"Just some steps and overpriced bakeries": Pop culture tourism in New York

When I went to an American college during University, I travelled with 20 other York students who were strangers. We started off in New York, with two days of sight seeing. Although I did not know some of these people I found common bonds through travelling to ‘must see’ New York spots that were pertinent to some American sitcoms. For instance, I bonded with a girl who, at first, I thought I had nothing in common with through sitting on the Met steps as Serena and Blair do in Gossip Girl, an American sitcom based around the lives of ‘upper-east side’ teenage socialites. Similarly, when travelling in our stranger group, the first thing we did in central park was try to find “the Friend’s fountain”, ironically, as another girl called it. We paused to take iconic jumping photos at the fountain even though we had yet to remember each other’s names. All through this time we bonded and forged conversations based around episodes we had seen, who our favourite characters were and how strange it was to be where it was all set.

As I am about to embark on my second trip to New York, with my partner, we have revolved our entire stay around where we will be going for food. Even booking the hotel involved taking into consideration the distance between this and a bakery we wished to visit. We will often watch a series called Cake Boss which is a realty programme revolving around life at a family owned Italian-American bakery. We have already planned what bakery items we will be getting despite never having visited the bakery before. Technology is, indeed, making the world feel smaller. Businesses can be found on Google maps, menus can be seen anywhere in the world, and transportation plans can be made months in advance. All this for a bakery. Food tourism in New York is not unusual, the popularity of Sex and the City, again based in New York, lead to tours to the iconic bakery. The levels of tourism and popularity have led to second bakeries being opened around the city to capitalise on their popularity. If you are not a fan of any of these programmes then you may see just some steps to a museum or a couple of over priced bakeries but to the fan these are the places they have travelled thousands of miles to see.

The New York experience does not finish once the trip has ended. The trip changes the perception of the television show. Whenever these are watched the viewer can reflect back on their trip to that iconic place and reminisce. Perhaps the location did not look the way they thought it would, maybe the visit was disappointing, or maybe the visit forged friendships between strangers. Either way the relationship between the New York locations and the viewer has changed.

Hyper-representing my life: agency and structure when preparing for a holiday

As I am about to go on holiday, my mind is wandering back to some of the concepts I explored at university whilst taking a module about migration and tourism. Some people say that once they graduate they never use what they have learned. This is what I love about parts of my degree: the concepts and ideas I explored at York will follow my thoughts for the rest of my life. One of the concepts I explored whilst theorising about migration and tourism was the idea of the British holiday as the ‘hyper-weekend’.

If you ask anyone why they have booked a holiday, they may reply that they want a relaxing trip away from everyday life. Holidays are often synonymous with escapism: leaving one’s native country to become the authentic traveller immersed in different cultures and scenery. However, it could be argued that the holiday is not in fact an escape from the daily grind, but rather a hyper-representation of an individual’s weekend. As Briggs’ (2013) ethnography of working class Britons in Ibiza found, although individuals believed they were exercising liberation from their home life (e.g. from their job or relationship), they are, in fact, living an exaggerated version of their life at home. Since reading Briggs (2013) I have thought about this idea a lot when thinking about holidays. However, whilst preparing for my next holiday, I have began reflecting upon how the preparation for a holiday is also a hyper representation of preparing for a night out or an event at the weekend.

For myself, getting ready for an event or just life in general involves getting my nails done, lashes bought and tan applied. This preparation is exactly the same for my holiday but just on a grander scale. Within ‘everyday life’ I would prepare for an event by getting ‘party’ lashes: strips of fake eyelashes that are applied with glue and taken off when the event is over, like make-up. For my holiday, I get semi-permanent eyelash extensions: individual fake eyelashes glued to my real eyelashes that stay on for up to 2-3 weeks. Similarly, within ‘everyday life’ I paint my nails with normal nail varnish. In contrast, for my holiday, I have gel nail varnish put on my nails: a more lasting varnish that can stay on, again, for up to 2-3 weeks. Both of these examples show that the preparation for a holiday is a hyper representation of my normal beauty routine. Not only this, but they both also show how I am exercising agency within the bounds of structure. It is my choice to get a more semi-permanent beauty procedure. As I have stated before in my previous blog post, I do not feel that I have to wear make-up or do my hair: I choose to. However, it can be seen that I am making this choice within the bounds of structure: what is on offer by beauty salons and what is ‘trendy’ at the time. Dusty pink gel nails? Yes please. Full brows and extended eyelashes? Sounds good. Although I choose to do this to my face, my choices are restricted by the makers of beauty products as to what beauty ideals are fashionable at any given time.

Indeed, once all this beauty preparation has been done, one is ready for a holiday to ‘relax’ from the exhaustion of preparing. All ready to hyper-represent my weekend for two weeks.