traveller or tourist?
I’d not really thought about it before. But it keeps cropping up in various things I’ve been reading. Apparently there’s this divide and each side supposedly thinks it has THE answer on THE way to travel.
Being a very black-n-white kind of person, you might expect me to plant my feet firmly on one side or t’other. But not this time. This is one of those issues that depends on the individual…and neither way is right or wrong, not even better or worse (in a gross generalisation sense).
And quite frankly, aren’t there more important things to devote our energies to? (particularly given that I don’t have an awful lot of THAT left over at the end of each day).
All the same, it’s an interesting thought.
One highlighted again just last night in discussion with my mother about *trips*.
She is reassured by the certainty of knowing when she is going, where she is going, how much it is going to cost, what kinds of food will be available, not wasting time looking for transport…..so cruises and organised tours suit her perfectly. That’s not to say she didn’t enjoy saving lots of euros the day she and dad took a train into Rome instead of joining the cruise ship’s tour party!
Me? I want to save that many euros *every* day!! Not knowing where we’ll sleep tonight only heightens the adventure. Searching for the right platform is part of the fun. Reading train timetables to *anywhere* in the world is more full of promise than reading a luxury tour brochure. For me.
So I say (and instead of commenting on the blogs which praise one way at the expense of the other I’ll just say my piece here and get it off my chest once and for all)…let’s accept that there are different approaches, and each person’s journey will look different to the next one’s.
Let’s learn from the path we tread, and from those we meet as we walk. Let’s celebrate each other’s accomplishments, share each other’s burdens, and perhaps travel a mile or two together.
Tags: 2008/09, learning, preparation, Travel
rayres
Tourist or Traveller?Depens what kind of experience you are looking for?
Tourist means airport transfers,hotels, guided tours,prearranged itinerary,fix timetable
for every day of the tour.
Traveller means you do not know what will you do and where will you be tomorrow?where you will sleep?how much time you are going to spend in each site?eating from market food stands,mingling with the “natives”…
If you ask me I AM A TRAVELLER!!!!
tourist is being against “eco tourism”, because it causes constraction of new roads, hotels, shopping centers on the expence of NATURE!
Travelling is “green tourism”, enjoying everything because of it original state.
Tourist is forcing your culture on the destination that does everything to make you feel at home…meaning bring “your home” to the destination.
Travelling is learning and experincing what is “home” in daylife of others!
I am a traveller!!!