Why people get tattoos while on vacation
They’re souvenirs that get under your skin: Travel souvenir tattoos aren’t as easy to get rid of as other souvenirs once you’ve grown tired of them. A psychologist explains why holidaymakers still choose it.
This body of water doesn’t look like the South Seas, but the tattoos suggest its bearer has been there—or at least dreams of
Quelle: Getty Images/Fernando Trabanco Fotografía
FMost people make otos, and many bring a few knick-knacks or a few seashells from the beach with them on holiday. But it can also be more extreme: New hairstyles, expensive jewelery or even a tattoo as a souvenir from the trip. Why do people do this? Psychologist Christina Miro has explanations.
Question: Some get a new hairstyle cut, others get tattooed. What drives people to make such changes to themselves, especially on vacation?
Christina Miro: Some people are generally open to new experiences and changes. Someone who has such an open personality is more willing to immortalize a moment on vacation.
If you experience something special while traveling that you would like to remember, then some take souvenir photos and others immortalize the moments on their bodies.
A journey is a change in itself, it offers a change of location, distance, moments of reflection. In this respect, a new hairstyle or a tattoo also helps to show this change to the outside world. As a kind of reboot.
This vacationer is in Italy, but the geisha tattoo on her back shows that she also likes Japan
Source: pa/Bildagentur-online/AGF-Lanzellot/AGF-Lanzellotto
Question: The decision is often quite spontaneous. How do you make sure you don’t regret it in the end?
Miro: Some do this very specifically and visit a Maori or a monk on the trip, for example, in order to get a tattoo there. They want to carry the tradition of the country and the people themselves and capture the experience of the trip.
Of course, there are also people who spontaneously make such a decision – perhaps drunk and on the road in a group – and then later regret it.
Question: Others buy new clothes or jewelry while on vacation. Why on vacation?
Miro: It’s about creating memories. Because you were there and had the personal experience of buying. And it’s about bringing something to look at and share with others. What that is in the end depends on the needs of the individual.
After all, it is ultimately about the special meaning that one associates with the holiday destination and the experience. For some, this can be that bespoke piece you brought back from a shopping spree in Milan. For others, it can also be the swimming shorts that you actually only bought on holiday because you forgot yours at home.
Christina Miro has a degree in psychology and has specialized in the field of travel psychology – she deals with the effects of travel on the psyche and, conversely, how the psyche influences our travel.
Christina Miro has specialized in travel psychology
Source: dpa-tmn