The touristiness of Virginia Beach was so extreme that it actually became rather comical. Even in the age of Trump it somehow seems unbelievable that there’s a market for these messages. I began to realize that my imagination – a critical ingredient for any writer’s success – is severely inadequate, because I simply cannot fathom the sort of mind that would put such a thing on their body without any degree of irony. I’ve seen some embarrassing bro-Ts in my time, but never such a high concentration of ridiculous apparel as in the shops of Virginia Beach. Wanna try indoor skydiving? How about ziplining?Īnd the T-shirts… oh lord, the T-shirts. Everything that wasn’t one of those was a front for some kind of expensive tourist experience. Everything that wasn’t a gift shop was a pizza joint or an ice cream shop. For all I know they’re all owned by the same guy. Beach towels, folding chairs, refrigerator magnets, shell-shaped earrings… the exact same items in every single store. I walked past block after block of barely distinguishable gift shops. I’ve been to many touristy areas both before and during Ghost on the Highway, but Virginia Beach just takes touristiness to a whole new level. And I don’t mean the resplendent majesty of the ocean or anything like that, I mean the sheer crass consumerism that infects the entire beachfront.
Nothing quite prepared me for what I would experience down there. Besides, despite spending so much days near various coasts, I’d spent precious little time at an actual beach. Blacksburg sounded a bit too much like a redux of Asheville, and no one I talked to had anything good to say about Richmond. Should I drive through the Western mountains and hit up the hip college town of Blacksburg, as my aunt suggested? Should I try my luck in the big city of Richmond? Scrolling through the coastal towns in the Southeast corner of the state, I found an Airbnb listing in Virginia Beach for $20/night.Īlready sold by the price, I started thinking up other reasons to justify passing through the region. I knew for sure I wanted to land in Baltimore by the weekend, so what I desired was a stopover that was charming, convenient, and affordable. There were a few potential ways I could have attacked Virginia. Statue of the water god Neptune that stands at the Virginia Beach boardwalk.
0 kommentar(er)
