I appreciate the input received so far, but I wished we could get more
guidance and advice than criticizing each other.
thanks


"k" wrote in message
et...
"NealR2000" wrote in message
ups.com...
On May 29, 9:54 pm, "k" wrote:


I think you are the one who is being snotty. Mr. R's response was
fine and not in the least bit offensive. Yours was. He came across
to me as someone who wants to encourage people to travel having done
their own research. Why do you assume that he, and travelers like
him, would somehow miss good hotels and food? Travel books have all
that stuff.

Sorry, but Mr. R describes a tourist, then claims travelers are somehow
better and would never do what a tourist does. It makes no sense, and
it's a phrase that's been banned from all the good travel magazines.
Travel is the part where you waste time in airports, sit in cramped planes
and buses and trains, and go from point A to point B, where you become a
tourist if you do anything else at all. There is absolutely nothing wrong
with being a tourist, and there is nothing at all wrong with the people
who choose to go on group tours. Nothing.

We prefer solo travel, but will often take a tour to somewhere new,
especially somewhere with a language we can't decipher, which describes
most of Asia. If we go back to a place, it's on our own. A lot of the
fun of going places is meeting people, and you will never do that if
you're already viewing them with disdain because they're 'tourists' and
you're somehow better than that.

Mr R advised against being a tourist, and offered nothing useful. I made
several suggestions and comments about my favorite country. I guess I'm
just not accustomed to being talked down to by elitists like Mr. R, but if
that's your thing, go for it.