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elizabeth  ·  2561 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: I Don’t Want To Travel (not me, but the lady that wrote this article)

I think I get a similar reaction when I tell people I don't really actively listen to any music. I do go to live shows and all for the ambiance, but simply listening to music is super rare. I'm content with whatever's on, or even silence. It's like society has agreed upon what's enjoyable and not enjoying those things is now weird. Not being a "foodie" is seen as weird, but not liking to hike or play video games or whatever other hobby is totally OK. Or maybe it's just the circles I run in...

As for the traveller/tourist split, it's been an ongoing conversation for a while now. I did go through that pretentious phase for a little while, being all like "why do those dumb people pay for touristy boring bus tours when you can just go and visit by yourself. It's all the same, standard tours". I think every newbie traveller has that attitude after discovering travelling a bit differently. But then you realize that 100000 people have been on the same trek as you. And that there are plenty people with similar amazing coincidence stories and whatever else made your adventure so unique. You didn't really ever "discover" anything. You're just part of that same group of dumb backpackers, not that different for the dumb tourists in the bus.

Embracing that you do you attitude now, if you're happy in that tour bus or watching Netflix in your (what I previously considered lame) suburb house, all the more power to you. It's actually ironic how "open minded travellers" can be so judgemental about people making different choices.