Tourist or Traveller?

I agree that there is a difference between a traveller and a tourist but perhaps not for the same reason as Vera. I think a tourist is there to see the main attractions and ticked a box on the list. In my opinion, a traveller is a global citizen, reason being that they take the time to experience the culture from a more truthful perspective – as Vera mentioned, they get to know the locals. For this reason, I think the “inner traveler” is an excellent concept which creates a global citizen by allowing them to learn about the world through experience. At the same time, perhaps inner travel doesn’t have to be something physical because we can learn more about a country from speaking to a citizen of it than we might learn from visiting a few sites within the country.

My opinion of empathy is that it is very much incorporated with the inner traveler. Meeting people from different cultures can evoke emotion, especially when we see people who have suffered. I was able to experience this volunteering with refugees in Sydney’s Western Suburbs. These refugee’s constantly open my eyes to issues I didn’t know existed. I go into their houses and view what they do and don’t have, but all the while, I’m being immersed into their cultures. I’m able to appreciate how hard they are working to stabilize their living conditions and seeing how friendly they are, even in this brand new, unpredictable country, brings me joy.

To me, the concept of oneness is something that sounds great but doesn’t exist. This is because it incorporates equality, truth and stability and unfortunately in our world, these are things that are currently not extremely prevalent.