Peak Season Is Weak Season

In travel planning, the question of “when?” is one of the most fickle threads in an overwhelmingly delicate tapestry. Answering this simple quandary demands consideration of countless others. How hot will it be? Will the roads be impassable? Is it transmission period for an insect-borne pathogen that wont necessarily kill you but will definitely make you acutely aware of your own bones? If you’re a true traveler, though, you know that one question outranks all the rest: “Will there be tourists?”

I’m talking, of course, about peak season. It’s a time all true explorers avoid like the plague or like chain restaurants or like hotels with running water. Peak season varies from destination to destination, and it can strike with alarming speed, ferocity, and convenience. But, as all real nomads know, the only way to experience the true essence of a place is to see it when people are fewest, streets and beaches emptiest, and basic comforts hardest to find. Simply put, if you don’t have a place to yourself, you don’t have it at all.

The great thing is, avoiding peak season is as easy as it is rewarding. Always dreamed of exploring Norway’s scenic fjords? Do it in December. There will be no one to crowd the boats, no lines to purchase tickets, and no sunlight to illuminate your majestic surroundings. There will also be much fewer open restaurants to cook for you and hotels to offer you lodging. None of that touristy crap. Same goes for Russian winters, Bangladeshi monsoon seasons, and German 1940s.

And don’t even talk to me about “shoulder season”, which may as well be “Diet Peak”. When I say I want a destination to myself, it means I want to have to drive my own tuk tuk, be my own rappel partner, fashion my own zipline, and explain to myself the historical significance of Bayon temple on a private tour both hosted and attended by me alone.

I’m not here for lazy days on the beach with cocktails brought to my side. I’m not here for a massive festival with crowds in the streets. I’m not here to support the local businesses that count on travelers to earn a living. I travel to get to know the REAL destinations. The places that only exist when pampered tourists go back to their non-shared airport transfers and their cars with seatbelts and their rooms with ceilings.

Sure traveling out of peak season might not have as many “amenities” or “days without torrential rainfall” or “reasons to go”. But if that’s why you travel, I feel sorry for you and your “parasite-free bloodstream”. If you really want to see the world, you do it right, without guardrails, without safety nets, and without companionship. Now if you’ll excuse me, my bones are starting to act up again.