The Tourist/Traveler Argument

On 2 Jun 2006 12:01:59 -0700, "Guy Verhofstadt"
wrote:


Cathy L wrote:
On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:22:24 -0700, Citizen Ted
wrote:


Though I was tempted to weigh in on the Cathy L thread (+1000 posts
and counting), PTravel made a very nice post about his definitions of
tourist and traveler. I'd like to break out that discussion.

From PTravel, paraphrased:

Traveler: independent minded soul equipped with a guidebook and a
sense of adventure.

Tourist: Someone who has overcome their xenophobia only enough to
permit riding around in an hermetically-sealed tour bus, with
occasional excursions outside to McDonalds or KFC.

I generally agree with his assessment, as the word "tourist" to me has
always meant "someone on a tour", and a tour is a guided visit to a
place. To me, a "traveler" is someone who "travels" - a person going
from point to point by various means with various intent. They may be
on holiday, going to a new work place, moving to a new home or just
drifting. But their interface with their journey is close to what
PTravel described with such brevity.

I've never been on a guided tour, so I can't say whether they are
stupid and dreadful, though I suspect they are. The idea of being
cooped up on a bus with a bunch of unadventurous dorks while some paid
circus barker describes the history of a cathedral into a cheap bus PA
system is enough to make me want to burst out of my skin and start
screaming. To be "let out" to spend a few hours on my own is, to me,
humiliating and demeaning. Because of this, I've never had any
interest in guided tours or their evil sister, cruise holidays. I
would consider taking a ship to a destination, but I would never stay
cooped up on some floating Las Vegas casino with 800 perfumed hogs. My
friend Dave just got back from his first cruise (Alaska) and hated it.
A good portion of the guests got sick with flu, including his wife and
father-in-law, who were both miserable the whole week. He enjoyed the
few day excursions on land and enjoyed views from the ship, but the
overall experience left him unsatisfied. Can't blame him. I'd have
gone bananas.

I don't want to start a war of defined terms, but I do think that
tourists are not travelers, and travelers are not tourists. Tourists
have every right to cruise around in their buses and eat McDonalds
crud at every exotic location on Earth. I won't deny them that. In
fact, I encourage weak-willed folks who prefer such tours to stay on
their buses and lock into their international hotels, eat at KFC and
buy stupid trinkets outside cathedrals. This way, I'm less likely to
bump into their pasty, fat asses when I'm traveling.

Thank you.

- TR


I just looked up the word "obnoxious" in the dictionary. It seems a
lot of your names are listed there.

Cathy

what about 'noxious', spag. bol. every night

What about it??

Cathy

obnoxious, is that martin's given name ?

"Cathy L" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
On 2 Jun 2006 12:01:59 -0700, "Guy Verhofstadt"
wrote:


Cathy L wrote:
On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:22:24 -0700, Citizen Ted
wrote:


Though I was tempted to weigh in on the Cathy L thread (+1000 posts
and counting), PTravel made a very nice post about his definitions of
tourist and traveler. I'd like to break out that discussion.

From PTravel, paraphrased:

Traveler: independent minded soul equipped with a guidebook and a
sense of adventure.

Tourist: Someone who has overcome their xenophobia only enough to
permit riding around in an hermetically-sealed tour bus, with
occasional excursions outside to McDonalds or KFC.

I generally agree with his assessment, as the word "tourist" to me has
always meant "someone on a tour", and a tour is a guided visit to a
place. To me, a "traveler" is someone who "travels" - a person going
from point to point by various means with various intent. They may be
on holiday, going to a new work place, moving to a new home or just
drifting. But their interface with their journey is close to what
PTravel described with such brevity.

I've never been on a guided tour, so I can't say whether they are
stupid and dreadful, though I suspect they are. The idea of being
cooped up on a bus with a bunch of unadventurous dorks while some paid
circus barker describes the history of a cathedral into a cheap bus PA
system is enough to make me want to burst out of my skin and start
screaming. To be "let out" to spend a few hours on my own is, to me,
humiliating and demeaning. Because of this, I've never had any
interest in guided tours or their evil sister, cruise holidays. I
would consider taking a ship to a destination, but I would never stay
cooped up on some floating Las Vegas casino with 800 perfumed hogs. My
friend Dave just got back from his first cruise (Alaska) and hated it.
A good portion of the guests got sick with flu, including his wife and
father-in-law, who were both miserable the whole week. He enjoyed the
few day excursions on land and enjoyed views from the ship, but the
overall experience left him unsatisfied. Can't blame him. I'd have
gone bananas.

I don't want to start a war of defined terms, but I do think that
tourists are not travelers, and travelers are not tourists. Tourists
have every right to cruise around in their buses and eat McDonalds
crud at every exotic location on Earth. I won't deny them that. In
fact, I encourage weak-willed folks who prefer such tours to stay on
their buses and lock into their international hotels, eat at KFC and
buy stupid trinkets outside cathedrals. This way, I'm less likely to
bump into their pasty, fat asses when I'm traveling.

Thank you.

- TR


I just looked up the word "obnoxious" in the dictionary. It seems a
lot of your names are listed there.

Cathy

what about 'noxious', spag. bol. every night

What about it??

Cathy

On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 23:48:22 +0200, Martin
wrote:

On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 18:26:19 GMT, Cathy L
wrote:

Thank you.

- TR


I just looked up the word "obnoxious" in the dictionary. It seems a
lot of your names are listed there.

LOL Good one.

The word "gullible" isn't in the dictionary.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 17:23:50 -0700, Hatunen wrote:

On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 23:48:22 +0200, Martin
wrote:

On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 18:26:19 GMT, Cathy L
wrote:

Thank you.

- TR


I just looked up the word "obnoxious" in the dictionary. It seems a
lot of your names are listed there.

LOL Good one.

The word "gullible" isn't in the dictionary.

YES IT... oh...
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DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
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On Sat, 03 Jun 2006 13:30:01 +0200, Martin wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jun 2006 12:23:28 +0100,
(David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy) wrote:

irwell wrote:

[]
Traveller in the UK anyway is used to define those gypsy and other
types that cannot abide being in one place for more than a few
days or weeks.

Yes. One of my chamber operas is called Travellers, and it's not used to
mean tourists. Then again, it also has a dog who turns out to be St.
Chistopher...

I have a traveler on the back of my boat.

It's also a takeaway beer in some parts...
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DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
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