Do you identify as a tourist or a traveller?

Flying high in Ubud

Yesterday I donned a flowing green gown and flew high above the rice fields of Ubud. On other occasions, in my former life as a tour manager,  I danced to Zorba the Greek and smashed plates in Athens. I joined clients in propping up the Tower of Pisa, sipped champagne on top of the Eiffel Tower, rode a hot air balloon in Laos and was rowed by a woman using only her feet in Vietnam.

Where so many have failed before...single-handedly straightening the Tower of Pisa...

 Cheesy? 100% Fromage.  But fun? Absolutely.  

So does this make me a…whisper it…tourist?  

Gosh how we damn the tourist. We even ‘welcome them’ to European shores by spraying them with water and telling them to go back to their own countries, seemingly absolving the local authorities of any culpability for the irresponsible way tourism is managed in that place.

We all talk about tourists in the same way the cast of ‘Lost’ used to speak about ‘The Others’. Who are these people? Certainly not us, that’s for sure. In a world full of people identifying as everything from trees to bees, the one thing no one wants to identify as, is a tourist.

In the so called 'touristy' (and wonderful) Tam Coc

And yet they are all of us. We are all tourists at some point in our lives and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We need to remove the snobbery and embrace the fun and funny side of travel; we need to remove the labels.

We don’t have to put on our serious faces to make travel a profound experience. We can meditate in a Japanese temple before visiting a Robot restaurant and singing karaoke. We can enjoy a gondola ride before enjoying a cheeky cichetto (Venetian equivalent of a tapa) in a Bacaro in the backstreets of Venice and we can dance the Tango in Argentina before heading out to Iguazu.

Yes, a gondola ride is touristy, but it is also a wonderful way to see Venice and we highly recommend it to all clients

 What makes one person a traveller and another a tourist? Who or what is the determinant of that? The length of the trip? What you do on the trip? How many profound conversations you had? What you learnt? How many other people from your own country you saw on your trip? It’s arbitrary and unnecessary.

It really doesn’t matter whether you are tourist, traveller or local. Why do we care so much? I often say the most important thing to pack on a trip is your sense of humour. We need to stop taking ourselves quite so seriously.

The Vatican museums...definitely one of the places in dire need of responsible tourism

Now, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a larger discussion to be had about overcrowding at the so called ‘tourist’ (or should that be traveller?) hotspots. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t continue, as we do at Diamond Skies Travel, to encourage people to also visit more remote areas on their trips. To suggest quieter, lesser frequented and more authentic places, where the traditional way of life has been more preserved and which therefore makes for a more pleasant overall experience. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t serious issues that are facing many countries, across the globe, from Bali and Japan to Italy and Spain. It’s just that we shouldn’t dismiss all tourism or tourists as ‘bad’, rather, we should, as with everything, seek a more nuanced approach.

All we are advocating for is discussions around responsible travel to be about ‘us’, not ‘them’ and for us to shrug off our own pre-conceived notions about tourists and travellers (we are as guilty of doing this as the next person) and instead to allow for us to indulge in all kinds of activities and experiences.

Having fun in the rice fields of the lesser visited rice fields of Northern Vietnam

The most important thing is that you know your why for travel and if your why is fun, make your trip fun. If your why is seeking a profound connection, make that the focus. And if your why is a mix of many things, as it is for most, then, in the words of Frank, the most important thing is to make sure that when you have completed your trip, you can sing, in your best karaoke voice ‘I did it my way’.

See you out there!