Traveller, Tourist or Intrepid Explorer?

[munitalP]

Which category do you fall under?

Personally, I can claim all 3 titles however lean toward Intrepid Explorer.

I define the three as:

Traveller - travels a lot for work, travel is to get from point A-B and back to A with as little fuss or free time
Tourist - A person who takes tours, has the same photo on the wall in the living room as a squillion others and is happy to keep ON the beaten track
Intrepid Explorer - Off the beaten track, happy to wander in a foreign city / country with no purpose other than to stumble across [things]

In my case, 95% of all my travel is/has been work related, so I firmly fall into the traveller category, but if I exclude work and look just at personal vacation travel, Intrepid Explorer is me. Harbin China at minus 40, getting mugged in Ha Noi, Northern Sweden in Winter - my list [justified in my head as Intrepid Explorer] goes on...

I would love to know where everyone else places themselves on my scale

 

[beardoc]

I am none of those. I travel to see people. All over the world. I don't really fit into any of the above.

 

[Blackadder]

Probably more of the independent tourist...Will go for tours, but also do my own exploring on the beaten track.

 

[AaronBradford]

At the moment, I'd say I'm Intrepid Explorer. I fund most of my own travel, and I can end up in weird places (most of which is motivated by my amateur photography). Starting to get more work travel done, though.

 

[serfty]

Was a "traveller" but no more.

neither of the other categories fit!

 

[Ewing]

I hate organised tours, so I'm a "traveller" on business or short personal trips and an "intrepid explorer" when going somewhere new.

Some of the most memorable trips I've had have been when I've ditched the schedule and gone with the flow.

 

[Fantic125]

I would class myself as Traveller / Intrepid Explorer.

Traveller because most of my travel is work related, but once at my destination if I have spare time then I try to get out and see and do as much as possible, both touristy and non-touristy things.

I'm certainly not one for package tours.:shock:

 

[haydensydney]

Good topic!

It's a hard one - I'm certainly not Intrepid at all. I tend to be a bit of leightweight when it comes to getting off the beaten track.

I see a few sights and walk around town, but mainly just prefer to go shopping and eat / drink until I can't move. A holiday for me to relaxing, sleeping in, going to nightclubs and just having a fun time. I try not to have a set schedule.

In other words, I'm a Lazy Traveller

 

[TonyHancock]

Traveller and all round half wit for me.

 

[harvyk]

I would count myself as a Traveler / Intrepid Explorer. The last properly organised tour I've been on was 14 years ago. What I do seem to excel at is making local friends and been taken on the locals tour by new friends. That also means I sometimes make new OS friends which become more than just "people I met on my travels", in fact catching up with some friends I made last time I was in the US is the purpose of my LAX trip later this month.

That's not to say I don't like seeing the major attractions (I'm also a box ticker, I tick the box to say I've been there done that), but I am in no way a fan of "you now have 2 hours to enjoy this attraction", I always find that it usually means you spend 4 hours at really boring places, and 15 minutes at the really cool places.

Often when I travel I have some idea's on what I may want to do, but nothing is pre-planned, and very little is pre-booked.

The other thing, I hate the tourist tag, especially when you in a place where tourist are known for behaving badly or ignoring local customs. I don't try and pretend I'm a local, but I do try and respect as many of the local customs as I can (yes even if that means a "when in Rome" approach )

 

[blackcat20]

Probably more of the independent tourist...Will go for tours, but also do my own exploring on the beaten track.

Sounds a bit like me. I like the organised tours because I get to meet lots of new people (good as I tend to travel alone), and a lot of the organising is done for me. But once I'm in a city I like to wander around and see what I stumble upon.

 

[wingspan]

I'd have another category: eater. I travel for the food.

 

[NM]

Most of my travel is as a traveller. However, when I do get the opportunity to travel for pleasure, its probably 70% tourist (I don't want to miss out on the normal tourist attractions and sights - imagine going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower) and 30% explorer (happy to wander and see what I stumble across).

 

[kpc]

I'm a combination of all 3. In the next 8 weeks, I'm attending 2 conferences, in Cape Town and Santiago. To get there, I'm flying Syd-Sin-Jnb-Cpt-Jnb-Vfa-Jnb-Mqp-Jnb-Cpt-Jnb-Sin-Syd and Syd-Scl-Ipc-Scl-Lim-Cuz-Lim-Scl-Akl-Syd....so a few side trips along the way there! +1 is coming along, and I don't think she fully appreciates the number of flights we will be taking yet...:shock::mrgreen:

 

[Doug_Westcott]

Sounds a bit like me. I like the organised tours because I get to meet lots of new people (good as I tend to travel alone), and a lot of the organising is done for me. But once I'm in a city I like to wander around and see what I stumble upon.

My idea of an overseas holiday too.

 

[drewbles]

You forgot the most important type of traveller: The Status/Mileage Runner

There's probably more of them over on FT than here, but it's a big part of our world.

I don't fit into any of the categories really. I've been known to travel for family, friends, work and just 'because I can' (someone once said 'drewbles gets on the plane for the opening of an envelope' and they're not really wrong). Of course, I tack holidays on to work trips when in Europe or LOTFAP, and will do the odd YUPP run (used to do them exclusively for status but now will do it to get to where I need to go, and get the SC's along with it, just topping up the ones I didn't get on QF).

 

[LadyC]

I don't travel for work so I guess I am a mixture between a tourist and intrepid explorer. If I am going somewhere new, I want to see all the 'sites'. Happy to get off the beaten track - some of the best experiences I have had - remote villages in India and Vietnam - amazing! Also happy to go on a tour if appropriate - sometimes it is just easier to have someone else co-ordinate things for you if you are short of time. I'd love to be able to lazily explore destinations for months on end but the finances just don't allow it unfortuantely.

Definitely also an eater - I love going to places just to try the food out. I have planned a few destinations based around food places I wanted to visit.

 

[tuapekastar]

No work travel here (at least not by air). I think I fall mostly into the Intrepid Explorer type, but with a little planning mixed in with the random wandering. Having a wander is normally the first thing i like to do after checking in in a foreign city, even if it is a short one to begin with.

An example of planned wandering would be in Helsinki a couple of years ago where there was a bus or tram tour available around the city. I basically took that route (or most of it, I was pretty buggered after 4 or 5 hours ), but by foot. See the 'sights' and all the bits in between.

There are occasions when little 'organised tours' can be practical due to time and/or budget constraints (or when I took my elderly mother to the US earlier this year) - I'm happy to take them on occasion when the circumstances demand it.

 

[Mardi]

Tourist - but hopefully not with the associated negative connotations. Our holiday this year and the previous two has been New York and we stay in the Times Square area. Full of the "bad" tourists*! We don't do package tours but will do an occasional two hour or so tour, e.g., we did the Chelsea Market food tour the other day (we're in NY right now). I like to plan our own walking tours based on interesting things I read about in guide books and online.

*In Times Square they drive us mad - walking slowly four abreast, stopping abruptly to take photos, that sort of thing. But we love the hotel we stay in so we put up with it. Next door to our hotel is one that we think must only cater to package tours. Each time we walk past there are dozens of people blocking the footpath with their suitcases, we assume arriving/leaving all together.

 

[JohnK]

Not sure any of those describe me.

I love to travel in circles to get to the destination (sometimes 1-2 days before and after trip) and when I get to my destination I love to play golf (as much as the body can handle) and the rest of the time I am extremely lazy and try to relax as much as possible.