Livin' La Vida Local

spoiler alert - no you're not

I recently passed the six-month mark here on Substack (wrote my first post on January 1^st) and something I have noticed a lot here are the many posts by European-based writers about the related topics of over-tourism and the influx of digital nomads and wealthy expats in their countries. The nomads/expats, who Sara May Grunwald accurately refers to as “perma-tourists”, are kinda living here but not really. They seldom integrate with local culture, often don't bother to learn the language and generally treat where they are living as a backdrop for their shiny new lives with the residents as “extras” in their personal TikTok dramas. And very importantly, they either don't have to work or are living on foreign salaries, which makes the divide between their reality and ours even wider. By “ours” I refer to both native and immigrant residents (including me 🙂). Hence we take umbrage against all the “OMG everything is so cheap here!” crap, that is obviously totally irksome to us. And don’t even get me started on “The locals are so ADORABLE” even worse crap.

from the Authentic Traveling website

Both short-term and perma-tourists go on about “living like a local” as if… they actually are. For years I’ve seen many tour operators promising “authentic experiences” so you will feel like a local during - what? - your three day stay somewhere. While many nomad/expats flit from town to city in search of the “best fit” in terms of, I guess, their Instagram feed. Too hot, too rainy, don’t like the food, locals don’t speak English? Just move to another location for another few weeks or months and then do it again once you’ve exploited wherever you are for content.

When tourists tell me they want a “live like a local” experience I sometimes have to stop myself from blurting out “hey, you’re already living in our homes, what more do you want?”. Because whether you are a short-term or perma-tourist you are still a tourist. Deal with it. And realise that, even if you could achieve it, you don’t actually want to live like a local. Because the truth is that us locals are not actually out all day drinking on sunny terraces or beaches and eating tapas non-stop.

Because we have jobs. We have our daily chores and responsibilities, families and friends. We have actual lives here and we actually can’t afford to go out every day. I mean, many of my evenings and weekends are spent at home netflixing with the cats, with homemade snacks and a nice glass of wine. Otherwise it’s working, shopping, cleaning, taking out the rubbish, more cleaning, laundry… and I don’t even have kids! Imagine all the extra reality involved with that.

the reality of living like a local: work, shopping, cleaning, etc

A few years ago I got into trouble on Instagram when I posted that toilet brush pic with the hashtag #livinglikealocal, which resulted in me losing a whack of followers… but I think LIVING LIKE A LOCAL is pretty much summed up in the collage. Trust me, you don’t want to live like a local. You’re here on holiday! Or spending some time here until your next adventure. Whatever. Have fun. Be a tourist. Because there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that, but of course that also depends on you.

Instead of pretending to be one of us you could strive to be a better tourist. In fact, that would probably do a lot more to enrich your experience somewhere than cosplaying. And of course this goes both ways. All of us here who are being affected by over-tourism also need to be mindful of our own travel habits. In the end it’s like every other aspect of our lives.

We should all be consuming less, and be ready to pay more for ethical products and goods, and that also relates to travel. It shouldn’t be possible to fly across Europe for 19€. Somewhere along the line someone is paying and it sure as hell ain’t the billionaire business owners. Just like it shouldn’t be possible to buy a 9€ dress from Temu or Shein. If you trace that cheap flimsy garment back to the source you’ll see a lot of suffering and poverty. Likewise tourists don’t think about the people on the other end of that cheap flight who end up serving them, whether they are making a living wage or if they have to commute an hour to work because their homes - where you are staying - now belong to Big Tourism.

We really all need to stop living so carelessly.

“There’s no such fecking thing as a fecking flight for 50p” ~ classic Fascinating Aida (2010)

It feels like ever since Covid happened to us, after a brief initial period when everyone came together and actually seemed to care about each other, people became even more selfish than ever. That lovely sense of community came and went just like that.

When I wrote the How To Be A Better Tourist piece there were a few comments asking me what I thought the solution to over-tourism was. I mean, obviously this is a complex issue, but it could also a simple one with a simple solution. Just stop. There is only over-tourism because of your behaviour. People are travelling too much and too often, often quite mindlessly, simple as that. And of course greedy politicians and corporations are ready and waiting to take advantage of that selfish behaviour. When you see a cheap deal to Greece or Thailand don’t you wonder WHY it’s so cheap?

In Sevilla the local government is hellbent on creating even more and more tourism here, constantly breaking records, with new hotels and tourist apartment blocks opening every month (frankly worse than AirBnB for evicting residents), creating campaigns like Passion for Summer. Which is ridiculous. When us locals can’t get out of town in the summer we stay home with the AC on, if we’re lucky enough to have AC. So unless you have a Passion for Heat Stroke, seriously do not come here July-September. And this year that included June which saw the highest temperatures in recorded history. Because aside from being stuck inside your hotel room, if you do come here you will be using up our scarce water supply and putting stress on our power grid by taking three showers a day, wanting the pool filled and keeping the AC on full blast 24/7. Nothing that any local would ever do.

