How to Be a Traveler, Not a Tourist

Your tired feet roam aimlessly down quiet, cobbled streets. Without realizing, you find yourself inside of an ancient cafe run by a woman called ‘grandma;’ she has the best yogurt and honey in town. After eating your meal you move on to the next destination on your itinerary. You don’t ask her where the honey’s from.

You’re inside a taxi now, on your way to the nearest attraction. You don’t acknowledge the taxi driver, the one who knows the streets like the back of his hand. He drops you off. You never hear about the hidden lake beneath the cliffs. 

“After they come, they learn everything,” said Manos Tzatzinakis from Agia Roumeli, Crete. His restaurant is uniquely situated at the bottom of a canyon, providing relief for hikers at the end of their six-hour hike through the canyon. His town is small, and only reachable by boat. He believes that people like me, the tourists and the travelers and everything in between, will see what they want. You can learn nothing after a six-hour hike in a canyon by yourself. Or, if you’re willing to listen, you can learn everything. 

Being more than just a tourist can come in many forms, but one of my favorite ways is to speak with the locals and allow them to guide your journey. While you’re on your way to a beach, ask your taxi driver or the person sitting next to you on the bus where they typically go swimming, and why. This is how you find the hidden gems, the heart of the places you’re traveling to. When making your itinerary, leave a few hours open and let a local tell you what you’re missing. This can be made even easier if you know the language of the country you’re visiting (not mandatory). Also, buy locally! Try to find unique gifts for your friends and family back home while also supporting the people that live in the country, not the companies.

If your time limit allows you, and even if it doesn’t, make some time for culturally enriching experiences. Seek out classes that are relevant to the culture you’re surrounded by. For example, if you’re in Greece, try to do a Greek dancing class, or spend a night making gyros from scratch hosted in the home of a Greek family. If you’re on an island, join the kayaking trip that brings you to a hidden monastery; there are many more than you’d think. 

The dilemma of being a traveler instead of a tourist lies within what a person is ready to experience. A traveler sees what they see while a tourist sees what they have come to see. Tourists and travelers may start their journeys with similar itineraries–maybe even the same, but they will end with very different experiences. I can tell you about the time I went to Amsterdam, or I can tell you how I sprinted with my best friend and a handful of strangers to a train stop in a tiny town somewhere in the Netherlands, or how an old Dutch man sat at our table in a restaurant and we all gushed over how good the food was.