The Lost Art of Travel, Hugh Gantzer’s Legacy and the Modern Dilemma of Experience

The Lost Art of Travel, Hugh Gantzer’s Legacy and the Modern Dilemma of Experience

The recent passing of Hugh Gantzer, following his wife and writing partner Colleen by two years, represents more than the end of a prolific literary duo. It signifies the closing of a distinct chapter in the chronicling of our world—a chapter defined not by speed or saturation, but by slow revelation, textured narrative, and the quiet dignity of being a “fellow traveller.” In an age where travel has been distilled into Instagram reels, tick-box bucket lists, and algorithmic recommendations, the Gantzers’ life’s work stands as a profound counter-narrative. It challenges the very ethos of contemporary exploration, urging a return to depth in a world increasingly obsessed with the surface. Their legacy is a vital lens through which to examine a current affair of great cultural significance: the crisis of authentic experience in the digital age of travel.

The Gantzer Ethos: Against the “Greedy Gulp”

Hugh and Colleen Gantzer began their journey when travel writing was an act of translation for those who might never see the places described. The world was encountered “second hand,” through their careful prose. Their work was animated by a fundamental belief: places reveal themselves “slowly, through conversations and contradictions, through the chaos that animates metropolises or the quiet that lingers in the countryside.” This methodology rejected the monolithic, postcard-perfect snapshot. Instead, they embraced complexity and nuance, writing as one would speak to a companion on a long journey. Their prose offered readers not just information, but a mode of engagement—the confidence that the world could be “approached thoughtfully rather than consumed in a big greedy gulp.”

This philosophy was embedded in their very lifestyle. Despite Hugh’s naval career moving them across India, they rooted themselves in Mussoorie, becoming part of a community of artists and writers, including luminaries like Ruskin Bond and Stephen Alter. This community was “bound by a shared belief in writing against haste, in attention as a defining principle.” Mussoorie, with its misty hills and colonial-era pace, wasn’t just a home; it was a statement—a commitment to a tempo of life that allowed for observation, reflection, and the patient accumulation of understanding.

The Contemporary Crossroads: Curated Reels vs. Textured Reality

The world the Gantzers navigated has vanished. Today, travel is arguably one of the most transformed human experiences by technology and social media. The current affair at hand is the dramatic narrowing of travel into two dominant, and often overlapping, frameworks: the “bucket list” and the “curated reel.”

The bucket list mentality reduces the planet’s infinite diversity to a checklist of trophies: see the Northern Lights, summit Machu Picchu at dawn, get a photo with the Taj Mahal. The experience is predefined, its value often measured by its recognizability and its ability to be ticked off. The journey’s gravity, which the Gantzers cherished, is replaced by a focus on destination-as-achievement.

Simultaneously, the curated reel—the endless scroll of Instagram and TikTok travel content—creates a parallel, hyper-real world. Travel is packaged into 15-second loops of flawless sunsets, deserted beaches, and effortless luxury. This curation isn’t just about sharing; it’s a powerful engine of desire and imitation. It flattens geography into aesthetics, prioritising visual perfection over sensory immersion, and often erasing the local context, contradictions, and chaos that the Gantzers saw as essential to a place’s truth.

The consequence is a paradox: we have more access to visual information about distant places than ever before, yet our framework for understanding them has become dangerously shallow. The “greedy gulp” is now the default mode. We consume places rapidly through screens, often arriving with pre-formed expectations that the reality—with its crowds, its inconveniences, its un-photogenic moments—can struggle to meet, leading to a phenomenon some scholars call “destination disillusionment.”

The Legacy as a Compass: Courtesy, Humility, and Authority

In this context, the Gantzers’ legacy is not mere nostalgia for a bygone, slower era. It is a practical philosophy, a set of tools for reclaiming depth. As the obituary notes, their contribution is “less a matter of nostalgia than of courtesy.” This is a powerful reframing.

Courtesy in travel, as modelled by the Gantzers, means to “look closely, listen carefully.” It is an act of respect toward the place and its people. It is the opposite of the invasive, selfie-stick-wielding tourism that treats locales as backdrops. It involves engaging in the conversations they valued, seeking out the contradictions that define a culture, and being present enough to notice what isn’t immediately spectacular. It is travel as dialogue, not monologue.

Their work also embodies the dual virtues of authority and humility. The authority comes from genuine, prolonged engagement—from “having been there” in a meaningful way, not just passing through. Their dozens of books, documentaries, and columns on India, beginning with a seminal guide to Kerala for the India Tourism Development Corporation, were built on this authority. Yet, crucially, it is tempered by the “humility of knowing that no journey is ever the whole story.” This humility guards against the arrogance of the expert who claims definitive knowledge. It acknowledges that every traveller’s perspective is partial, and every narrative is one thread in a larger tapestry. In an age of loud, absolutist opinions online, this humble authority is radically refreshing.

The Path Forward: Integrating the Old Wisdom into a New World

The challenge and the opportunity for today’s traveller, writer, and consumer of travel media is to integrate this older wisdom into the new digital landscape. The technology is not inherently evil; it can enable discovery, booking, and connection. The peril lies in letting it dictate the purpose and quality of the experience.

• For Travellers: It means consciously stepping off the algorithmic path. It might involve spending a week in one neighbourhood instead of racing through three countries, prioritising a long meal with a local connection over hitting every famous landmark, or simply putting the phone away for a day to engage the senses fully. It is choosing the textured narrative over the grand gesture.

