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《别样旅行：只规划不启程》
Why I Love Planning Vacations I’ll Never Take
I spend way more time than I should on Airbnb1). I love scrolling through other people’s lovingly decorated (or hideously appointed2)) rental properties and homes around the world, and imagining which most suits my needs for a beach weekend away, a jaunt3) in the woods, or a cheap-but-restorative mini-vacation to an idyllic small town. Why am I considering a vacation anyway when my life is pretty good right here?
The thing is, I’m not planning an actual vacation. I just like to look.
For a while I chalked my Airbnb penchant up4) to routine procrastination, which meant it was bad for me. It was something to do while I thought about doing the stuff I was supposed to do, and we all know that’s the hallmark of a time-waster, something that should be eradicated from a productive life post-haste5). However, unlike sitting for hours in front of America’s Next Top Model reruns, looking at rental properties online had the additional benefit of making me feel productive and enlightened, like it was research that might actually get me somewhere, quite literally.
After all, we are supposed to occasionally leave the comfort zones of our daily lives and explore and see and learn, or lie in the sun, or both. So it was justifiable, in a way, to log hours on the site, checking in in the morning to see if maybe there’d be some new properties listed in a dreamed-about location, starting wish lists for places ranging from coastal American towns to Paris, and checking out locations where my dollar seemed to get me a lot farther than in Brooklyn. Even if I’m not really going to go.
I’ve imagined countless trips, for “writing retreats,” “leaf-peeping,” “girls’ weekends,” “romantic getaways6),” “adventure travel,” “learning to speak another language,” or “building my global consciousness.” I let my mind roam wild, picturing myself in places that were a far cry from my typical vacation. There was the glamping7) tent where I might luxuriate in nature with 100 percent organic sheets and hotel bath towels. There was a teepee8) on a waterfall. There was an adorable tiny house with a composting9) toilet. (Could I be the sort of person who would vacation somewhere with a composting toilet? Who WAS the sort of person who would vacation somewhere with a composting toilet?)
There can be greater clarity, sometimes, in inhabiting other people’s lives than our own, and that’s why vacations are so important. In a time when people turn to screens and the internet before maps and guidebooks, Airbnb and sites like it provide ever-more potent opportunities to take a walk in someone else’s shoes (after potentially waking up in their bed). After all, from where we live, it’s not so far a journey to who we are. The process of vacation-shopping isn’t that far from trying on clothes or thinking about what job might fit us best. My time on Airbnb is another way to consider who I am, and who I want to be.
Another plus: It’s not even entirely procrastination, really. “Taking a vacation won’t necessarily make you happier. But anticipating it will,” writes Stephanie Rosenbloom in The New York Times. She cites researchers from the Netherlands who “interviewed more than 1,500 people, including 974 vacationers, and found that the vacationers felt most happy before their trips.” Anticipation is a powerful aphrodisiac10), and when you’re conceptualizing a trip there’s none of the pain of having to battle airport security, the interstate, or that most horrid of trip-ruiners: other people. There is no disappointment, not even the pain of seeing that your hoped-for vacation dates are already booked because, guess what, you’re just window-shopping11) for the windows you might consider looking out of, sometime. And it costs nothing.
Surfing online isn’t traveling, and traveling is great and eye-opening and necessary, whether you do it alone or with others. But if you’re strapped for time and want to feel a frisson12) of possibility without ever taking off your pajamas, may I humbly suggest a free jaunt down the wandering lanes of Airbnb? As Rosenbloom explains, getting to know the place you plan to visit is a kind of immersion that “encourages you to not only learn about your destination, but to dream, providing some concrete details for your mind to latch on to.” I think that’s true whether you ever go there or not. Lately, I’ve been dreaming about a composting toilet.
