Travel bloggers, media and readers have created this weird yet real illusion that all the travelers are backpackers looking forward to camp in a forest deep inside South East Asia, or are looking forward to hike and live surrounded by wildlife in organic farms. I think that the first problem when it comes to travel is trying to think there is a general traveler profile, and even worse, thinking that all the travelers are looking for adventure.

In fact, the internet is a place filled with wonderful stories of travelers who have made amazing trails and have connected with natives tribes all around the world, but is not the only way to skip “all that tourist life” most travelers avoid. It is a pretty complex issue, but being adventurous is something that have to do with many other things inside — even though that traveling makes a perfect scenario for letting your adventurous self out.

Adventurous or…?

There are travelers who are out there praising the city life. Not that glamorous city life tourism is always trying to sell, but that city life of living among locals. Here in Puerto Rico we got a lot of those, who came once, fell in love with the island and decided later on to become more than travelers.
There are travelers who go anywhere just to find that unique taste they have been craving for. If you ask me, when I hear the name of a place I have been, the most unique flavor I have tasted in the specific place comes to mind. For example, when I think about Slovenia I remember “Borovnicevec” or when I think about Stockholm, Sweden I think about a White Hot Chocolate.

Meanwhile, I have a friend who have always thought spending her money on food is not worth it, and everywhere she goes she would buy clothes, accessories and some piece of art. Would you say that we are “adventurous” as the way the internet have defined the adventurer travelers? I am sure many of you will think we are actually not.

How do I consider myself?

This is the thing: I do consider myself a traveler, filled with an endless wanderlust, but no, I am not afraid to say that I am not an adventurous person. I am that kind of person that, when buying a new electronic, would not even take the plastic wrap off of it. I love going everywhere, but the last activity I would look forward to is to camp or hike. Is not that I do not respect what you guys do, is just that is not what makes me connect with the heart of the place I am visiting.

As I have previously expressed, my traveling experience is always connected, definitely, with food, with walking in the streets just wandering around, with getting inside a Metro even if I am not sure which will be my next stop, with getting to Museums and crying just looking at art. My traveling experience neither is connected to luxury, to spas, to fine dining. I would not even look up for a concept in the dictionary to describe my wanderlust, but if there is one thing I am sure, is that I would not dare to call myself an adventurer.

All my respects for you, adventurers and luxury travelers! Internet: This is just a little reflection on how we always, tend to generalize with different topics.

And you? What kind of traveler do you consider yourself?