumping on a plane to Cuba from South America when we were spending several months in Ecuador … seemed like an ideal time to hide a trip to Cuba in the non-stamped pages of our passports … but then President Bush threatened to crack down on travel to Cuba and I chickened out.)

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to escape our own cultures.

In fact, I would argue it should be a mandatory experience for every citizen.

But it’s all-too-easy to fall into a mindset that other places need to meet our own expectations of what those other places are supposed to be. And then to feel let down if they’re not. This is not only arrogant, it robs us of experiencing what a place is really like — McDonald’s and all — because we’re too busy looking for what we have decided we’re supposed to see.

Over the years I’ve mellowed a bit in that regard. I can sometimes catch myself now when I start to compare a place to the fantasies in my head.

Natalie’s article is another great reminder.

PS: For a more in-depth discussion of this topic, I recommend my favorite travel book: Vagabonding, by Rolf Potts. To me it’s more life book than travel book — great insights whether or not long-term travel is in your future. To quote Tim Ferriss: “Vagabonding teaches you how to travel (and think), not just for one trip, but for the rest of your life.”

I was just in New York (yay!), so of course I have to talk about the amazing transformation the city has made in its use of public space. (Keep in mind, this is the perspective of a tourist who is totally in love with NYC but really only gets there for a few days every five years or so.)

I’m reading about those changes in a new book called Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution, by the woman who played a big part in making those changes happen: Janette Sadik-Khan, former NYC Transportation Commissioner under Mayor Bloomberg (Seth Solomonow is co-author of the book).

The following stats are taken directly from the book’s chapter titled “Battle for a New Times Square”:

Old Times Square

• 89 percent of the space belonged to cars, even though 82 percent of the people passing through did so on foot.
• Since there wasn’t enough room for all the pedestrians on the sidewalks (and since so many people love to stop and pose for pictures, see goofy tourist above), many people just spilled into the streets and into the path of angry, frustrated drivers.

New Times Square

They closed off Broadway to cars (through the square) and opened it to pedestrians. By routing vehicles around the non-grid-friendly Broadway (it famously cuts through the city on its own trajectory), they simplified traffic flow by restoring right angles. They made similar changes to nearby Herald Square. The book explains it in much more detail.

Here are some results (straight from the book):

• Traffic overall moves 7 percent faster than before Broadway was closed (a move that most people thought would cripple traffic flow).
• The number of pedestrians injured in car crashes dropped 35 percent.
• Injuries for everyone–including people in cars–dropped 63 percent.
• Local businesses benefited from better pedestrian access–so much so that by 2011 (two years after these changes), Cushman & Wakefield named Times Square one of the top 10 retail districts on the planet (for the first time in its rankings).

What amazes me is they managed to convince a skeptical population to close off a major artery in the most crowded part of town. And it IMPROVED traffic flow.

Go here for some great before-and-after shots of Times Square and other locations where innovative street design is making cities more people-friendly.

And they’re not done with Times Square yet.

Future Times Square looks even more amazing:

These are renderings provided by Times Square Alliance. The Times Square Alliance collaborated with Snøhetta and the NYC Department of Transportation on the plans for the transformation.

I can’t wait to go back!

As a kid I was obsessed with New York City.

The noise. The lights. The chaos. The crowds. The variety of ethnicities. The walk-up apartment buildings. The subway. The narrow streets. The brick buildings. The laundry strung from one 6^th floor apartment window to another. The alleyways.

And I hadn’t even been there yet. My idea of the city was entirely based on movies and probably “Welcome Back, Kotter.”

I grew up out in the country in Clovis, California. Land of orange groves, almond orchards, grapevines, an annual rodeo, tule fog so thick in the winter the only way I knew where to turn to get home was by the Christmas lights the guy on the corner left on his hedges around his property, glowing all winter and only visible once I was within about 20 yards of the turn.

But cities have always beckoned.

I’ve now lived in the Los Angeles area for 28 years.

———-

I’ve been ignoring this blog for the past year and a half because I’ve been distracted with a different adventure – grad school. That leaves little time (and money) for travel. But I realized, hey, I could still write about city travel. Or other city things.

I live in a city. I travel around a city every day. There’s plenty of city-travel-related-minutia I can obsess about. Actually, I already obsess about it, I just need to start writing about it.

(For instance, when I decided to start commuting again — I recently got myself an office downtown, after working from home for 19 years — I spent hours online looking for the perfect laptop bag.)

Ok, so here I launch what will be this year’s focus – OCDtravel in the City.

All city-related topics are fair game. Not just LA … cities in general. I also happen to be taking an urban design class this semester, so who knows what fun topics will emerge?!

Here’s my first question – when your travel destination is a city, how do you get around?

• Cab
• Uber
• Rent a car
• Public transportation
• Walk

I usually walk as much as possible, and go for public transportation when walking won’t work. I love figuring out a city’s subway system.

What about you?

If you’re traveling for just a few days, consider using a laptop bag as your luggage.

The sleeve area keeps clothes secure and wrinkle-free.

I tried this on a recent two-nighter, for which I needed nice slacks. They arrived perfect and I didn’t even need to iron.

In some cases you might end up with creases where the folds are, but in this case it was fine.

I always love to find new packing hacks. Do you have any? Please share!