From
living in Los Angeles to going on service trips in Nicaragua, I have gained
insight on what it means to be a traveler, rather than a tourist. In Los Angeles,
tourists easily see the Hollywood sign or Santa Monica, however one may be
blind to the homeless population or the hectic daily traffic. So yes, they are
seeing Los Angeles, but they see the “perfect” surface, whereas a traveler
would try to immerse into the community and understand what the county stands
for, rather than what stands on the county.
On
the service trip, we lived in a convent amongst the small community of Tepeyac.
Without famous monuments or attractions we were able to be travelers as we
connected with the Nicaraguans by teaching English in their school, helping
build, and most importantly establishing relationships that we still keep
today. We spoke the language and learned some of their traditions to help us truly
see the community.
Daniel J. Boorstin, American journalist and historian, wrote, "The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of
people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist exemplifies passivity; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes
'sight-seeing.” This illustrates that one must remain “active” to be a traveler
and to truly immerse oneself in the culture.
One must
also respect the culture rather than
forcing one’s opinions and expecting the locals to adapt to the tourist’s every
need, etc. A traveler would observe and ask or research questions, whereas a
tourist could easily be ignorant of a culture, without knowing anything about
it.
English journalist, novelist, and essayist Gilbert K.
Chesterton, stated "The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come
to see." This shows that one who is narrow-minded tourist can miss things,
whereas the traveler can be exposed to more things.
Studying abroad, I aspire to be a traveler and truly immerse
into the culture and learn about new ways to live and look at life, be an open
book rather than an imprisoned mind that only sees the surface. As I would love
to see the typical landmarks such as Big Ben and the London Eye, I also want to
venture to places that not many tourists go in order to receive a genuine
portrayal of London.
References:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adventure-collection/traveler-or-a-tourist_b_3568344.html
http://www.quotescover.com/wp-content/uploads/The-traveler-sees-what-he__quotes-by-Gilbert-K.-Chesterton-69.png
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