I work closely with tourism. I have been offering small group food & wine tours here in Sevilla since 2009. I am a member of the Academia Sevillana de Gastronomía y Turismo, a founding member of the non-profit Asociación de Guías Gastronómicas de Andalucía and I am also a Certified Sherry Educator. So I am clearly not anti-tourism. But what I have been witnessing here, even before I became involved in this field, has been mostly very disheartening, distressing and depressing. Watching my adopted city being sold to the highest bidder, seeing friends lose their homes and businesses, no longer recognising my old barrio, all to feed mass-tourism. It’s totally out of control. And YOU may be helping to feed the monster. Please think about it before booking your next trip here (or anywhere).

protesting for the abolition of tourist apartments, not tourists

We need to change how we live because as things are humans are basically not sustainable. Because if half the world is starving while you are buying fresh asparagus from Peru in February… that is not a sustainable situation, nor a desirable one. But rather than face reality people are doubling down and being even more selfish than ever. Demanding their so-called civil rights while conveniently forgetting there are no rights without civic responsibility. Welcome to living in a society! Turns out it’s not just all about you. Meanwhile, nobody needs to go hungry or live a life of virtual slavery… these are decisions being made so that you get to buy that cheap t-shirt or score a cheap travel deal.

Anyhow, obviously my brilliant idea that everyone should stop travelling for a year other than within their own country is clearly not gonna fly… but I mean, wouldn’t it be great? So many people don’t even know the place they were born, so there’s that. And it would shut down much of the bullshit “travel bubble” and all those empty tourist apartments could maybe be returned to the residents. For starters. Yes, some bars and restaurants and shops would fall by the wayside, but I think in the end we’d be left with the ones we actually want. The ones created for us, the ones we are happy to share with you when you come to visit. Can’t you see? We don’t feel proud when you visit us now with our city centres turned into tourist theme parks. And sadly it makes us think less of you because you don’t seem to care.

one of many many many AT Tourist Apartment blocks that used to be homes

I’m presently compiling a list of independent hotels and fully-licensed holiday apartments in Sevilla where the owner - a real live local! - actually greets you when you arrive. They do exist. Not surprisingly this information isn’t easy to come by (a bit like Covid stats). The Asociación de Hoteles de Sevilla say they have no list of strictly independent hotels and it’s clear that nobody actually knows how many legal holiday rentals there are, let alone which ones are owned by locals. It’s probably a safe bet that most of the licensed AT blocks are not even owned by Spanish residents. But I’m working on it, because I’ve been asked about this by several travellers. How can they do better? Make better choices? Travel more compassionately? And because they care enough to ask I feel obliged to help. I’ve also got a similar list in the works of corporate-owned bars and restaurants to avoid. I think many people would be surprised at the number of “authentic” tapas bars here that are not the traditional family-run spots they pretend to be.

This may be an opportune time to mention Ko-fi since, although I truly am doing this because I care, I also have rent to pay, ya know? So if you want to send something this way to help with my research, etc here’s the button…

Am I optimistic about positive change? Not especially. Because it seems to me that people only tend to be “generous and caring” up to the point that they are somehow inconvenienced. And meanwhile they turn a blind eye until the “then they came for me” moment happens. But I’m also not without hope because I don’t believe it ever has to be an all-or-nothing scenario with having to give up everything. I mean, I know we can all see the iceberg looming, but nobody wants to stop partying… the world is in total denial. Our ship is not just about to sink, it’s actually sinking. You know it. I know it. Is it too late? I like to think not, but what it would take to turn all of this around would be that we all make some sacrifices and care more about our neighbour than about our personal comfort. Or at least care as much. Anyone out there about to relinquish some of their personal comfort? Make a sacrifice or two for the common good? Honest question.

And now a shout out to fellow European immigrants David Lebovitz, Lucy Pepper and Debora Robertson, whom I have known on various platforms for years, and also more recently-met Substack pals who also knowledgeably write about their home (or adopted home) countries with charm, wit, passion and compassion. If you want to read about honest living abroad experiences without the “us and them” clichés these are your people.

David Lebovitz - DL Newsletter
Lucy Pepper - Pretending
Debora Robertson - Licked Spoon
Blanca Valencia - Gazpacho Chronicles
Sara May Grunwald - Contadina
Gastroillogica - The Other Gourmand
Milli Taylor - When in Rome

But the thing is, it’s not enough for locals to just complain about these issues, no matter how brilliantly you do it (and many of you do!) we also have to find and offer options and alternatives that could make a difference. And you tourists! We do want to work with you, not against you, but that means you also have to work with us. So what does everyone suggest? I’m all ears.

LIVIN’ LA VIDA LOCAL LIKE A SUMBITCH