Tourist or a Traveler: - WHO ARE YOU??!

All of us travel, from a guy studying far from his hometown to a guy who wants to just leave everything and go on a road trip. Yes, everyone in this world travel and like to travel. When it comes to travelling some travel short, some for weeks, some take a gap year, and few of them travel for whole of their lives(the lucky souls). Majorly people are divided into tourists and travelers and both of the have their own way of travelling this beautiful world.

MAIN MOTTO:-

Tourists travel for the sake of seeing and striking off the bucket list they made searching through google. They just reach the specified place or monument, pay the entry fee, get entry, and roam around as fast as possible as if they are participating in a triathlon before exit. Then again get into a pre booked taxi and go to the next destination and goes on……..

"The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist see what he has come to see"- G.K.Chesterton.

Travelers travel for the sake of experiencing and observing all the little little things to be known and to live at the moment. They usually don’t hurry and take their own time before leaving a place, by feeling every stone and pillar around them.

"Traveller, there is no path. Paths are made by walking"-Antonio Machado.

LUGGAGE BAGS:-

Tourists end up carrying half of their wardrobe in their travel bags from all materialistic things to newly purchased footwear for that vacation. One can see them taking their lifetime to move from one place to other place carrying luggage. They end up changing clothes frequently just to look different in the photos or videos taken.

"Travel is about the GORGEOUS feeling of teetering in the unknown."

Travelers are masters in packing. They don’t have travel bags or suit cases; instead they have back packs with all the rolled 3 or 4 T-shirts to pair of jeans which can be wore throughout the trip hassle free. They don’t break heads on what to wear instead they keep on moving from one place to other place without worrying about their attire.

"Lets go somewhere nobody knows our name."

TRAVEL MEANS:-

Tourists are mostly worried about the means of travelling many times than the place where they are going. They end up booking air tickets for every possible short distance and end up wasting time from terminal to terminal and keeping their luggage bags tied with all the travel tags of spice jet to Lufthansa for ages. Also end up booking sophisticated AC cars to travel around the place of visit and try to stand out of the crowd.

"It is better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times".

Travelers don’t worry about the means of travelling, they are only there to reach their destination let that be through hitch hiking or biking or local means of transport. They just roam around the cities thru walking, sharing all the small travel stories with locals and also having small meetings on top of the vehicles also. Well, where else you can mingle with the beautiful people in this world!!  

"Travel brings power and love back to your life".

PLACES WE GO:-

Tourists go to all places suggested on travel websites from Eiffel tower in Paris to The Great Wall of China. Just flock around in herds around all the jam packed destinations in seasons and get struck for ages. They take all the animal safaris ending up watching only deer and elephants taking bath.

"It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters, in the end"-Ursula le Guin.

Whereas travelers don’t have any bucket list and the world is ours from extreme points of Antarctica to Artic region. We travel to the most inhabited place to the least inhabited place, from the most visited to the least visited place on the earth.  

"The shortest way to oneself is to go around the world"- Count Keyserling.

COMFORT ZONE:-

Tourists want all the known travel companies in yellow pages to plan their travelling from A to Z whatever they need. They just wanna feel at home when they are travelling out there in an unknown land (that’s the fun part). They need all cozy couches, home food and hotel rooms which make them feel at home.

"And I think to myself what a wonderful world".

Travelers head into the unknown lands with the urge to discover new places or less travelled places. They don’t worry of food or hotel because the back pack they carry have all the necessary sleeping bags within and are fine with whatever locals eat daily, they end up eating 5 to 6 times a day and would have had almost all the food locals eat on their daily lives. At the end of the comfort zone their comfort zone begins.

"I want to make memories all over the world".

COMPARING:-

Tourists are dre everywhere comparing places from one to one and deciding which is better by applying all the greatest ever knowledge they earned from guide books or yahoo news completely forgetting that they are missing what they have come to experience in that place. Many even try to judge the art work on old carvings and stupas.

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart"- Confucius.

Whereas travelers try to look at the distinctive difference in all the places they visit, taking back all the minute essence of knowledge those places give.

"Travelling is my DRUG of choice".

SOCIALIZE: -

Needless to say tourists start to let all of their friends know about the vacation they are taking off to from the day of the plan. It all starts from checking-in to fb wall from stepping out of their home to the city they visit, to all the roads, to the streets, markets, hotels, parks, to roadside tea stalls also. They keep themselves busy in counting the number of likes and keep on replying to the comment by a person sitting and yawning at his office desk somewhere on the other side of the planet. Thanks to all the so called social media which is on its boom taking our personal lives today.

"You don't need magic to disappear, all you need is a destination".

Travelers won’t even be aware of the gadget in their pocket, because they will be socializing with the locals and just blend in the surrounding environment and get to know new friends who are better than the virtual friends on the social media. They mingle with all the ongoing things around like playing a small game with the local kids. They would also many times end up getting invited for a local home for dinner or a small party. Sometimes it might also end up on visiting a local spot with a local guy which you would probably miss out on if you are a tourist.

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving"- Lao Tzu.

PHOTOS:-

One can see the flock of tourists taking the crash course of taking a selfie in front of a popular monument blocking path for other people. They will be very much busy to get that perfect selfie and share the same on social media. They end up taking trillions of images back to their place.

"Not all those who wander are lost"- JRR Tolkien.

Travelers do take selfies, but that do not take ages as they will be very much into travelling and would know how to get the best shutter click or a picture perfect photo. They end up carrying a beautiful story with them.

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing"- Helen Keller.

COMING HOME: -

As it is said a tourist gets back to his home or place same as the one who he was when he left for the trip. He would have not even changed a percent as his mind will be busy thinking of going back to work, or to get back to see if his car is safe at the place where he had parked while leaving.

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page"- Saint Augustine.

Well, a traveler… a good traveler will not intend on coming back, but if he comes back he will be a different person comparing to the person he left for. He would bring back all the memories of his travel ready to share with his nomadic friends.  

"Own only what you can carry along with you; Let your memory be your travel bag"- Alexander Solzhenitsyn. 

At the end, travelling is made for all of us, let that be a tourist or a traveler, but see through that you won’t end up doing unnecessary things on travel time and waste that little time you get for yourself. Try to pack your bags light, get that good click as soon as possible, don’t dwell on cozy rooms in hotels, spend a lot of time with locals, don't compare instead prioritize, and don’t waste all your money on souvenirs, instead save that extra money for your next trip…. HAPPY JOURNEY!!!