Tourist or Traveler?

perChance

perChance

Member
Do you think of yourself as a tourist or traveler? When I met my husband in 2003, I was neither, since then I have been both, although I prefer the road less traveled.

The Road Not Taken
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
Robert Frost
 

I am a traveler. The first thing I do before visiting a foreign non English speaking country is to buy a small phrase book. At the very least to say hello goodbye please and thank you.
I have asked for butter in a Greek restaurant and bought cold medicine in Moscow using my little books.
 
bowmore said:
I am a traveler. The first thing I do before visiting a foreign non English speaking country is to buy a small phrase book. At the very least to say hello goodbye please and thank you.
I have asked for butter in a Greek restaurant and bought cold medicine in Moscow using my little books.
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In Genoa we located a small fruit and vegetable outlet which we nicknamed "The Don't Touch Store" (the proprietor kept 'yelling' at people not to touch the merchandise); one visit I noticed his wedding photo on the wall....he was an Arab....next visit I greeted him in Arabic......thenceforth we could pick up whatever we wanted.

Don't touch store.JPG
 
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bowmore said:
I am a traveler. The first thing I do before visiting a foreign non English speaking country is to buy a small phrase book. At the very least to say hello goodbye please and thank you.
I have asked for butter in a Greek restaurant and bought cold medicine in Moscow using my little books.
Click to expand...
We were trying to find the train station in Sofia, Bulgaria for a day trip - it was about 4AM and still pitch dark.

Met a woman out walking her dog, she spoke no English and we spoke no Bulgarian. Impasse until I made a non verbal gesture of chain pulling, and went "toot, toot".

Immediate comprehension and a huge smile followed by hand signals. We found the station!
 
I am a traveler. My favorite memory from my last trip is the woman who stopped to ask if I would like to see her cows up close. I like the out of the way restaurants where the locals eat, wandering, getting lost and finding my way back, seeing things that are perfect in that moment in time. My windmill photo that is my current avatar was one of those perfect moments.

People ask if I am not afraid to travel by myself. They ask what would you do If? I tell them I will do the same thing I would do if whatever happened had happened at home.
 
hollydolly said:
No travellers are not Gypsy's... travellers, are those who give Gypsy's a bad name
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Purwell said:
I beg to differ, I have known quite a few Gypsys in my life, worked along side them in the fields from a very young age and they prefer to describe themselves as travellers.
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Got me curious so I looked it up. Seems some call Gypsies or Roma Travelers, but there are other Traveler groups such as the Irish Travelers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveler).

Like Holly I had only heard it used to refer to non-Gypsies.
 
I'm definitely a traveler! Bought a motorcycle and traveled all over Europe. Been down the Amazon with a local boat sleeping in a hummock. Drove my car from Canada all the way down to Panama City and back. Took the Trans-Siberians Railroad from Polish border to Vladivostok buying my own ticket. It cost me $150 Canadian as opposed to seeing tours along the Trans-Siberian for $5,000 with a "guide."

I worked on a kibbutz in Israel, spent 13 days in the hospital there and swam in the Nile without getting sick. I got mugged in Peru and almost drown in Indonesia. Back packed with my last wife for 5 months through East, South and SW Africa. I have backpacked for 2 months in China (Great Wall, Pandas, World's Biggest Buddha & prayer wheels). Another time, I backpacked for 2 months in India, from the cold in the Himalaya Mountains to the heat at the southern tip of the country. I have been to Nepal and saw Mount Everest. Traveled twice in SE Asia; overland from the the Chinese border, down Vietnam, through Laos, Cambodia and all the way down to the southern tip of Thailand to Singapore.

I don't like to hang around "tourists." Tourists that join a group to see a country or place are good. Those folks sitting on the beach, getting drunk all the time and staying up all night at some disco and spending more money at some resort where they are isolated from the country and spending more money in 1 day then some locals make in a year, is a "horse of a different breed." They are not tourists; I'm not sure what they are.

I am not trying to "rain on someone's parade". I understand that for millions of people, a week or 2 at some all inclusive is a wonderful, stress free holiday and I wish them the best. It has just never been my kind of trip. Cruising is another type of travel. Never been on a cruise ship but I have drunk straight vodka with Russians on trains, slept in grape fields in Switzerland and visited Poland 8 times over the years.

I am not dead yet. I sure would love to "hit the road" again.
 
Packerjohn said:
I'm definitely a traveler! Bought a motorcycle and traveled all over Europe. Been down the Amazon with a local boat sleeping in a hummock. Drove my car from Canada all the way down to Panama City and back. Took the Trans-Siberians Railroad from Polish border to Vladivostok buying my own ticket. It cost me $150 Canadian as opposed to seeing tours along the Trans-Siberian for $5,000 with a "guide."

I worked on a kibbutz in Israel, spent 13 days in the hospital there and swam in the Nile without getting sick. I got mugged in Peru and almost drown in Indonesia. Back packed with my last wife for 5 months through East, South and SW Africa. I have backpacked for 2 months in China (Great Wall, Pandas, World's Biggest Buddha & prayer wheels). Another time, I backpacked for 2 months in India, from the cold in the Himalaya Mountains to the heat at the southern tip of the country. I have been to Nepal and saw Mount Everest. Traveled twice in SE Asia; overland from the the Chinese border, down Vietnam, through Laos, Cambodia and all the way down to the southern tip of Thailand to Singapore.

I don't like to hang around "tourists." Tourists that join a group to see a country or place are good. Those folks sitting on the beach, getting drunk all the time and staying up all night at some disco and spending more money at some resort where they are isolated from the country and spending more money in 1 day then some locals make in a year, is a "horse of a different breed." They are not tourists; I'm not sure what they are.

I am not trying to "rain on someone's parade". I understand that for millions of people, a week or 2 at some all inclusive is a wonderful, stress free holiday and I wish them the best. It has just never been my kind of trip. Cruising is another type of travel. Never been on a cruise ship but I have drunk straight vodka with Russians on trains, slept in grape fields in Switzerland and visited Poland 8 times over the years.

I am not dead yet. I sure would love to "hit the road" again.
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Definitely a traveler- and you probably have many wonderful stories to share.
 

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