Tour, Travel or Taking a Break? The Different Kinds of Holidays

I got my first passport stamp at the age of 5, and I haven't stopped moving since. According to my tracking app, I have been to 23 countries, covering nearly 100 states/provinces/cities within those countries, and I have still managed to see only 11 percent of the globe so far. Exploring this amazing planet is one of the great privileges of my life, and I do not take it for granted. But I have come to realize not all trips are created equal and that the type of trip you choose to take can drastically change your experience and your outlook. They are all valuable, but they are not all the same.

Touring

This is what most people think of when they say they are taking a trip. Usually, a few days to a few weeks are spent trying the best, or at least most famous, of what another country or city has to offer. Visiting Paris? The Eiffel Tower is a must-do. A trip to South Africa requires a safari. If you visit Beijing, you've got to see the Great Wall. We take in the sights, try the famous pho, moussaka or gelato, see an amazing show and head back to our normal lives with some beautiful memories and a lot of souvenirs. The quick cultural hits are fantastic and keep our creativity flowing and sense of adventure alive while reminding us of how interconnected our world is. 

Traveling

For me, travel is about getting deeper into a culture. Really trying to understand the daily life and deeper meanings behind language, customs, and history. You live in local housing, take public transportation, eat in restaurants where no one looks like you or anyone you grew up with, and go to the local grocery store where the owner knows you and presses strange and wonderful new snacks into your hands for you to reluctantly try.

Most of us only get this opportunity through study abroad programs or if our jobs relocate us to another country. A few truly remarkable souls take sabbaticals, gap years or part of their retirement to drive, backpack or settle in a culture foreign to them, and the benefits of this are the true human connection and real-world perspectives that this kind of long-term traveling can offer. Most people will never have this experience, so despite its many difficulties and challenges, treasure it!

Touraveling

Ok, I made that word up ... but I think we should add it to the lexicon. This is the vast majority of my travel to date. I generally only have a week maybe two at best in any one place, so, yes, I'm going to take tours and see sights and get the Insta-worthy photo to share with friends. I buy cheesy hats, magnets and "traditional" toys for my family as gifts. But I also want to learn to how to make the local dish, not just eat it. That incredible flamenco show I saw or batik painting I loved – can I take a class while I'm here and try it myself?

I attempt to talk to the local sitting next to me at the night market stall, and when they tell me about the hot springs that aren't on Klook or Trivago, I hop on a bus and go, even if it means I'm going to struggle through a language barrier and get some sideways looks from those who frequent the place. In these short trips, I won't get the full experience of a country, but I can go deeper than the surface and maybe leave a slightly changed human for the experience. 

Vacation

I am ashamed to say I have undervalued this type of travel. I was young and dumb and assumed that if I "just needed rest" I could save money and time and just watch TV at home. But the truth is it's not the same. At home, I am always checking my messages, drafting a new lesson plan, or running around doing all the mundane chores and errands that piled up, even if I said I was going to just chill out.

What I have discovered is there is value in hopping on a plane simply to lay by an impossibly luxurious pool with a book or collecting shells on a beach. There is value in tiny shampoo bottles and not needing to make a bed for a few days. There is value in aimlessly walking the streets of a city that is not yours for hours and finding a perfect coffee shop that you will never get to sit in again. There is value in doing nothing special in a place because it feeds our soul and rests our bodies and prepares us to go back and be productive humans in our communities.

The truth is all forms of exploration are good for the mind, body and soul, and as expats in Beijing, we have endless opportunities for every flavor of adventure. Let's not take any of them for granted! Tell us in the comments where you are going next and what kind of traveling it will be!

READ: What Kind of Beijing Expat Are You?

Images: Unsplash