Today, we went on our last day trip for this class abroad. Our destination was the town of Lindos and was augmented by several other coastal stops. Apart from the occasional and highly embarrassing "Happy Holidays" video cards that we have done, today was the first time that I really felt like a tourist. For our trip today, we had a tour guide. He was very warm, knowledgeable, entertaining and extremely enjoyable to talk to, but it made me feel kind of dirty all over to have him. Even traveling to other destinations on tour-buses and walking through Athens in tow of Dr. Finitsis, I still somehow felt more like a traveler than a tourist. We were students following our professor for academic reasons, not tourists. Today, even though I thoroughly enjoyed our discourse with Dimitrious (our tour-guide), we were still following for the tour. Maybe a quick distinction between how I define tourists and travelers would help. To me tourists are those that see the world through the highly selective and polished lens of cruse ships, tour buses, inclusive resorts, and local areas that are watered down to make them more palatable to their patrons. Travelers are those that are determined to experience something foreign to them, do not shy away from uncomfortable situations, and are more concerned with their journey than their destination. When I was fairly young and traveling with my family in Costa Rica, I heard someone say a phrase that has since stuck with me "Tourists, when you ask them, do not know where they have been. Travelers do not know where they are going." I don't know who said it then and if it was original, but it is a saying that has stayed. One of my favorite things to do traveling is to get lost. It takes you places you never expected and you get to see things you never would otherwise. These things are not always ideal for the moment, but as I said last night, sometimes you need to get home before you can begin to appreciate what happened to you. When you are with a tour guide, at least a good one, you can't get lost. You see what is set out for you and you experience mostly that which has been alloted. Someone else told me that they always gage their trips by the friends that they make on their travels, a saying that I also like. Seeing the world through the windows of a bus, I have found, is not a great way to meet people. While I enjoyed our interaction with Dimitrious and I hope to call him a friend, today really took what little naiveté I had left and showed me that, for at least some of this trip, I am a tourist.
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