Why I Don’t Want To See Places As A Local
How looking at places from a tourist’s perspective is the best option when we travel and when we’re back home
The hardest truth to swallow is that, as a local, you’re most likely to live an average life. A life where you go from home to work and from work back home and that’s pretty much it. During the weekend, you might do something here and there, like going to that restaurant or pub you normally go to and before you notice, it’s time to restart your routine all over again.
When we visit a new city, the biggest misconception we have about the local people is that they live an amazingly extraordinary and fun life and that they get to explore the city where they live in a way that every tourist should try.
It’s the famous saying “Don’t be a tourist. Explore like a local” that gets us thinking that they all get to see places that are off the beaten path.
This year, an Instagram influencer went viral after reacting to one of the most common questions tourists ask New Yorkers. The Greek-American comedian Gus Constantellis shared:
“I hate when people visit New York City and they’re like “Take me around, I want to live like the locals, I want to do non-touristy things”. Oh, you want to live like the locals? You wanna cry in the subway? Do you want to spend your income on rent? Do you want to make direct eye contact with a rat while you eat a slice of pizza? Go to a museum.” Click here to watch the video.
While we can take away many lessons from his video, one of the biggest ones is that he wanted to start a conversation by breaking the myth that locals are living a life out of a movie by going to places that tourists will never be able to go and doing things that are so different.
But that ain’t the reality. I’m a tourist and I’ve seen more than the locals…
After living in the U.S. and talking to so many Americans about the places I got to visit, the common response I’d always get was: “Wow, you’ve done so much more than I have. And I am from here”.
Most locals get very surprised that I, an outsider, have seen more of their own country than they have.
And while there may be hundreds of thousands of reasons why this may happen, there’s one that is my favorite. It’s called Activation Energy.
What is Activation Energy Gabe?
Chemical reactions need a certain amount of energy to begin working. Activation energy is the minimum energy required to cause a reaction to occur. (Psychologists have adopted the term to talk about why some people have the energy and motivation to start an activity that requires a lot of effort, such as going to the gym, waking up early, etc).
In “travel vocabulary”, activation energy is the amount of motivation, excitement, and desire to go out there and explore new places.
As a tourist, why do I already have the amount of energy, desire, and excitement to visit and explore a certain place in a way that an average local doesn’t?
There may be hundreds of reasons why, but the biggest one is time.
Time is one of the greatest factors that influence people to take action.
What would you do if you only had 6 months left to live?
When you travel to New York and you only have 7 days ahead of you, as a visitor, you will try to make the most of out those seven days. This means that you will get to see places and do things that maybe an average New Yorker might not have done before.
When you are a local, you have subconsciously told yourself that “you have all the time in the world” and that “you’ll do it someday”. A tourist doesn’t have “all the time in the world” therefore they can’t do it later.
As an international exchange student in the U.S., and now in Ireland, I have done so much and have seen so much that, as I mentioned before, the locals get surprised by how much I’ve explored their own country. In the U.S., for instance, I’ve been to 35 states already and explored all of them in the best ways possible. Not only by doing just the cliche but also by doing unexpectedly amazing things — such as going on a canoe trip across multiple states in the Delaware River.
But how and why did I have all the energy and excitement to book every single trip and live all those experiences when I’m not even from these places?
Because I knew I wasn’t going to live there forever. I know that I’m not Irish so one day my visa will expire and I will have to leave the country. That means that I have to make the most of NOW.
So, what does this have to do with traveling the world?
When I went back to my home country, Brazil, and to my hometown, Belo Horizonte, after living in the U.S. for some years, I allowed myself to look at everything from a tourist’s perspective. I no longer wanted to see my country as a local. I allowed myself to watch and observe the majority of people who lived there and I noticed that the fact that they were from that country meant literally nothing about having the desire to see that country. It’s not because you’re an American that you automatically and naturally have a huge desire to see the U.S. In fact, most Americans I met hadn’t even seen more than just the state they grew up in.
My mom, who is Brazilian, hasn’t even stepped outside of the very state she was born and grew up in, and if you ask her what she thinks of that, she’ll say she’s fine. Even though she is very aware that Brazil has so much beauty. We are home to one of the Seven Wonders of The World and also one of the Seven Natural Wonders of The World (needless to mention how many paradisiacal beaches, the largest rainforest in the world, the most incredible national parks of South America, etc). Why doesn’t she have that urge to see as many places as she can? Trust me, it has to do with more than just her “personal reasons”.
Repeat after me: Local people don’t see exploring their own country as a “must” because they subconsciously believe they’ll do it someday due to all the time they have in the world. They’re too busy “working to pay the bills”.
Going back to Brazil felt different because I activated the energy inside of me to see my own country…
So, when I went back I made a Bucket List and I wrote down all the things that tourists enjoy doing in my city but that I had never done as well as all the things I’d always wanted to do but never did. And I did them all.
As a local, I’d always say: “One day I’ll do it”, but that “one day” never came because I never felt “pressured enough” by anything to make it happen (as a tourist, you’re pressured by the amount of time you have in a certain place).
And let me tell you, what an amazing and different Brazil I got to see.
This has nothing to do with making it all about visiting tourist points. It has nothing to do with doing touristy stuff. I’m not talking about going to Times Square as a local New Yorker or going on the Hop-On Hop-Off bus. I’m talking about seizing the moment and living life to the fullest as if you were leaving tomorrow. It’s all about transforming a boring average local’s life into a fun and remarkable one.
A tourist doesn’t travel to a new city so that they can have a boring week. They will make the most out of every second so that their experience is worth living.
Why can’t we do the same as the locals?
Today, it doesn’t matter where I’m at, I’m always going to have that tourist’s excitement and desire to explore the place where I’m living because this is one of the only ways we can turn our average life into a little more enjoyable one.
So, my call to action for you today is this: Rediscover your own hometown. Go places you’ve never been to. Don’t make your routine all about going to work and home.
Activate the energy inside of you so you can turn your average local’s life into a fun and remarkable one. You don’t need to wait until your next trip to awaken the explorer there is inside of you. You can do it now.
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