Travel Forum

I noticed that residents of lovely, small towns often create the rules and regulations to keep it beautiful, safe and enjoyable for them but often NOT for us - visitors.
They often vote against construction of new parking lots, new freeways/motorways, new tourist attractions etc.

A few real bans noticed by me:
No fires on beach/on any public property at any time,
No boose/alcohol on a beach (in a park, in the whole town) at any time,
No vehicles: on beach, in marked zone except emergency and resident vehicles any time etc.,
No camping on public or private property, including in vehicles,
No (loud) partying (car stereos, radios & "boom" boxes).
Can't we do so many (lovely :-) things without being written up for an expensive fine?


MY QUESTIONS:
1. Does it work that way in your area and in places you already visited? What bans do you have?
2. Are there or should be any limits of making such "anti-visitor" law?

Greetings from Poland.
Matt.

(sorry Jeff, all my emails are typos)

Kodes-
Not that I know of. The Viagara is sounding pretty good right about now (kidding). btw, did you hear about the Woman taking Viagara to 'supplant' her Husband's desires? Thought *that* was kinda weird.
Jeff-

No Jeff, I just turned 21 and I do not hear of viagra jokes too often.......lol

Yeah, Kodes, you're 21 and I'm a virgin. Care to try that analogy again? ;o)
Jeff-

You are a virgin, so am I?

Oh, golly, Kodes..... we have something to share! (We'll be doing many hours of pennance later). See you in the pew.
Jeff-

I think most of those bans were originated over time out of experiencing big trouble by tourists doing things that should not be allowed.
While there will be a lot who behaved, it were the ones who didn't that created these bans out of necessity.

I can agree with most of them, although I would love to free camp in nature, but I accept the fact that this free nature needs to be saved and protected against "hooligans".
Noise on the beach? yes, read my Biesbosch pages about it.
One should party at a night club or dancing club or any apropriate place but NOT in nature and NOT where other people are not there to drink a hole in their stomach.
Or a farmer who's grassland suddenly turns into a huge camping spot, with all the pollution coming with it because he misses some serious infrastructure?
Glass bottles left on the beach or in the woods, what a damage they can cause. Not to say of people who don't how to drink moderate, smash those glass bottles, get sick and ...., or get too drunk they might do foolish things that would endanger themselves or people around them?

Nice little villages who's attraction or exactly the quietness and cosiness turned into huge parkinglots??
Green must be sacrificed for macadam? concrete? so we can park our car there?

Highways to bring the huge stream of tourist to the quiet area's? Cutting through old woods, farmer's properties? (in Belgium we have more square meter of highway then I have hair on my head!).

For all the bans you wrote there I can name many reasons.

But I agree that sometimes, I am happy if I can sit at the campfire at evening, listening to the adventurous stories of the companions.

In some places here you can find public barbeque places or picknick places.
Maybe it would be nice if on campingsites there would be more like these too and a central place where there can be made 1 open "controlled" open fire.
Point is that if there is no control, things are 100 % due to escalate.
And we all are destroying the beauty of what we just have searched for and discovered.

Matt:
If 1 among 1,000,000 visitors kills somebody during night beach party does it mean that we should make a ban for partying on a beach for the rest 999,999? Hmmm... I doubt.

LOL Matt! that must be some kind of mega party! on a huge beach!

Iris-
I agree- there was a little plot of land in upstate New York called Yasger's Farm. In the late 60's, it turned into a party called "Woodstock". It's never been the same since.....
Jeff-

Jeff!!!
that was a century ago `-)

Iris-
Don't think so, I was there! ;o)
Jeff-
(I may have been piddling in my pants, but it was fun)

LOL sorry Jeff!
I meant that this happened in the previous milleniium even `-)

I bet they call it
the Pré-Woodstock and the Post-Woodstock era hahaha

Iris-
Hows about the 'during' the Woodstock era? Crosby Stills Nash & Young *was* pretty good! (LOL!)
Jeff-
(That was when Neil Young still had hair! and David Crosby wasn't loaded up on Morphiene).

well they say Europe is running late on movies etc... but what about this:
3 years ago Canned Heat performed here in Antwerp `-)

Canned Heat!?!?! WOWEE! That's a 'blast from the past'! I'm still buying Joni Mitchell albums (well, CD's since I got rid of the record player). I'm not wearing bell-bottoms anymore, and I gave up on lighters at concerts.... I suppose I'm getting old.... ;o)
Jeff-

LOL me I dont put on lighters anymore like you said...
but that is because I quite smoking `-)

hey not by any chance you got some of your woodstock pics on here?!

Iris-
I'll have to dig 'em up. I've got one with me next to Jimi Hendrix on stage (I was only 10 at the time).... lemme look, and I'll post them.... (This should be interesting!)
Jeff-

"dig 'em up. I've got one with me next to Jimi Hendrix "

Jeff!
I hope you were talking about the picture and not about the man :-o

hey sure... a Hollywood contribution with old pics :-)
that is really history !
ok "history in progress" rather :-)

Iris-
When he was 'alive', not taking a 'dirt nap'! Remember, this was almost 40 years ago (yet, he *was* kinda pickeled then). I'll see what I can do....
Jeff-

Actually it was 1969 :-)
but my pocket money didn't reached yet to get me a ticket to Woodstock LOL
hardly to buy some candy in the local store :-(
lucky I had a sis and a broth who were that rich they could afford the album when it was released `-)
so I got pretty much infused with some flower power magic `-)

about the present interest in the place:
have a look at :
http://www.woodstock69.com/file8.htm
(and previous)

Those rules in Del Mar apply to the residents also. The rules came about after outsiders trashed everything. So Southern Californians not only pay big bucks to live there, but are just as restricted as the tourists. It is a shame but at least we can walk on the beach without fear of walking on broken glass.
But if a person wants to "live it up" there is always the "Burning Man" art party in Nevada you could go to. Now there you can do whatever....Thats my next adventure....