Tourist traps are not accurate visions of a city

Visiting cities other than the one someone lives in can show someone what life is like somewhere else and shows someone a new culture and customs.  However, there are some places that people visit that show nothing of living in somewhere. These locations, commonly known as tourist traps, are among the most visited places in the United States, yet also only serve as a place for people to get photos, shop, and eat at chain restaurants.  

Some of the best memories I have of visiting other places are hiking obscure trails, visiting small museums, eating at small non-chain restaurants, and experiencing other things a town has to offer. Being able to see and experience what it is like to live in another town, if only for a few days, can be a wonderful experience. I enjoy being able to see things that someone who lives in a particular town would visit, because it shows me what a city is truly like and experiences a person can have there. 

When visiting tourist traps a person who is visiting does not get to experience the true culture of the area they are visiting and will miss out on many unique experiences they may not have the opportunity to see again. Tourist traps provide few realistic visions of what a culture is like, and instead show over exaggerations of a culture in order to attract visitors and entertain the people who go there. This can lead to people never understanding particular cultures and customs, instead only acknowledging major exaggerations to that custom. 

Additionally, tourist traps do not represent what true life is like in town because the people who live near-by avoid the tourist trap and instead participate in activities that are a better representation of where they live. One example of this is restaurants. In many tourist traps there are only two options for eating: restaurants that are attached to hotels or other businesses which are a part of the trap, or chain restaurants which have locations all over the country and people are able to dine at in nearly any part of the world.  

One of the best parts of visiting other places is being able to eat at restaurants that one will never be able to find again. When avoiding tourist traps it is fun to eat at places that are local restaurants with few other locations across the country, or at least not near one lives. This allows a person to better experience what it is like to live somewhere else and see somewhere different from where they already live.  

It is important to visit places that are not tourist traps because they allow people to experience things that they were not able to previously see or do. Part of the reason that people travel is to learn more about different cultures, and to see something besides where they already live. Tourist traps do not truly offer these experiences to visitors and instead offer a place where people can go to shop, take pictures, and eat at chain restaurants.  Instead visit a place where the people who live there go in order to better experience a city and understand what life is like there.