Tourist vs. Traveller

by Jevin Sarmiento

It was mentioned in our lectures that the probably the first step into becoming a being for others is to be opened up. This opening up is caused by traumatisms- traumatisms that stray away from the common misconception of a psychological condition that has lasting harmful effect, but is seen as a way of being opened up to the reality beyond oneself. It is through these traumatisms that one is made aware of others and thus, leads him/her to start his/her path in becoming a being for others.

I could see this being closed and opening up in the act of going abroad. Taking my insights from Kent Nerburn’s book, “Letters to My Son,” when one leaves his/her home, he/she takes either one of two identities: the tourist and the traveller. What makes them is whether one opens up. When one is a tourist, he/she is protected by his/her credit cards, lavish hotels, and just visits a country for the sole reason of being able to say, “I was there.” He/she spends time within the comfort inside his/her hotel room, eating the finest food, which could be found from where he came from. He/she might go out for a while, going to the famous landmarks, taking selfies and posting them on Facebook or Twitter as soon as he/she finds an Internet connection. In short, a tourist is one who stays within him/herself, afraid of leaving the confines of his/her comfort zone and thus deprives him/herself of the chance to engage in another society’s culture, people and traditions- the chance to experience another country or area. The traveller, on the other hand, loses himself in the new culture of the countries he/she visits. He/she does not need the fanciest hotel rooms because of he/she would be too busy learning other people’s culture, way of life, language. He/she does not take selfies because he/she is taking pictures of him/herself with other people. A traveller is one who experiences the other/s and in some way learns more than a tourist can.


I’m not saying that being in nice hotels or having private tours is a bad thing, it’s just that one must remember to engage with the country and experience its people. It is in experiencing the other that a traveller sees another country and its people not as a sight, but as another country with its own people who have their own reality that is beyond his/her own. Don’t be afraid to open up yourself to their ways, so the next time you come back home from a trip abroad or out of town, you could look back and call yourself a true traveller.