• For Writers and Creators: The Gantzers’ legacy is a call to resist the pressure to produce content optimized solely for virality. It champions long-form journalism, documentary filmmaking that lingers on a scene, and writing that values insight over inflation. It’s about showing the quiet moments, the complexities, and the unanswered questions—the “whole story” that is always just out of reach.

• For the Industry: Responsible tourism operators can build on this by designing itineraries that foster slow engagement, facilitate genuine cultural exchange, and educate travellers on the ethos of courteous exploration.

The death of Hugh Gantzer is indeed the passing of an era. But the values he and Colleen championed are more urgently relevant than ever. In a world where travel has become a key site for performing identity and consuming experience, their life’s work offers a corrective: a reminder that the greatest journeys are those that transform the traveller, not just their social media feed. It is a call to replace consumption with conversation, haste with attention, and the greedy gulp with the thoughtful sip. The road still beckons, but the Gantzers remind us that the most important baggage we carry is not our camera equipment, but our curiosity, our patience, and our respect. In rediscovering the art of being a fellow traveller, we may just rediscover a deeper connection to the world, and to ourselves.

Q&A on the Gantzer Legacy and Modern Travel

Q1: The article states the Gantzer’s work resisted “grand gestures in favour of a textured narrative.” What does this mean, and can you give a hypothetical example contrasting the two approaches?

A1: A “grand gesture” in travel writing or experience refers to focusing on the iconic, sweeping, and often simplistic highlights—the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Canyon at sunset—presented as flawless and inherently meaningful. It’s the postcard view. A “textured narrative,” in contrast, seeks the layers, complexities, and contradictions beneath that surface. It finds meaning in the interplay of details.

• Grand Gesture Approach to Varanasi: A piece focusing on the majestic, spiritual spectacle of the Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat—the synchronized priests, the fire, the chanting crowds. It might describe it as “timeless” and “profoundly spiritual.”

• Textured Narrative Approach (Gantzer-style): A narrative that also describes the Aarti, but weaves in the chatter of boatmen negotiating fares upstream, the scent of marigolds and diesel fumes mingling, the young priest nervously glancing at his first big ceremony, the nearby shopkeeper arguing about cricket while selling devotional flowers. It would explore the contradiction between the ritual’s ancient sanctity and the modern, chaotic city that cradles it. The texture comes from showing the sacred and the mundane coexisting, creating a richer, more authentic, and paradoxically more resonant portrait.

Q2: How did the Gantzers’ physical home in Mussoorie reflect their professional philosophy?

A2: Their choice of Mussoorie was a deliberate embodiment of their “writing against haste” principle. Unlike the frenetic pace of major metropolises, Mussoorie, a hill station, traditionally operates at a slower, more reflective rhythm dictated by nature (mist, seasons) rather than commerce. By embedding themselves in its “loosely gathered community of artists and writers,” including Bond and Alter, they placed themselves in an ecosystem that valued observation, storytelling, and depth over speed and mass production. The location itself was a daily reminder and enabler of their methodology—a place where one could “look closely and listen carefully,” insulated from the pressures that drive the “greedy gulp” mode of consumption.

Q3: The article calls modern travel’s focus on “bucket lists” and “curated reels” a “narrowing.” Isn’t social media actually broadening our horizons by exposing us to more places?

A3: This is the central paradox. Yes, social media provides unprecedented visual exposure to a staggering array of destinations, which can spark initial interest. However, it “narrows” the framework of understanding and engagement. The bucket list reduces a place to a trophy, stripping away context. The curated reel reduces it to a visually optimized clip, often devoid of sound, smell, culture, or people beyond the influencer. This creates a broad but incredibly shallow database of locations, understood primarily through a lens of personal aspiration and aesthetic consumption. It broadens the “where” but drastically narrows the “why” and “how.” The Gantzers’ approach aimed to deepen the understanding of a single place, arguing that true breadth of knowledge comes from depth of engagement, not just a catalogue of surfaces seen.

Q4: What is meant by the “humility of knowing that no journey is ever the whole story,” and why is this important in today’s world?

A4: This humility acknowledges the inherent limitation of any single perspective. No traveller, no matter how long they stay, can fully comprehend the infinite layers of history, culture, and individual experience that constitute a place. The Gantzers understood that their writing was a subjective slice, not a definitive encyclopedia. In today’s world, where social media and opinion media often promote absolute, confident takes, this humility is a crucial antidote. It combats cultural arrogance, discourages reductive stereotypes, and encourages an open-minded, perpetual state of learning. It makes travel a beginning of understanding, not its end, and fosters respect for the fact that locals are the true authors of their own story.

Q5: How can a modern traveller practically apply the Gantzer ethos of “courtesy” on a short, week-long vacation, given time constraints?

A5: Even with limited time, one can shift from a consumption model to an engagement model.

• Choose Depth Over Breadth: Spend the week in one city or region instead of trying to cover multiple countries. This allows for repeat visits to a neighbourhood, noticing how it changes.

• Prioritize One “Slow” Activity Per Day: This could be a cooking class in a local home, a long walk without a fixed destination, or sitting in a café or park simply observing daily life.

• Engage in Micro-Conversations: Ask open-ended questions of a shopkeeper, a taxi driver, or a fellow diner: “What’s the best part about living here?” or “How has this place changed in your lifetime?”

• Practice Digital Minimalism: Designate phone-free hours or days. Use a physical map instead of GPS for a morning. This forces direct engagement with the environment.

• Consume Local Media: Read a local newspaper (even via translation apps) or visit a bookstore. This provides context no guidebook can.
  These small acts of “courtesy”—giving a place your full attention, even briefly—can yield more meaningful resonance than a frantic checklist tour, honouring the Gantzer belief in thoughtful approach over greedy consumption.