What Separates the Traveler from the Tourist

Yahoo’s online dictionary defines tourist as “one who travelers for pleasure”. I contend that not all those who venture to the developing world on pleasure (as opposed to business) are tourists. Instead, some are travelers, or backpackers. I actively identified myself in this way on the road, in the local language when possible.

A traveler is defined in the same publication as “one who travels or has traveled, as to distant places”. I’d say that’s a good start, but that it doesn’t fully describe the people I have met and hung out on the road. Right then -- what are some factors that separate the traveler from the tourist? I’m not sure that any list could ever be comprehensive. But as I understand it, the traveler tends to…

• Travel for an extended period of time
• Possess at least some local language ability and use it or attempt to use it to communicate
• Think and communicate in local units (temperature, currency, height/weight/distance measurements, etc)
• Eat local food where local people dine, especially on the street
• Seek out local bars and night clubs as opposed to those full of tourists
• Get around by using local public transport
• Eschew guided tours
• Bargain effectively.  
• Spend real time with local people other than those directly in the tourism industry, i.e. hotel staff, taxi drivers, tour guides, etc…with the action often taking place in the street.
• Spend time with other travelers, often getting information from them on cities or town within a given country or region later in the journey
• Stay in cheap accommodation, often guest houses
• Be realistic about the dangers posed by supposed "trouble areas", being careful not to blindly overrate them
• Carry items with a backpack as opposed to a suitcase
• Use a guidebook oriented towards budget travelers
• Think of oneself as a traveler

So there you have it, some tangible ways that travelers can be discerned from tourists. When someone does all the things on the list, it’s hard to deny that this person is indeed a traveler. The usual caveats about labels and generalizations apply, and this is of course a spectrum; most people are somewhere in-between, possessing some “tourist” traits and some “traveler” traits on a given trip. Someone might be a hardcore traveler on one trip, and be an unabashed tourist on the next.

The above are simply manifestations of the desire to dig below the surface and see the world as it really is, as opposed to existing in a location to “relax comfortably” and “see the sights”. Ultimately, it’s about attitude and mentality – the traveling spirit. After acquiring, nurturing, and manifesting that spirit for over a decade, it may be hard for me to ever be a tourist again. But people keep telling me that when I get considerably older, maybe I’ll enjoy traveling as a tourist. Ask me in twenty-five years!

-justin