Feb 22nd, 2017, 04:34 PM

Are You a World Traveler or a Tacky Tourist?

By Lillian Wagner
Image Credit: Shutterstock/RossHelen
Clothes, photos, souvenirs, and itineraries tell us everything we need to know about your exploring habits.

Spring vacation is coming up, and the weekends will soon get busy with travel plans for those eager to discover the world. Travelers have the ideal life that everyone wants, the photos, the followers on social media, and the food. The characteristics of travelers and tourists are different. This debate has gained the attention of the Huffington Post, Five Point Five, USAToday, and the EliteDaily. The arguments brought up are about the planning differences, the clothing preferences, and photography, yet both have one goal: to explore. 

Travelers Discover, Tourists See 


Image Credit: Shutterstock/Antonio Guillem

In a new country for the first time, you try to do as many of the sites as possible. The difference between travelers and tourists are very easy to spot. For travelers, discovering the new city or place is all that is on their mind: they feed off the addiction of confronting an unknown place and taking in it' beauty. Tourists tend to be looking up at the birds as if they will give them directions while travelers will be looking at the architecture, the surroundings, and the way the streets run together. 

Travelers Collect Maps, Tourists Collect Things 


Image Credit: Unsplash

Plenty of shot glasses, small spoons, and key chains fill the tourist's suitcase on the trip back home, but not a traveler's. Tourists attempt to remember their travels to the Caribbean with snowglobes lined along the fireplace back home in Midwest USA, whereas travelers understand that material items don't matter; instead they collect maps. Travelers mark, circle, star, and note their maps to remember the times spent. Paths drawn by a marker outline sites, hikes, and challenges. The creases become a fingerprint of a trip; they can tell you everything and anything about the experience abroad.  

Travelers Take Pictures, Tourists Take Selfies


Image Credit: Shutterstock/Yulia Mayorova

Landscapes, worn out roads, and undiscovered paths fill travelers Instagrams, while selfies and generic landmarks fill up the tourist's social media. When spending time in another country, travelers often attempt to capture the beauty of the scene. A message for travelers: no one cares about photos of you with your backpack looking out on a scene, possibly with a map in hand. Then there are the tourists, who attempt to have some sort of proof that they existed in a place for a certain period of time, and document it with a photo of them covering a landmark. If the tourist isn't covering the scene and asking others to take their photo, they are most likely using a selfie stick. France and Italy are tired of this merde and added regulations on Selfie sticks. Let's not even get into the photos of tourists pushing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, or mocking statues in the Louvre. A message to tourists: NO ONE cares about you in the photo, only the scene; tourists aren't that great. 

Travelers are Spontaneous, Tourists Plan 


Image Credit: Unsplash

If you find yourself with a checklist of what to see and have an itinerary planned down to each minute, this probably means you are more of a tourist. Question: Is that picture of you in front of that building really worth your sanity? Take a chill pill (or have some wine), enjoy the places you like by staying put a little longer. If it's not your cup of tea, breeze past the ones that don't spark your interest; this is the traveler's way. Traveling is a way to relax and see, putting down the stopwatch and the clipboard can do you some good.

Travelers Make an Effort With Language, Tourists Speak English


Image Credit: Unsplash

Tourists expect that English is spoken at all restaurants, cafés, and points of interests. If someone does not understand the Southern American accent (which isn't even easy for many Americans to understand), American tourists tend to speak louder and slower as if the foreign person is deaf. The irony behind this is that when American tourists go abroad, they expect everyone to speak English, but when foreign people come to visit the U.S.A they expect them to speak English. You will rarely see a tourist with a language guide book. However, a traveler understands that learning a language is a sign of respect, so those guidebooks come in handy when creating cultural acceptance, even if the person sounds ridiculous saying Si Vous Plait

Travelers Meet Locals, Tourists Stick Together 


Image Credit: Unsplash

Bars, under the radar cafés, and restaurants that serve local cuisine with locals chatting it up are where travelers hide out. Tourists stick together like a flock of birds going south for the winter. We get it, it is easy to stick with friends, but a tip for tourists: break away from the crowd and meet some locals, you'll learn cultural appreciation and become a better world citizen. (P.S. you look really stupid following a yellow flag around a beautiful historic city.) 

Travelers Dress for the Woods, Tourists Dress for the Photos 


Image Credit: Shutterstock/Ditty_about_summer

Travelers, answer me this: why do you wear backpacks and hiking shoes through cities? Do you really think the streets of Amsterdam compare to hiking Mt. Everest and that you need to carry a liter of water on your back? Tourists, you might be laughing, but why do you dress like you're about to hit the runway? We all know you're not from here, or famous. If you're a tourist and not dressed to the nines, you probably are dressed like a 40-year-old man about to have a midlife crisis. Seriously, socks and sandals? Khaki shorts? Fanny Packs? What did you do, rob a thrift store before your overseas adventure? Be smart, dress normal, and try your hardest to not stick out like a sore thumb. 

Bon Voyage!