It’s a challenge, it’s a game, it’s a prompt
What do you think of when you think of a “tourist”? If your head goes to the stereotypical caricature, you’re probably imagining shorts and high socks, and a fanny pack (not slung over the shoulder like is the current fashion but rather worn at the waist). You’re picturing the tourist that’s lost or loud or both. The type that sticks out like a sore thumb whether they’re looking at a map, or following a tour guide waving some brightly colored flag.
Or maybe you’re picturing the people you see looking at your city through their phones rather than their eyes. The ones with a checklist of instagrammable spots instead of free walks.
What do you think of when you think of a “tourist”? Do you think of yourself on your last trip? I may be wrong, but I feel like we seldom use that word for ourselves.
There are many types of tourists, but whichever way they choose to take in the city, museum, lake, mountaintop, nightlife, or best coffee spot, they have one thing in common, or three:
They’re there for a specific period of time (and aware of this fact). They’re (only) visiting.
Perhaps because of this, they’re intentional about their time there. They want to see things, eat things, buy things or photograph things, or all of the above but they want to be there. And they want to get something out of their time there.
They have tourist eyes. Whether they are actively/ consciously comparing what they see to what they know or if it’s a more subtle kind of awe at the “different” or the unknown.
Tourist eyes turn ordinary things into tourist sights.
I live in a beautiful city. Like any city, it can be chaotic, crazy, and contradictory. But I’ve come to love it, most days anyway. I’m not going to lie, it took me a while to see it. Sometimes it takes us a little while to click. I’ve never been the love-at-first-sight-type. I used to live outside the city and the first trips were definitely touristy: visiting a museum or attending an event. I’d plan the day: when I’d arrive and where I’d go. Then I started working in the city and my “visits” became daily. But I didn’t really see the city. I was looking for the bus stop, the quick lunch place, and the bar close to the office.
And then I moved to the city and I began to explore it, to walk and absorb it. I put on my tourist glasses and I haven’t taken them off since.
So play tourist with me.
You can do it any day or save it for next weekend. It’s easy. When you wake up or when you clock out of your job, you take a deep breath and you pretend you are there on purpose. You pretend you’ve taken a plane or a train or a road trip to see this place. Grab a bag, water, a snack, some petty cash (?) whatever you’d pack on holiday. You put on some comfy shoes and out you go. You can head to the café you always pass but never stop by, or the art show you thought looked interesting, a museum, a park, or a no-purpose walk.
Tourist eyes turn ordinary things into tourist sights. Trust me.
This is my invitation, my writing prompt, and my wish for you reading this. Play tourist with me and then come back to the comments and let me know what you find. Maybe it’s the architecture, the season manifesting in the park you pass every day, a cute coffee joint, or a hidden gem of a restaurant. Maybe it’s a tourist trap you hate! That’s fine too. Some tourist traps are easy to understand, others are just that: a trap! We live, experience, and learn.
I hope you enjoy it, I hope you come back and share.
