Am I a tourist?
I was chatting with a girl on the rooftop patio of my hostel yesterday morning. She was nice and we had a mostly pleasant conversation, but a few things she said really bothered me. I asked her where she had been before here, and she answered that she'd been to Cambodia. I was excited to hear more, as I plan on visiting there in a few months. So I asked her how it was. She heaved a huge sigh. "Expensive."
Expensive. Really? That's the one word you're going to use to describe an entire no doubt beautiful country with tons of amazing things to see and do and people to meet?
She continued: "Phnom Penh and Siem Reap were touristy," as if to say don't even bother going.
Later on, I had mentioned that I plan to go to Koh Tao after Bangkok to do some diving. "Yeah, I'd like to do some diving too," she said. "But I'm thinking of doing it in Koh Lanta where like... not everyone goes."
Well, fuck. Clearly my life choices need to be entirely reconsidered. I might be going diving in gorgeous tropical waters with other people? Cancel the trip.
The exchange with her got me thinking about tourists vs. travelers. If you haven't heard of this, the gist is that tourists are loud, obnoxious idiots who wear I <3 NY shirts and scream at everyone in English, no matter where they are. They stay in fancy hotels and only see the common tourist sites, and eat exclusively burgers and pizza wherever they go. Basically, they suck and no one likes them. Travelers, on the other hand, live like locals wherever they go, hitchhike, sleep in hammocks in the forest, and survive with sunglasses and one pair of underwear for 4 years. They're awesome and everyone loves them. (Guess who writes these comparison articles?)
In my admittedly limited experience abroad, I've come to learn that being a tourist is okay sometimes. If I'm in Paris, I'm going to go see the Eiffel Tower. It's fun to get off the beaten path, but I don't mind going to a place to do something awesome if other people are going to be there because they know it's awesome too. I'm going to take my phone out and consult my map if I'm trying to get somewhere, and put it away if I feel like getting lost. I try not to dress like a caricature of a North American, but I recognize that I stick out like a sore thumb wherever I go here anyway (I'm white and wear Ray Bans... let's be honest), and that's alright. I try to say a few phrases in the native language wherever I am, and mostly smile and nod when local people reply in the language I just spoke because I have no idea what they said. One thing is for sure though: I'm not eating McDonald's or burgers or pizza unless I absolutely have to.
The point is, like most other seemingly binary choices, I'm finding that the tourist vs. traveler thing is a spectrum. Sometimes people sit in the middle: they're a tourist one day and a traveler the next, or they do some things like a tourist and other things like a traveler. And sometimes travelers suck as much or more than tourists.
Expensive. Really? That's the one word you're going to use to describe an entire no doubt beautiful country with tons of amazing things to see and do and people to meet?
She continued: "Phnom Penh and Siem Reap were touristy," as if to say don't even bother going.
Later on, I had mentioned that I plan to go to Koh Tao after Bangkok to do some diving. "Yeah, I'd like to do some diving too," she said. "But I'm thinking of doing it in Koh Lanta where like... not everyone goes."
Well, fuck. Clearly my life choices need to be entirely reconsidered. I might be going diving in gorgeous tropical waters with other people? Cancel the trip.
The exchange with her got me thinking about tourists vs. travelers. If you haven't heard of this, the gist is that tourists are loud, obnoxious idiots who wear I <3 NY shirts and scream at everyone in English, no matter where they are. They stay in fancy hotels and only see the common tourist sites, and eat exclusively burgers and pizza wherever they go. Basically, they suck and no one likes them. Travelers, on the other hand, live like locals wherever they go, hitchhike, sleep in hammocks in the forest, and survive with sunglasses and one pair of underwear for 4 years. They're awesome and everyone loves them. (Guess who writes these comparison articles?)
In my admittedly limited experience abroad, I've come to learn that being a tourist is okay sometimes. If I'm in Paris, I'm going to go see the Eiffel Tower. It's fun to get off the beaten path, but I don't mind going to a place to do something awesome if other people are going to be there because they know it's awesome too. I'm going to take my phone out and consult my map if I'm trying to get somewhere, and put it away if I feel like getting lost. I try not to dress like a caricature of a North American, but I recognize that I stick out like a sore thumb wherever I go here anyway (I'm white and wear Ray Bans... let's be honest), and that's alright. I try to say a few phrases in the native language wherever I am, and mostly smile and nod when local people reply in the language I just spoke because I have no idea what they said. One thing is for sure though: I'm not eating McDonald's or burgers or pizza unless I absolutely have to.
The point is, like most other seemingly binary choices, I'm finding that the tourist vs. traveler thing is a spectrum. Sometimes people sit in the middle: they're a tourist one day and a traveler the next, or they do some things like a tourist and other things like a traveler. And sometimes travelers suck as much or more than tourists.
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