Source: Nat Geo Traveller
Tourist: Places to see. Things to tick off the list. Pictures. Souvenirs. Schedules. Comfort (home) food.
(These are my explanations, so please don't start giving me smart dictionary synonyms).
Strangely, I like being both. So, what does that make me? A travist? Hey, I just made that up and I like it. Right, so from now I will refer to myself as the Travist.
I have travelled a lot since I was little, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I realised that I had 'Gypsy feet' (not the sailor/infested one that Wikipedia refers to (I'm not making this up and I have nothing against sailors, please don't shoot me), but the pretty anklet clad ones that love to wander). For the past five years, I cant seem get my mind of traveling and am constantly looking up places to go to - - near, far, beyond nowhere. For holiday. For work (where after work hours are used to explore). And putting away money (from my not so hefty salary) to go there. All I can ever think of is, where can I go next and when.
Thankfully, I have a mister who reflects these thoughts. So, together, we are always planning trips and going broke. The instant we have some money saved, the laptop/ipad is commissioned, places (from our bucket list)that fit the budget are shortlisted and bookings are made. Months in advance. And then the planning begins. The mister dutifully does all the bookings and reservations and steps back. Only because, he cannot keep up with my 'bouncing off the walls' eagerness to plan.
I love to plan - - it sort of goes with my OCD to have things in order and in control. I become quite mad during this phase. Pouring over blogs, articles, books and whatever else can give me information about the place we are visiting. My travel plans and schedules have changed dramatically over the years - - the traveller has taken over mostly. BUT, the childhood habits have not dulled much. And that's where the Tourist kicks in. And Viola, the Travist emerges. I resemble a Duracell bunny during this time. Mercifully, I have a patient mister, who left to him, would just be a pure traveller, but patiently puts up with my mad hatter travist side (I have a travist hat, which I will write about in a separate blog, soon).
I research like I am writing a thesis. I plan like I am planning a multi-billion dollar venture. I drive the mister mad with questions and information. I talk about it when we are eating dinner (breakfast and lunch is spared since we are in office). I talk about it when watching TV. I talk about it when he is trying hard to sleep. All the talk, mercifully translates to action and we have been able to plan holidays where we do both traveller and touristy things in each city we have visited.
We come back from these holidays and I talk some more. About places we saw. The food we ate. People we met. Hideouts we discovered. Things we bought. Family and friends gamely listen and 'oooh' and 'aaaah' at the appropriate places. I get even more excited. They don't seem to be doing this out of politeness, but genuine interest (so I want to believe). Some have told me that I should start a travel business (if only that was still a well-paying business, so I could make enough to travel more). Some have told me that I should write a blog, to share my experiences (I think that was just a ploy to get me to shut the hell up at that time). Many call me when they have to travel and I am every ready and happy to give tips.
After many such suggestions (to shut up) I thought that I should start penning down my experiences for a few reasons 1. To fulfil my desire to keep talking about travelling 2. To give my friends and family the relief of not having to listen to my constant babble (sadly the mitser cannot escape. When we married, he promised to stay together in silence and in chatter, though the former is a very rare phenomenon with me) and 3. To help (I hope) other people like me, who like to talk and travel.
With that, I start my blogging journey, after many, many months of procrastination (more because I don't like typing as much as I like talking) and hope to write regularly about the trips we have taken so far and will take in the future.
I hope that atleast a few will find this useful. If you don't, too bad. You cannot ask me to shut up, because this is my blog! And some of you will be forced to read. So, gear up and be nice.
I will post soon about one of my trips. Until then.....Oh wait! I completely forgot to tell you what 'gypsy thoughts' meant. I promise to make this very quick. I mean if you have read this far, you may as well read a few more lines. When I travel to all these places, my mind travels too. Many thoughts, may revelations, many Eureka moments, many new lessons. I plan to capture those as well, in the hope that someone will identify with me and get stuck in the web of thoughts with me.
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