Tourist crowds aren't good for tourists, either

My sister and her guy just returned from Portugal after their second big travel venture of the year. I asked, naturally, "How was it?"

She said, "Awful." They were crammed in Porto with a zillion other tourists -- a crush of bodies and long lines under a brutal sun. The experience left them with a case of hodophobia, the fear of travel. (Hodos is Greek for "journey.") They vow to stick closer to home.

Overtourism is a plague for destinations as diverse as Barcelona and the Galapagos Islands. The locals are finding their leisurely village ways -- a main attraction for the human tsunamis -- ruined by tourists grabbing cafe chairs and swarming vendors selling ice cream and T-shirts.

Visitors wanting an authentic interaction with the culture find themselves chewed up in the tourism maw. Is