We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us.”

― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in.”
― Andrew Zimmern, Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World of Food: Brains, Bugs, and Blood Sausage.

“Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbor, the neighbor farther away, the companion at your side, the traveler, and those whom your right hands possess (slaves). Indeed, Allah does not like those who are proud and boastful.
[Al-Qur'an Surah Nisa 4:36]”

“Just as a painter paints,
and a ponderer ponders,
a writer writes,
and a wanderer wanders.”
― Roman Payne

Ten real differences between travellers and tourists

BY VICKI JEFFELS · MARCH 14, 2012

1. Packing – travellers carry little and take away lots. Tourists carry lots and take away little.
2. Distance travelled can demonstrate a stark difference in approach. Travellers’ journeys can last a life time. Tourists’ journeys are a 7 day search for full English.
3. Tourists are all about the people they meet. Travellers are all about the people they are becoming.

4. Tourists’ holidays come to an end, travellers’ journeys never end. In some ways the effect of a place, the experience itself never pales into insignificance.

5. Tourists go to see something or cross off a bucket list, travellers go to be somewhere.
6. Tourists want to see places through their own culturally rose-tinted glasses. They don’t want to be surprised, they want to be entertained or amused. Even if it is to peer at locals living in relative poverty. Tourists want everything translated. They want ample deck chairs, happy hours at 5pm and a local ‘Nag’s Head’ – even in the heart of Bangkok. Travellers want to be educated about other lives, about themselves, their life and their place in the world.
7. Tourists colonise with their cultural imperialism or their religion. Travellers meld into the crowd and hope to learn something new that may challenge their preconceived notions of life and lifestyle.
8. Travellers learn more from the things that go wrong on their trip than from things that ‘go right’. Tourists sue.
9. Tourists follow maps and guides preferring to discover through someone else’s recommendations, travellers go off piste. Sometimes getting lost is the best way to discover something surprising that challenges you and your view of the world.
10. Tourists often cannot wait to go home and show off their suntan, travellers often never want to leave, or never want to stop travelling.

“There’s something profoundly intense and intoxicating about friendship found en route. It’s the bond that arises from being thrust into uncomfortable circumstances, and the vulnerability of trusting others to navigate those situations. It’s the exhilaration of meeting someone when we are our most alive selves, breathing new air, high on life-altering moments. It’s the discovery of the commonality of the world’s people and the attendant rejection of prejudices. It’s the humbling experience of being suspicious of a stranger who then extends a great kindness. It’s the astonishment of learning from those we set out to teach. It’s the intimacy of sharing small spaces, the recognition of a kindred spirit across the globe.

It’s the travel relationship, and it can only call itself family.”
― Lavinia Spalding, The Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 8: True Stories from Around the World

“A traveler enters the world into which he travels, but a tourist brings his own world with him and never sees the one he's in.”
― Thomas H. Cook, The Crime of Julian Wells

The question I find myself asking is whether there is a difference to being a traveller and a tourist. If so, which is the more appealing? Which suits you as a person?

Travellers Tourists

Likes Dislikes Likes Dislikes

People	Tourist Attractions	Impressive Hotels	Bugs
Trading Stories	Buildings of note	Gift Shops	Beggars
Local Food	Cable TV	Organised Tours	Unheard of food
Cheap Local Clothes	Organised Tours	English Speakers	Carrying things
Speaking Local Lingo	Constantly Moving	Taking Photos	Wasting time
Hot Showers & Wi-Fi	Ignorant Tourists	Museums	Smelly Backpackers

The Appeal of Lifestyle Travel

Being a traveller is great if you want to immerse yourself in other cultures. While you have been brought up in an interesting country (or two), you are open to learning from people who technologically seem more primitive, yet when you delve deeper, appear more secure and happy.

The appeal of being a traveller is that you can soak up the mundane and day to day of other worlds, without the need to rush from site to site or tour to tour.

You know that all modern economies rely on cash flow to support cultures, be them 1st, 2nd or otherwise. Treating people with the same respect everywhere is paramount to you understanding this system. Your expectations are limited to expecting an experience, and being present to enjoying it.

Being a traveller appeals if you make yourself time rich and cash or credit rich too.