I've been to a thousand countries: the trick for trolling the travel snob

I've been to a thousand countries: the art of trolling the hardcore traveler

Peak season for selfies against other people's sunsets has revived a game that requires no more ammunition than some nerve and a list of names. The technique is simple: drop a few well-known destinations —Santorini, Tasmania, the Bahamas—, finish off with Ceylon or Saint Helena and, if you've truly mastered the craft, slip in a place that doesn't exist. Wakanda, Mordor, Dagobah. And your interlocutor nods along.

The impossible-place strategy

The joke isn't in the deception itself, but in exposing how rarely travel snobbery comes with a decent mental map. Some even flip the direction: instead of exotic paradises, small villages in Spain's Alpujarra region like Portugos, Niguelas and Atalbeitar, or a staunch defense of Parla over Vienna. The embarrassment works just as well.

The point: travel as a social painkiller

Behind the mockery lies an uncomfortable thesis: the travel craze works as an escape valve that postpones serious material demands. People who can't afford decent housing find comfort in two weeks of getaway paid in installments. The system, this reading goes, holds up because too many people are busy booking flights.

Worth clarifying: some people live life as an inner experience and others need external stimuli to feel alive. It's not an illness, it's a difference. The questionable part begins when travel becomes a measure of personal worth.

Next time someone tells you Santorini changed their life, don't argue. You had a life-changing alucinación too: Mordor. If they don't get it, the trolling worked. If they do, you'll have gained something better than a selfie.