在空中食宿网站上我的确花了太多时间。我喜欢在网上浏览世界各地别人那装饰可爱(或难看)的出租屋，想象着哪一个最能满足我的需要：在海滩过一个周末，在林间来一次短途旅行，或在一个田园诗般美丽的小镇来一个迷你假期，费用不高但可以修复身心。我当前的生活很好，为什么还要考虑外出度假呢？
问题是，我不是在规划一次真的旅行，我只是喜欢在网上看看。
有一阵儿，我把浏览空中食宿网站的嗜好归结于例行的拖延症，这样对我当然不利。当我想着该做什么事的时候，我却登上了这个网站。而且众所周知，这种行为是浪费时间的标志，是应该尽快从丰富的人生中杜绝的。可是，和在电视机前一坐几个小时观看《全美超级模特儿新秀大赛》重播不一样的是，浏览网上出租房信息给了我额外的好处，让我感到很有收获和启发。好像这种研究可以真能把我带到某个地方，简直就跟真的一样。
毕竟，我们应该偶尔踏出日常生活的舒适区，到外面探索一番，开开眼界，长长见识。或只是躺在阳光下，或兼而有之。因此，从某种程度而言，在这个网站上浏览几个小时是合情合理的：早上登进去看看是否有新的房源正好位于朝思暮想的地方；开始写一个愿望清单，列上几个城市，从美国沿海城市到巴黎都有；考察美元在哪里能让我比在布鲁克林拥有更强的购买力。即使自己不是真的要去那里。
我在脑海中想象过无数次的旅行，有“写作静思”“赏秋叶之行”“女生周末”“浪漫短假”“冒险之旅”“学说另一门外语”，或者“建立我的全球化意识”。我任凭自己的思绪如野马无缰，想象着自己身处与通常的度假地迥然不同的地方。有时是在豪华露营帐篷里，我可以在大自然中奢侈地享受纯有机床单和酒店浴巾。有时是在瀑布上面搭起的一个锥形帐篷里。有时是在一座配有堆肥厕所的可爱小屋。(我会是那种能接受在度假地使用堆肥厕所的人吗？什么样的人会选择到用堆肥厕所的地方度假呀？)
有时候，体验一下别人的生活要比过自己的生活来得更清楚明白。这就是为什么假期如此重要。在这样一个时代里，人们旅游前先用带屏幕的电子设备和互联网寻找咨询而不是查看地图和导游手册。空中食宿网和其他类似的网站提供了比以往更有效的机会让人们可以“穿着别人的鞋子走一走”(当你可能在别人的床上一觉醒来之后)。毕竟，从我们现在生活的状态到我们是谁之间并非一段遥远的旅程。这种只看而不花钱度假的过程与试穿衣服或思考什么工作会最适合自己相去不远。我在空中食宿网站上花时间也是换另一种方式来思考我是谁，以及我想成为什么样的人。
另外一点：真的，这甚至不全算是拖延。“度假不一定会让你更快乐。但期待假期的到来可以做到这一点。”斯蒂芬妮·罗森布鲁姆在《纽约时报》这样写道。她援引了来自荷兰的研究人员的调查结果，他们“访问了1500多人，其中有974名度假人士，研究人员发现度假的人在他们的旅行之前感到最快乐”。期待是一剂功能强大的春药。当你构想旅行时，不会经历任何痛苦，不管是费劲通过机场安检还是驶过漫漫州际公路，或者遭遇最可怕的旅行破坏者：别的人。你不会失望，甚至不必经历看着你想度假的日期已被别人抢先预定这样的痛苦，因为，你猜怎么着，你只是看看并没下单，有时只是找你可能考虑会出游的机会，而这样做分文不花。
浏览网页算不上旅行，而旅行是激动人心、大开眼界和必不可少的，不管你是独自旅行还是结伴而行。但是如果你时间有限，而你又想不必脱掉睡衣就体验一把旅行的可能性所带来的令人激动的战栗，那我可以谦恭的建议你沿着空中食宿网站蜿蜒的小路来一次免费的短途旅行吗？正如罗森布鲁姆所言，了解你打算造访的地方是一种沉浸其中的方式，它“促使你不仅要了解你的目的地，而且对它充满幻想，为你的头脑提供一些具体生动的可以牢牢抓住的细节”。我想不管你会不会去那里旅行都是如此。最近，我一直念念不忘堆肥厕所。
文章摘自：《新东方英语》杂志2017年3月号
