by Mac a'Bhaird

Created on: April 11, 2009

Does anyone admit to being a tourist? When comparing the word tourist vs. traveler, all of a sudden I hear silence in the room. Disdainful! Oh no, there are no tourists here. Am I right? Yes, no one wants to admit to being a tourist unless you're just being pampered on some all inclusive cruise ship. But the truth of the matter is, for everyone who travels for pleasure (we're not talking hard core business trip here) there's a bit of the tourist in all of us.

The word tourist sounds a bit like 'curious'. When you travel, and poke your nose around inquisitively and, to a certain extent ignorantly, you're a tourist. What's wrong with that?

The first time I went on an overseas trip it didn't take much to pick me out of a crowd as a tourist. I didn't know which way was up or down. I stayed in an overly expensive hotel which for the life of me I couldn't find (most tourists would have paid through the nose and taken a cab) and I wandered around turning a map every which way, trying to figure out where I was. And of course, I had my list of 'must sees' that I rushed out to see. Was I a tourist or a traveler? Isn't it true that even seasoned travelers have at one time or the other been totally 'gob smacked' with cultural shock and they have to admit they felt completely out of place?

I like to think there are levels of tourism, as well as traveler-ism.

The first level of tourism would be the 'intro' traveler. Welcome to the world of travel! You're as curious as can be. Of course you want to see the things you've read about. Don't worry that you're not travel savvy! It takes a bit of time to get your 'sea legs' overseas. You're likely to stand out like you're wearing klutz shoes. You'll butcher the language, you'll make the waiter angry by your ignorance, and seasoned travelers may look at you with a bit of a smirk. Don't be intimidated. Everyone has to have a start!

The second level of tourism would be the person who is content to stay in this level of curiosity. Perhaps they are with a group; they have no interest to seek beyond this level of travel. They go to all the guidebook sites and gawk around as an American on vacation. They make no effort to blend in.

Funny thing recently I spent a few days in Lucca Italy. It was filled with the obvious America tourist. Actually, I marveled that I had found the place that all of the CEO's or bank presidents (these were pre-TARP days) all go on their vacation. No doubt they have a text book knowledge of the region, a knowledge

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