Traveling Styles

It is perplexing how easy it seems to be able to guess the nationality of tourists from a distance (and makes for a fun game). Especially the people from places in which we have lived or which we are very familiar with seem to jump out at us, even from far away.

Recently I have been making similar observations about traveling styles as well. To start, there are the day trip or weekend travelers: these tend to be locals or important executives whose lives are too busy to take more time off. The locals of course are the easiest to make out, especially in a place like México. The executives are not much more difficult to identify: they can be easily spotted marching up and down the beach as if the corporate race continued on the beach or yelling out orders obviously mistaking the hotel or restaurant staff for their work place subordinates.

Then there are the 1 or 2 weekers: These people have realized the importance of a refreshing vacation but at the some time feel their time is too precious to simply sit around doing nothing but enjoy the day. These travelers can often be spotted arriving in bus loads on their 10 day neatly scheduled tour featuring a new destination every day.

Then there is the backpacking crowd, which tends to be on the road from a month to a year (or longer). These are a different species altogether and easily stand out as well. Given their long time horizon they tend to have to watch their budget (e.g. hostels rather than hotels; taco stands rather than restaurants, playing the guitar on the beach rather than taking diving lessons). You can almost spot someone who has been on the road for a year instantly (something seems to happen to the human being after extensive time traveling): they have acquired a new way of waking (very casually), talking and being. Altogether they give the impression that time for them seems to elapse at a different speed as everyone else.

To each their own. But I have always been an advocate to try everything first before rendering judgment. Eager to find out, I am happy to follow this advice. Here I am. Let the experiment begin.