Happy Luau

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Introverted Travel

As an introvert I love to travel and enjoy the culture I am visiting. This may involve seeing some sites, but it is always paced so that I can absorb the culture, relax, and have a certain feeling rather than see certain things. This can be pretty hard to explain to people.

I lived in South Dakota for three years and never saw Mount Rushmore. I lived in Arizona for ten years and did not visit the Grand Canyon. I am fine with both and saw many other wonderful things in both states. I tend to stay away from crowds and group tours. I like to interact with local people and tourists when I'm stoked up on alone time, and tend to be very relaxed while doing so, mainly because I plan it that way and venture out only when I'm ready to interact with others.

One time my aunt and uncle visited me in Phoenix, Arizona. The three of us set out for the Grand Canyon and hit terrible traffic. We are all introverts. After a couple of hours in Flagstaff with traffic barely moving, we turned right around and went instead to the small ghost town of Jerome on the way back to Phoenix. We had a fantastic time. It was a precious experience for me to have an all-introvert travel experience! We all "got" each other.

Here are two articles I just found about introvert travel. If you're interested, they're both worth a read. Here is one and here is another.

I also like to visit places vicariously via pictures interpreted by friends' experiences, like Lori-Lyn's. More picture, Lori-Lyn! I'm missing my daily fix 

The picture you see above is the first of many from LoveHubbie of some lovely tulips that bloomed in our yard this past spring!

6 comments:

CrystalChick said...

LoveHubbie's tulip photo is beautiful!
While I am definitely an extrovert most of the time, I still appreciate a certain amount of down time.
We've been to Disney (loud and fun) and we've been to a lovely quiet Spa in Cancun (you saw those photos) so I guess I enjoy a little of both worlds.

Olivia said...

I will let him know, Mary, he'll be pleased!

It is easier in this culture to be both extroverted and yet to at times gain energy from being alone as well, so you are fortunate. I would rather have a root canal than go to Disneyland/world...but your vacation to Cancun was idyllic, and I would adore that. You can appreciate both :)

Peace, love, and blessings,

O

patti said...

I dislike frenetic holidays and would prefer, like you, to merge with the people and see the places not so touristy. I've been to Disneyland and it was a relief to finally leave - my then 5 yr old daughter had a ball!

Love the tulip pic!

Olivia said...

It's so interesting to read about how different people experience different places, Patti! And then too at different times in our lives--as child I had a ball at Disneyland! Thx for the comment and I will tell LoveHubbie.xoO

Unknown said...

Wow! I’d never heard of that phrase before – introverted traveler. I guess I’m one! I always wanted to go to NYC and my best friend took me there for my 30th birthday. We were to spend 8 days there. It was on that trip that I found out I was an introverted traveler. She was an extrovert and we did not realize how different we were until we got there. Her idea of fun was to go, go, go. She wanted to go to every single tourist attraction and she wanted to do like 5 things in a day, which meant we spent most of our trip in long lines filled with tourists. I wanted to take it easy, to explore the neighborhoods. I’d investigated local spots and wanted to go to little boutiques and galleries and independently owned places I’d read about – places frequented by people who lived there. I wanted to be considered, “an out-of-towner, as opposed to a tourist”. She didn’t get the distinction and mocked me throughout the trip. We clashed. I went along with her fast paced plan for the first 5 days and then I blew! We spent the next three days at a slower pace and often times doing separate things. Even our souvenirs reflected our varying perspectives. She came home with a statue of liberty foam headpiece, I love NY shot glasses and postcards of various tourist spots and I came home with bus transfers, photos of locals and street signs, napkins from restaurants, and handmade items I’d purchased from local street vendors.

Olivia said...

What a thing to discover about your best friend AFTER you're there, Kristine!! I can only imagine. I of course am just like you.

Some people really enjoy what I call "daisy-chained" activities: one, then another, then straight to another, then another...ad infinitum. I know a lovely young lady who I really enjoy everything about named D. who used to go to 5 different places to socialize every night after work. I almost started to shake hearing about her schedule. She has thousands of FB friends. I really like her a lot, but I'm afraid I would bore her to death on a vacation and she would drive me nuts (like your friend).

If I were to go like that I couldn't process anything, sort of like having 5-6 televisions or radios on in a room all on different stations, all very loud. Overwhelm!

It's amazing how different people are and from where they draw their energy. D. got her energy FROM being around people (I asked her).

Thanks for sharing this, Kristine. xoO