@pnathan But I'm not talking about Seattle or Atlanta or Pittsburgh, I'm talking about non-white majority places like China and Egypt that are regularly exotified in media and then white people wearing the "I ventured into this place and survived" as a badge. It's the racial aspect of it that isn't incorporated into traveling within the US.

Calling Seattle exotic because a poor person hasn't had the exposure isn't the same to me as a white lady bragging about "surviving" China or becoming an expert on Egypt because they went to see pyramids on a guided tour.