Ya' should've been here last year....

Perhaps it is because I've grown older (not necessarily wiser, but that's another story) that my perspective of travel and changes has mellowed somewhat. With the Internet and Facebook and other instant communication channels it seems that anyone with a keyboard or smartphone can opine on anything and the battle of egos ensues with great energy. With Twitter (don't use it myself) it seems that even television news programs will show Tweets(?) in near-real-time about current events.

As an example, in the recent State of the Union Address, more than one alleged 'news' channel would have a rolling log of 'tweets' on the screen...all from anonymous tweeters who gave their personal opinion on the President's speech. Not only were they depressingly familiar - "He lies", "Greatest. President. Ever." - and on and on and on, but they were completely devoid of thought or analysis; they were merely screaming opinions where the only value was pissing off the other side.

On Facebook, I "liked" a page dealing with Bora Bora. Now then, Bora Bora, Moorea, Huahine, etc., are places I've been to many times and love each of them thoroughly. This morning there was a photo of a scene from the "Amazing Race" television show currently filming in Bora Bora (quite stunning; the photo not the show). However, it was the comments that caught my eye. Usually, the comments are oooh's and ahhhh's but this time one poster complained that it diminished the ambiance and feel of Bora Bora (like the hoopla when Kim Kardashian went there) by turning the tropical paradise into a mere backdrop for mindless reality shows. What followed was quite a thread of angry responses, name calling, demands the poster leave, and other instant knee-jerk responses. So much anger and so much vitriol it looked more like a political discussion thread.

In the classic 1966 surf film "The Endless Summer" the surfers are in Australia and when they went to a beach with no surf that day the locals would repeatedly say, "Ya' should've been here yesterday." Of course, that doesn't help the current situation, but the refrain helps frame the forward movement of time.  The feeling is that what was is usually gone and it was somehow better than the current situation. Perhaps it is a merely a blend of nostalgia and the fact that what you once enjoyed has changed. I imagine all of us can point to places in our lives that we once enjoyed and now have changed. Amusement parks, camping areas, beaches, the quaint B&B we discovered that is now over-priced, and all the images and impressions of our past that have moved on.

Back to Bora Bora. I was there recently and it had changed dramatically from my first time there in 1975. Back then (in 1975), the Hotel Bora Bora was the only real hotel on the island (no air conditioning, no TV) but it was bliss. The motus and the reef were places to visit but no hotels were there. Now, the Hotel Bora Bora is undergoing an upgrade (but it has been closed for a very, very long time) and the resorts are mostly built on the motus or off of the reef. Vaitape, the main village, was once a coral road harbor town with a few restaurants and businesses. Now, it has banks and shops and paved roads and is quite crowded when the cruise ships hit port.

The same changes - paved roads, more hotels, more crowds, etc. - are on most of the islands and are decidedly different than the past. The Moorea resort where my wife and I had our honeymoon in 1981 changed significantly in 30+ years...it is still beautiful and the amenities were certainly upgraded (TV's, air-conditioning; no mosquito coils to burn). It was different, but wonderful nonetheless.

Looking at the issue from a longer view can, perhaps, help those angst-ridden folks who bemoan the past and the changes over time. The Bora Bora of 2013 is certainly different than my Bora Bora of 1975. The Bora Bora of 1975 was different than when James Michener went there during World War II. It was different when Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall went there in the 1910's and 1920's. It was unrecognizably different when Bougainville (1768) and Cook (1769) went there. When the Maoris and other Polynesian explorers landed there in ancient times, yes, it was of course different.

Different does not mean worse...just different. I will still go to and completely enjoy Bora Bora (although ya' should have here 40 years ago!) and the other major islands for what they are today and you can too. Or, perhaps even better for you adventurous types, rather than complain (and tweet, comment, whatever) try someplace less travelled like Fakarava (a low island northeast of Tahiti of exquisite beauty and no crowds), the Cook Islands, and other less-traveled places. Have you been to - or even heard of - Maupiti (west of Bora Bora) or Maiao (southwest of Moorea)?

Try those places today and then you can say to future travelers (politely of course): ya' should've been here last year.