Welcome to Adventure Part 4: You Are The Tourist

The term tourist gets a bit of a bad rap. No one wants to be labeled as a "tourist". They're rude, often confused, jerks who stand in the middle of the road to take that prefect picture of an iconic building. Come summer you can spot a tourist by their khaki shorts and a polo with their phones and/or cameras glued to their hands staring wide eyed and slack jawed at the fantastic sights.

It’s not a flattering picture.

I am totally that tourist who takes picture of their food.

Even I can be heard muttering nasty comments (“[censored] tourists”) under my breath more often than not in my home city of Washington DC. Though, I do seem to be more forgiving of New York tourists (no real reason, just am). My tolerance for the oohs and awes of DC tourists is very low, especially during cherry blossom season. I just want them to stop being a nuisance and let me get to where I'm going.

Which is why my next piece of advice might throw you for a loop: I give you permission to be a tourist. In fact, I encourage it.

But wait, wasn’t I just complaining about tourists and pointing out how annoying they are?

Yes, I was. However, the number of rude, annoying, and straight up inconsiderate tourists is very small in proportion to the ones who are just curious about a new place. They want to experience a new culture, see the beautiful sights, and try new things.

If you prefer that I didn’t use the word “tourist”, you can interchange it with “adventurer”, “explorer”, or whatever term Airbnb is using in their ads now.

I might have been blocking other people to get this shot.

I can dress up the term all I want, when I’m traveling to a new place and it's not for work, I am a tourist. I’m there to experience a new culture, see the historic sights, and try new foods. I might try to blend in a little more so that I’m not marked as am “American Tourist” within the first five minutes of arrival (some places this is easier to do than others), but that doesn't change who I am.

On my recent trip to Japan and Hong Kong, I took well over 500 pictures. That’s something only a tourist or professional photographer does. As I am not a professional photographer (nor would I ever be casually mistaken for one) and was mostly taking pictures on my phone, it was fairly obvious I was a tourist. I might have even stopped in the middle of a pathway (not road - I'm not that stupid) to get a couple of really nice shots.

I’m certain someone was super annoyed that they ran into me, but for the most part people were really nice. They were happy to answer my questions and explain things I didn't understand very well.

It’s okay to be a tourist and make a few tourist mistakes, like eating at that expensive restaurant in the center of town with mediocre food. Just don't be that guy who complains loudly about a local customer and how "different it is than back home."

Personally, I find that the best way to be a tourist - and not get death glares - is to be aware of my surroundings. I watch the people around me and try to follow their example.

For example, next time you travel watch how people behave on public transit. In Japan, people are quiet and don’t make a lot of noise on the trains. They still talk to their companions or scroll through on their phones, but they aren’t very loud. In New York it’s okay to be loud. There are often designated quiet train cars because it’s so noisy.

If you don’t want to label yourself a tourist, that’s fine, but don’t let that stop you for doing touristy things. Sure tourists can be annoying, but most of us are just curious. They want to get to know a new place and culture.

Travel. Be a tourist. Explore. Go on an adventure. Be curious!

But also remember to be kind, understanding, and aware.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Until next week.