My sister came back from Malia and her hair snapped. I’m talking bone dry, brittle crunch. I remember staring at it like it was literal hay from the stable. I couldn’t quite believe it. My sisters are older than me by a fair few years, and I watched this particular sister jet off to do her season working on the strip with utter fascination. I wondered what I’d be doing when my time came to be doing what was essentially Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents but for months and without BBC 3 trailing behind after you. I couldn’t wait to just get massively blotto. Maybe my hair would come back to the UK as broken as my liver, too – or maybe Gen Z are travelling in different ways.
I never went to Malia. I never went to Zante, or Magaluf. Maybe it was The Inbetweeners film that put me off for life. Or maybe it was just that Gen Z, of which I find myself an affiliate even though I’m on the cusp of the cut off by a measly year, just are seeking something a little bit more meaningful when travelling than getting on the piss.
Vibes not vodka
I mentioned my sister’s hair being brittle not just for anecdotal purposes, but because god love her – she was focussed on other things in that era than looking after herself. She was on the bevs every night, and I’m sure she had a great time because of it. But it’s not the era of her travelling that I think she looks back on the most fondly. And it doesn’t surprise me that as times change, I know less and less people who ever even bothered with it. Instead, I know more who are putting themselves out there, having great food and great experiences with alcohol in the background – or not in the picture at all.
In Da Nang, Vietnam’s third largest city, culture and experience was always at the forefront of the entire trip. Whether we were shopping together in the busy Hoi An market for ingredients to cook with or weighing up whether it’s worth pouring our body weight out of sweat to get fitted for some bespoke tailoring – there was never really an inkling to be gasping for a pint. We chucked chilli after chilli into food in the cooking class – a true highlight of the entire experience where I felt moved to be there, and where the bond with the local business owners felt meaningful and special – and nothing was hitting better with spicy food than Sprite.
Chuck another chilli in
This isn’t accidental, really. Sprite is noted for how it amplifies the flavours in spicy food – and whilst in Vietnam I don’t think I ate anything that wasn’t full of chillies. Even when I was cooking it in the class, the chillies were getting launched in. It felt natural. The fizz, the spice – it all worked in tandem. I’m nothing but a stereotype, and Gen Z are gobbling more spicy food than other generations statistically. Everything was just feeling correct.
It’s not that I was actively avoiding alcohol, but it was that I tended to reach for soft drinks more and more. Even when we headed to Sprite Fest on Da Nang beach, we did the whole music festival without a drop of alcohol. It didn’t matter, and it wasn’t majorly missed. It was always the food and the cultural experience that made everything feel like memories to cherish.
This isn’t preachy about drinking alcohol and I enjoyed a pint or two over the time we were there – but I couldn’t help but think about how the culture of Gen Z were binge drinking less and valuing everything else more. Wellness trends and seizing the day always felt paramount to me. There wasn’t a pre drinks in sight – and I think previously the thought of that on a holiday night would be absurd.
We were getting up at five AM to enjoy the sunset from the hotel roof. Everything felt deeper and more connected, and I just didn’t need alcohol to guide me. But why?
It’s all about discovery
When speaking to Sprite’s Global VP of Brand Strategy Oana Vlad in Vietnam, she said the reason she thinks soft drinks are thriving so much here are people are driven by “the idea of discovery” and how that and “a curiosity” is what drives people so much more than it used to. She also explained how Sprite is moving hand in hand with the Gen Z love of spicy food, both at home and when travelling, and how the company hopes that drink will be the ultimate refreshment with cultural edge – and when you’re feeling the spice and carbonation combo you can see why. It amplified the travel experience.
I spoke to Leah Fan – fellow Gen Z, fashion and music writer and founder of Nyad magazine – about her perspective on more sober travelling. Leah explained “in probably the past five to seven years, our generation’s disposable income has increased massively and therefore we have the opportunity to do South East Asia and Australia and travel to these places. Post pandemic, there’s been such an increase in desire to see these places in the world – I guess out of worry and anxiety that our generation has that comes from us having to go through lockdown during the years of university. We missed out on a lot of that time as teenagers or in our early 20s.
“Since the pandemic, there’s also been an increase in desire to see more of the world. When it comes to a more sober generation, we crave a digital detox and wanting to step away from all things bad really. People want to be healthier versions of themselves. That all comes with drinking less. It influences why we travel more and gives us that craving to see more.”
Seeing more of the world sober when travelling isn’t a shift in Gen Z not wanting to drink at all, but more about how the memories we make aren’t defined by units of alcohol consumed. It’s been a hell of a ride and one that’s been formative in how I’ll approach travelling going forward – and certainly what I’ll reach for when scranning the spice.
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All images used are author’s own.
