The Road Not Taken

To travel is to be free. Granted, there are visas and immigration and laws everywhere you go so we cannot just wander the planet without a care in the world, but these days, it is close enough.

However, with the idea of travel comes the business of tourism. I don’t have a problem with the tourism industry per se, however it does feel sometimes that we (the collective traveller) are offered a miriad of “packages” and then once hooked are spoon fed our experiences abroad rather than living them ourselves.

My experience of this in New Zealand was on the Magic Bus circuit. I must add that my time on the Magic Bus was an enjoyable one and i met many great people who have made my journey thus far to be a memorable one. That said, we were constantly pushed or shall I say “offered” the opportunity to do activities every step of the way. This would not be so bad if these activities were cheap but they aren’t. Almost all of them are over $100 and include bungy jumps, jet boating, rafting, quad biking, river surfing, glow worm caves (thankfully missed this one) and horse treking.

All well and good but for those of us on a budget (and there don’t seem to be that many of us!) it makes this part of the journey a tough one. You feel that you are missing out if you don’t take part in all these fun activities. Upon reflection you do not miss out at all. I forget that i am not really a tourist at all. Let me elaborate…

When I arrive somewhere I immediately try to blend in rather than taking my camera everywhere and snaping all and sundry, in a vain attempt to be viewed as a local or long term resident rather than a gullible, rug buying, gift shop wandering tourist. Whether I achieve this or not is another matter the main thing is that I don’t get overwhelmed by the tourist attractions and let that money grabbing, hand holding, ring through the nose industry dictate what I do on my travels.

Therefore I am making a concerted effort for the next few weeks to live each day here on my own terms and not get caught up in the daily internal battle I seem to fight each day of waking up and thinking what activity I should be doing or if I should sit by the water and read for hours on end. Should I play the role of a tourist or do I play myself today?

I will go sit by the water with my book and think over this question… :0).

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 1st, 2004 at 12:24 am and is filed under New Zealand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.