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The Good Tourist

IN LIFE, TRAVEL  / 

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BETWEEN COACH SEATS
& RENTED ROOMS

 

I don’t consider myself the average tourist, and here’s why: I haven’t traveled a lot in my life, back when I was young my family didn’t have the opportunity to travel (and my mom hates it, too) because if you’re from America, you know how vacations from work are almost non-existent and how expensive traveling can be, especially with a big family. Now that I live in Europe and airplane flights are cheap, holidays pile-up and Airbnb has become my second traveling best-friend after dry-shampoo, I get to travel every now and then, honestly, not as much as I’d like to but enough so I can make my own idea of the kind of tourist I want to be.

in this look –
LBT shirt, Delphine the
label dress, Salvatore
Ferragamo Jody bag, 
Jil Sander sneakers

Now, this post might get a bit too personal among the delayed postcards from our trip to Rome, ’cause after not traveling for a big part of my life, all I want to do now is pack my carry-on (this girl ain’t paying 50€ for a registered suitcase) and get to know the world every time the office work and my wallet allows it. And I want to enjoy every single minute of it.

So, I never check TripAdvisor for recommendations on where to eat, I care about bad reviews as much as I care for heels when traveling (translation: zero), I don’t mind if I go and visit the same spot 284,972,569 tourists have visited before me and I seriously don’t care how ridicule I may look when my selfie habit appears every time I’m in front of a beautiful building with great lighting, you just don’t let those moments escape from you. Believing you know the good and bad places from a city via the Internet it’s a contemporary falsity we all patronize.

WHEN IN ROME

“I don’t go there anymore ’cause it’s too touristic”. It’s what you will probably hear from your most experienced friends and coworkers about your touristic dreams. After traveling went from being a luxury experience to a very accessible way of personally knowing what Encarta taught us on the 90’s, people have become way more selective with their destinations, what they’ll eat and which part of the city they choose to know once they’re there.

But I seriously pass on that. If I travel, I want to enjoy it, in any way. Yes, I might go queuing on an eternal line to see the Sistine Chapel (the whole Vatican Museum is a must-see in your life, even if you’re not religious) but I’ll also stop for a 4 dollar cream cheese bagel and I’ll eat it while I walk through the inimitable streets of Times Square on my way to my Airbnb in Harlem because it was cheap AF, along with a million people.

in this look –
Lavish Alice romper,
straw hat from souvenir shop

After living two years in the Sagrada Família neighbourhood; the biggest tourist attraction within Spain, I do understand why sometimes locals are angry with tourists when they’re disrespectful, screaming and cluttering, asking for sangria and paella for authentic food (not here, guys) or making a street party on a Tuesday at 5 a.m. in the tiny streets of the Old Town. Be the tourist you want to have in your own city, the one who goes to the local bar and asks for pan con tomate, visits the small parks where kids play after school and grandpas have endless chess games, and sure, the one who also visits the same old building.

Traveling is enriching when you exploit it to the max, getting out of your comfort zone and really experiencing the lifestyle of locals, that’s what makes traveling the only thing you spend on that actually makes you richer. So yeah, you might call me a tourist, I don’t mind. I’ll definitely have better anecdotes to tell over dinner, of that I’m sure.

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  3. still amazed with you because you didn’t even check on internet about where you want to visit or eat on some place. It seems like you’ll be enjoyed everything and every surprise you got on your trip. Well maybe someday I must copy that, because if I already browse it to internet, I usually have a high hope and ended up with disappointed. Anyway, since you often go travelling–can I ask you how to pack your daily skincare and make up because I always need a big space for those things. Thank you.
    Mallieams.blogapot.com

    Reply

    1. Hello Malisa,
      Oh I do browse a few things before I travel but just the basics, like historial places and the “basic” things you need to see within each city, and I also search for the authentic food to look for but I don’t write down specific restaurants or things like that. I just eat where it looks good and the price isn’t astronomic 😀
      About my skincare and make-up, I do have a post on that! You can find it here: http://fake-leather.com/the-art-of-packing/
      Hope it helps you, if not, let me know and I’ll see if there’s anything else I can do to improve the post.
      Have a nice day, Malisa 😀

