Tourist or Traveler – A 100-Country Quest to Embrace the Deeper Role

Setting out to visit 100 countries and all seven continents isn’t just a bucket list item — it is a bold commitment and unique lifestyle.  The planning and sometimes sacrifices made are tenable yet can intimidate even the most seasoned wanderer. However, for some, myself included, it is a calling, and I am proud to consider myself a lifelong box-checker. 

Proof that I’ve been a lifelong box-checker: In May 1981, I stood at Four Corners, thrilled to be in four states at once!

On the surface, it can seem quite glamorous and appear like "You are always on vacation."

However, are all trips a vacation?  

I would argue, rather vehemently, that not all travel is a vacation.  To see the world and to have a goal to reach 100 countries means to experience and learn about cultures, especially ones that are different from our own. As a self-proclaimed box checker, I know it isn’t just about collecting passport stamps. Travel is about meeting new people and understanding that human nature is the same across the globe despite how differently we may look or live.  People are inherently good and want the best for themselves and their loved ones.  As human beings, we are fundamentally all the same.  Travel is the lens that teaches this importance.

To keep feeding the globe-trotting addiction of visiting a new location involves long hours, sleeping upright on planes, sometimes for two consecutive nights, only to arrive on chaotic streets and struggle to overcome language barriers.  It is indulging in mouthwatering street food one moment and battling lower GI illness the next.   The exhaustion from jet lag can take away from any excitement of an exploration.  But learning about new cultures, meeting new people, and seeing new places are the ultimate traveling experiences.  Nothing beats the thrill of walking through a village and witnessing daily life, whether in affluence or poverty.  It is a raw and real education you can't gain from reading a book, blog, or watching any YouTube video. As an explorer of the world, I find the local markets I visit to be the true heartbeat of a community.  To explore the world is transformative. You will no longer be the same.   

Now, a vacation? That is something completely different. A vacation is when someone offers you a third margarita, assures you it will make you look thin and sexy, and delivers it straight to your poolside lounge. A vacation involves sitting, relaxing, and unwinding. Vacations involve lovers applying sunscreen on sun-kissed beaches and napping on a whim.  

Traveling is the very opposite of this. It is exploration. It’s hot, sweaty, and exhausting. It is exhilarating, eye-opening,  and invigorating.

Sometimes, the location, or even you, won’t smell great, but it is what makes you feel most alive. 

Craig Storti puts it perfectly in Why Travel Matters:

"Tourism is largely escape from, whereas true travel is arriving at. Tourism is mainly recreational, whereas travel is primarily educational."

Or, as Hans Christian Andersen so poetically wrote:

"To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,

To gain all while you give,

To roam the roads of lands remote,

To travel is to live."

When you embark on such a quest to visit 100 countries and all seven continents, ask yourself, will you take on the role of a tourist, content to relax and have a nice time? Or will you embrace the deeper role as a traveler, ready for the world to change you?  

The answer seems simple, doesn't it?