Are You a Traveler or a Tourist?

"The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see."

While a tourist might look more planned with "things to do" and "places to visit" lists, a traveler just has a place in mind and the excitement to see the place, see the people, and get immersed in the culture, values, and beliefs of the new place.

Which one are you? Take the quiz.

• When visiting a new place, do you research the place? Do you make a list of places to be surely visited?
• Do you always carry a plan for each day and strictly try to follow the plan?
• Is it important for you to have your pictures taken in front of important landmarks of the place?
• Is it important for you to always stay at one of the rated hotels?

If you answered yes to all the questions — you are a confirmed tourist. Don't be disheartened. While it may look like the traveler is the professional tourist, 80% of all people who travel are tourists and enjoy being that. It is totally okay to be a tourist. Plus, the pressures of Facebook have redefined travel: it becomes imperative to have pictures taken in the same places, same cities, and better hotels if a friend, colleague, or neighbor has put his travel pictures on Facebook.

If you have traveled a whole lot, then it's time to graduate from tourist to traveler — only because a traveler just enjoys more than a tourist.

Why do vacations feel tiring?

Most people are tired from a vacation because they are always being a tourist — living in a box, ticking the required boxes. A traveler comes from a trip rejuvenated, looking forward to the next trip, dreaming about the next place he will see.

How do you travel like a traveler?

Next time you travel to a new place, experience the place. Forget about taking pictures around famous landmarks to prove to your friends on Facebook that you indeed visited the place. Instead, do the following:

• Walk the streets and neighborhoods of the new place.
• Whether you are a runner or not, at least once go for a 2-mile run in the new place — if you can't run, at least walk — but without a map or agenda.
• Visit the less-known places, away from the touristy environment, to actually soak in the place.
• Hop on the local train or bus — listen to the local language being spoken in public transport. Music of a lifetime.

Tourist or traveler — whatever you are or whatever you will be, do travel. Because as Mark Twain rightly said: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."