With spring break having just occurred or still yet to occur, many college students are traveling during the month of March. Whether it be traveling home, traveling abroad, traveling to a typical beach party destination, traveling with a class, or even staying in your college town, embracing your inner tourist is a great way to justify undirected exploration. By entering the mindset of a tourist and all connotations associated with it, you allow yourself to view the town, city, area, whatever it may be, through a lens of dissociation. This attitude allows you to carelessly explore without the trepidation of the known, such as friends or professors encroaching on your journey.
We tend to exhaust all costs to avoid associating with the term, but with the label "tourist" comes a few privileges that we should embrace rather than avoid. Without the unwritten responsibilities of local status, you are free to make mistakes, explore and visit whatever you want, get very lost, talk to anyone, and ask stupid questions, amongst many other things. By not being part of the specific social construct of a city, town, or country, you are free to make the mistakes that would otherwise embarrass you.
Although this is important while visiting a city abroad, it is especially valuable when rediscovering a familiar place. While traveling somewhere new, the tourist status is almost guaranteed, but almost never is while in your own city or another place that you have frequented before. By untying yourself from your usual routine in a place, you can gain a perspective on the location you have never even considered before.
Even though almost guaranteed on an international level, it still takes a decision to fully embrace the touristic school of thought. To digress on personal anecdote, I visited Barcelona with two of my friends this spring break. We had only two days in the gorgeous city before moving on to our next destination, so we had to plan efficiently to see all the things that we desired to. We had a loose plan drawn out before we left, but realized as soon as we arrived that taking one of those gaudy, embarrassing hop on/hop off buses would be our cheapest way of getting around the city in the amount of time that we had. Now, because of the social stigma of associating yourself with the label of “tourist," we tried to avoid deciding in favor of this idea, but eventually we realized that it was logistically superior.
By making this decision and embracing the fact that we were truly unfamiliar with this city, we managed to see everything we wanted and even more, all while figuring out maps and meeting some genuine local people. We quickly realized this pride that most of us carry in regard to not appearing to be a tourist is not worth anything when compared to the opportunity and efficiency of embracing such a wrongly defined label.
So next time you find yourself in an experience of travel, do not be afraid to not know everything about a city or culture. Embracing the unknown and accepting that you are indeed a tourist will open up a place for you, rather than the common notion that it will do the opposite.
