I posted yesterday's "tirade" to the Boots N'All forum, and I have to admit I'm pleasantly surprised by the results. I was anticipating lots of people saying, "We're not tourists, we're travelers" - in a way that hinted they were somehow above tourists. On the contrary, to a person, they all said exactly the opposite. The consensus seems to be that unless one lives in another place, one is a tourist - and to call onself anything else smacks of being pretentious. It's still an interesting topic to me, and I'm still not sure there's a right or wrong answer. I particularly liked one comment, which said:
"I just think making all of these little subcategories is kind of silly; I mean, sure, all of us are gonna be guilty of judging people based on how they choose to travel, but the fact of the matter is that in my opinion, ANYone who ventures off to see a new place is at least trying to experience something different. Sure, we can all argue about everyones motives, and whether they *really* care about the culture they're visiting, and whether they're *really* stepping outside of their comfort zone..but whatever, I tend to agree w/ [other responder] that the backpacker culture is just as cliche and segregated as the tour-bus culture."
Well said.
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