      Reply

  5. Me ha encantado Adriana!
    y no solamente por la calidad de fotos que compartes, que dicho sea de paso, son impecables.
    Ya quisiera yo tener tu paciencia, y amor para editar con tanto detalle!
    Respecto a la clase de Turista que te gusta ser, te diré que es la mejor forma de disfrutar los viajes. Y no solamente cuando vamos de turistas, sino también, es la clave para disfrutar el viaje más importante que hacemos: la vida.
    Besitos

    Reply

    1. Hola Mari, me ha encantado lo del viaje de la vida! Es verdad, creo que aplica de la misma forma. A veces queremos tomar la forma rápida de hacer las cosas (el equivalente a tomar un bus turístico) pero lo vives verdaderamente caminando y perdiéndote un poco en el camino.
      Gracias por comentar, un beso! x

      Reply

  7. Nuestra visita a Roma fue guiada en parte por internet, pero principalmente por nuestros instintos (sobre todo, el del hambre hahaha). Y nos fue sensacional, a excepción de una pequeña incidencia con un local no muy bueno, pero nos queda como experiencia… y es que ya estábamos ya tan cansados que no nos dio ni para pensar!
    Concuerdo plenamente en que uno ha de ser el turista que quieres tener en tu propia ciudad, por que en mis 15 años en Barcelona vi turistas vueltos locos a todas horas… “Gente” que en su cuidad natal no se comportan como animales, básicamente. Ahora que vivo en un país nórdico, te lo digo con conocimiento de causa, hahaha! Me da a mi que pasan tanto frío aquí que cuando llegan a Barcelona no saben como lidiar con el calor, hahaha!
    En fin guapa, que me alargo mucho! Tus post como siempre un placer para la vista y tu tan guapa como siempre!
    Muah!
    pazhalabirodriguez.com

    Reply

    1. Hola Paz,
      Lo del calor tiene mucho sentido, hemos tenido aquí ya 3 semanas con lluvia y mucha niebla, y parece que no, pero la gente es mucho más borde. Por alguna razón el sol hace que la gente cambie! Muchísimas gracias por comentar, como siempre, un beso! x

      Reply

  8. Traveling will be the best education you’ll have and I loved what you said about being the tourist you want to have in your own city… porque hay turistas y HAY turistas 😉

    Reply

    1. Y vaya qué turistas :/ en el fondo lo valoro mucho porque dan mucho dinamismo a la ciudad, pero al mismo tiempo a veces quiero matarlos jaja. Un beso, Lorena! x

      Reply

  9. No puedo coincidir más contigo! Creo que estamos en la etapa de descubrir nuevos lugares pero alejadas de eso tan cliché que te dicen que tienes que conocer. En lo personal, me enriquece conocer más la cultura, la gente, la comida local! Creo que eso es lo que me motiva a mi como blogger descubrir y transmitir por medio de mi plataforma, la inspiración puede venir de muchos lados!!
    Gracias por esas hermosas fotos Adri! Me encantaría nos recomendaras algunos lugares que te impactaron en Roma 🙂

    Reply

    1. Hola Genie, pues qué te dire: todo es precioso. Roma es una ciudad que por su historia, su cultura y su comida tienes que visitarla TODA, desde lo más turístico hasta las callecitas residenciales. El Vaticano me sorprendió muchísimo, no me podía creer tanto lujo, decadencia… uff, seguro que cuando vaya a Versailles pensaré que el Vaticano no es nada pero aún así me sorprendió. Te recomiendo que cuando vayas hagas todo lo que puedas, no te limites a visitar ciertos lugares porque te digan “ay eso es muy cliché”, al final tienes que experimentarlo por ti misma y poder decir “ya fui y no me gustó”. Un beso 🙂 x

      Reply