When we started this new site, we struggled to find the perfect "tagline." We knew it had to be something travel-related, but we really didn't have anything in mind. I started to think back to when we took our biggest road trip - last summer's 2015 trip across the country to 20 states and 14 national parks. We put off that particular trip so many times - again and again we would come up with reasons why we shouldn't go. The kids are very involved in sports, so scheduling a month-long trip is always a challenge requiring one or both of them to miss at least some of their activities. As we debated the pros and cons of finally committing to the trip, we sat around a fire on our patio and shared one of our favorite adult beverages - a craft beer from Vermont called Magic Hat. For those of you unfamiliar with Magic Hat, there's little sayings on the underside of the bottle caps. So on this night, we opened one beer and flipped the cap over to read, "just do it" and another that read "be a traveler, not a tourist."
So now, with that trip in the books so to speak, (you can read about that trip on our old site here) and the tagline for the new website decided, I ponder - what's the difference between a traveler and a tourist? I know people are going to ask, so I'd better have an answer prepared, thus I give you our first post for the "Tips and Recommendations" page.
To us, or to me at least since I'm doing the writing, the difference between a traveler and a tourist is about how you experience a place and what you take away with you. A tourist goes to a place expecting a certain experience, convenience, pleasure, and level of satisfaction. A traveler generally does not have any expectations for these notions. A traveler journeys somewhere to gain a new experience - not in anticipation of what they already expect the experience to be. There is a level of unknown, and an appreciation for it. by the traveler, while a tourist would be irritated with experiencing the unexpected. A traveler explores the world around them with the intent of learning about places through experiencing them on the every-day level - not based on the expectations during the peak tourist season. The traveler is looking for an honest experience, while the tourist wants a vacation. A traveler will view poverty and hardship and ponder it thoughtfully, while the tourist prefers to stay within the confines of the five-star resort - with poverty and struggle hidden from their view.
While tourists and travelers might visit some of the same places, they do it in different ways. A tourist might fly from New York to Las Vegas and take a day trip on a tour bus to the Grand Canyon. A traveler will take his or her time, drive across the country and hike the Grand Canyon. The tourist will stay in comfortable hotels; the traveler will camp. The tourist will eat in restaurants; the traveler will cook food over a camp fire or camp stove. The tourist will snap pictures of themselves on the edge of the canyon with their smartphone, while the traveler will photograph the play of sunlight bringing out the texture of the canyon wall at sunset.
There is a very interesting post on holdify.com here illustrating the difference between a traveler and a tourist through simple images. It's a great, short article, but gets the point across. My favorite set of images is this one:
The comments below the article are what really intrigued me. PaulSuke responded, "It's a state of mind not activity driven. A tourist goes to a destination to look at sites and take in a little of the culture while generally sticking out like a sore thumb. A traveler blends in by submerging himself into the culture and surroundings and be one with the environment he is visiting." ChristineMcQuery wrote, "It's the difference between cheap generic crap that's pushed onto out of towners versus buying a momento that captures the essence of the memory." This last comment certainly resonates with me. On our cross-country trip, we bought very few gift shop souvenirs. Instead, we took the photos from the trip and each of us had a poster collage made. The kids hung their posters in their rooms and Ken hangs his in his classroom each year. I also bought one wooden Christmas ornament shaped like the United States. I then took a wood-burning pen and burned the route we drove onto the ornament and burned the year onto the back.
When we travel somewhere, we do typically buy an ornament, but on large trips like this one, we thought the overall experience was more of the point - rather than trying to buy one ornament in each place, or even trying to pick one or two favorite places. A USA Today article by Kathryn Walsh not only identifies the differences between travelers and tourists, but also says it's ok to be either or both! She even gives tips on how to be a better tourist and how to be a better traveler. In my research for this post, I also read another article by Kaitlyn Cawley who took a trip though Europe on a tour bus - plush and comfy. But she couldn't get past the window - she saw it as a barrier keeping her from really experiencing the places she went. Of the window she wrote, "That great, big, wide window stained with rain, dirt and all the good bits that make a place real." So when her trip was over, she rented a flat in Paris and stayed for four years.
You might think that my views on travelers vs. tourists are touting the right vs the wrong way to travel. Not so. There are many ways to travel and someone can actually be both a traveler and a tourist - even in the same day. People need to do what works for them at any given point in time. One way is not better than the other - it's just the point of being present and consciously thinking about what you want out of the experience and going about it accordingly. So, you want a little R and R on a beach side all-inclusive resort where you will be pampered, and you could care less about the local culture? - great! You know where to go and what to do. But if you want more out of a trip, don't overlook that there are other ways to travel and that you don't have to follow along with all of the other tourists if you don't want to. Explore things off the beaten path, stop at farmer's markets, eat in local diners, take a walk in the rain. . . make memories.
Don't worry - all of the tips and recommendations articles won't be this long. I just thought since this idea was the central idea to our whole site, it deserved a little page space! Check back to this tips area for more quick travel tips, resources, and recommendations!
