Hello fellow budget hunters
This post I promise won’t turn into a long rant – I promise! But there has been a recent argument coming up in the traveller community which has infuriated me! There are people out there that are shaming others for visiting tourist attractions in cities and tell them to experience the ‘real culture’.
Without stereotyping a lot of the bloggers and traveller who write/vlog about these things are generally very stuck up millenials – they are the sorts who look down their noses at the commuters for not having ‘found themselves’.
What I wanted to say is that everyone had their own adventures and do not let someone else’s experience taint your own. I am not afraid to hold my hands up and say I climbed the Eiffel tower and did an audio tour of the Colosseum but decided overpriced gondolas were not worth the cash. However I’m not going to look down on anyone who decides to see Venice from a gondola and you shouldn’t either!
If you want to go on a 5* luxury world tour then be my guest – I am very keen to experience local foods and cultures of an area but I won’t look down on someone for trying the food one day and sticking to pizza the next! I did it in Sofia because the pizza was damn good but I ate locally too! Everyone is entitled to do travel how they like, whether they want to be a tourist or a traveller – not that there should be any difference in the meaning of that word!
The only thing I have a problem with is the tourism that depends on animal cruelty such as elephant rides, mistreatment of camels/ponies/horses/donkeys, the performing monkeys or snakes and the whole host of evil things I wrote about earlier this year.
See my post on the cruelty of animal tourism
Apart from that – be my guest, spend lots of money on a tuk tuk in Bangkok or live in the Himalayas with a host family for a year. Travel broadens the mind and makes you appreciate everything else about another culture so don’t let it be a reason to look down at other people!
Lots of love
The Great Ambini
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TheGreatAmbini 
Excellent points made here! There is a lot of back and forth on this. Here’s my take:
As a full-time nomad and traveler, I agree with the fact that you can do whatever you want and it shouldn’t be anybody’s business in the first place. If you want to see Angkor Wat, The Colosseum, or the Taj Mahal….go for it! The reason those places are “Toursity” in the first place is because they are magnificent pieces of history that everyone SHOULD see.
On the other hand, I do like to get out and see something that’s a unique experience and is particular to the culture of the country in which I’m currently experiencing. Either way, I think everyone should be able to do their travel thing without being judged! Good stuff here. Keep writing and I’ll be reading! 🙂
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Thank you 🙂 Glad you enjoyed and there’s a lot of varying opinions on this topic but I think you are 100% right! Amber
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