The age old debate- Are you a tourist or a traveller? In today’s lesson from Jean we are going to discuss the minute differences and the importance of these differences to boost your ego and make you feel like a better person.

I think you can see where we are going here.

There’s a huge debate about the difference between tourist or traveller. It’s gotten to the point where people are actively being twats about this. By now I’m sure that you’ve seen the info-graphs that are going around. I’m not going to dignify these twats with including this info graphs here but if you haven’t seen them then here is a quick over view of the kinda of rubbish that’s being thrown around.

The traveller has no plans.

The tourist has an itinerary.

The traveller sleeps in a tent.

The tourist sleeps in a hotel.

Travellers take maps, tourists take photos.

I could go on and counter act everyone of these ridiculous points but I’m not going to waste my time or yours. Ok enough of that rubbish. Because that’s exactly what this debate is. It’s a manufactured load of rubbish that you should actively ignore and walk away from. Just imagine that this debate is like your drunk uncle complaining about the good ol’ days in the war against mice in 1922. Smile, nod and walk away!

100% ignore this once you’ve finished reading the rest of this article.

So who’s even using this rubbish to make themselves feel better?

Circle jerkers. Those people who need to feel superior to you. And need to have a way to make sure that you know how superior they are. Those who self proclaim as travellers are akin to those vegans who introduce themselves as vegans as they judge you for not being a vegan.

We never self proclaim that we are elitist travellers and not tourists. Because we’re not. We love playing tourist in our home town. This summer we’re spending time being tourists in Australia. Exploring. Adventuring. We love going on adventures in the mountains, the cities and the seas. The majority of my blogging friends feel the same.

It’s irrelevant.

We are all tourists in travellers shoes.

We are the other. As soon as you step out of your door you become the tourist and the traveller. You become the adventurer or the lady of luxury accommodation. It doesn’t matter if you travel off the beaten path or take a tour to the Eiffel Tower. What matters is how you choose to behave when you’re travelling.

Don’t be a dick.

Respect the communities that you are travelling within.
Respect your fellow travellers. We are all humans in this world trying to survive.
Respect all the animals. Avoid at all costs animal tourism. Don’t ride that elephant, pat that sedated tiger or drink the coffee that’s been farmed and pooped out of a caged animal.
Respect all members of the community – just because a woman is for sale doesn’t mean you have to buy her.

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Just a little FYI- this article was written in partnership with me and me! Any and all views and opinions expressed are entirely my own based on personal experiences when traveling and are honest and factual without any bias. There are no spammy whore affiliate links here. Any links to websites are for your help only.