What kind of traveller are you?

So many of us love to travel, but we all have our own ways of doing it. No two travellers are the same, and perhaps that is why so many choose to hit the open road on their own. We all long to see different sights, experience different things, eat and drink different flavours but this often means that we will have completely different experiences when visiting the same country. I guess a lot of it depends on our priorities when travelling, while some might just be looking for some sunshine, a beach and a bar, others are looking to immerse themselves in the local culture at the markets or souks, then there are those who want to view all of the top sights to see, and there are those who want to view the country in more unusual ways, by trekking or travelling across it or staying with local families.

There are so many different ways of travelling and I have to say that I vary between all of these, there are some countries, like Malta and Italy where I have explored the sights and thrown myself into the local culture. While holidays to Florida and New York have been more about hitting the beaches, seeing sights and heading to Disney World. I’ve also had the experience of travelling to my father’s home country of Mauritius and while seeing all of the sights, I was given a tour by my uncle who has lived there all his life and attended loads of family and spiritual events, including a wedding, that really gave me an insight into the culture and traditions that I might not have had on holiday.

I think I’ve found from my experiences of travelling that there are just a few main types of traveller- which category do you fit into?

1. The Culture Vulture – the original traveller is all about history, culture and everything that separates their destination from their home. You’ll usually find them walking around the markets first thing in the morning, travelling on the buses with the locals or checking out the churches/temples during services.
2. The Beach Bums – the ones who look up the beaches first when choosing their destination, they refuse a skiing holiday, or one that would take them away from their sunbathing and rarely plan activities or trips to other parts of the country. Spain, Egypt and Turkey’s resorts are a big draw to our sun-worshippers despite also offering a lot of culture if you venture past the hotel walls.
3. The Party Lovers – these guys plan their holidays around epic party sessions at Ibiza clubs or festivals across the world. Their suitcases are filled with teeny bikinis and day-glo paint, and they usually travel in packs with matching t-shirts.
4. The Spiritual Types – it doesn’t matter whether they are on a religious pilgrimage, finding their spiritual home, finding themselves or even the gap yah lot who are trying to find themselves, they are all the ones who are searching for something. They could be wearing the standard hareem pants or they could be smart and in a suit, but one thing they all have in common is this need to find something bigger than themselves.
5. The Busy Bodies – the ones who can never sit still for long, constantly itching to move or try something new and push themselves to the limits. These ones are usually travelling for a challenge and they can be found trekking through the jungle, along the Inca Trail or the Great Wall of China. They will be the ones abseiling down a cliff face, jumping out of plane or skiing/snowboarding down icy peaks.
6. The Business Traveller – this one takes travelling in their stride, barely blinking at eye at yet another plane journey, not even looking up from their book. Often these guys are living in hotel rooms, bustling from one airport to another, and the shine of travelling has worn off. They rush around making connections and never have time to really experience a place. Although, there are some who travel for work and love it, who are those experienced travellers with the sleek and efficient bags, who glides past security and baggage collection.
7. The Detached Traveller – of course in the age of smartphones and tablets it is impossible not to notice the travellers who experience the world around them through a screen. These are the ones whose first instinct is always to snap pictures and videos of everything around them before really looking and seeing what is going on. Although we are all guilty of this to an extent, these are the ones who sadly spend all their time trying to capture the city or country and end up not really knowing what it is all about.
8. The Adventurer – this is the one I am looking forward to being next year on my own solo travels, the one who just grabs a flight to another country and proceeds to travel around with no real plans, who changes their plans in an instant after making new friends and who is open to all new experiences, drinking it all in whether it is sunbathing on a beach, climbing a mountain or eating bugs.
9. The Safe Traveller – this is the one I feel sorry for. I’m talking about the people who go on holiday to exactly the same place every year for 20 years and never own a place out there or travel beyond the town. The ones who go on holiday, are surrounded by gorgeous local food and choose to eat chips and a kebab. The ones who make no effort to integrate or explore the culture because it is easier and safer to stay in their hotel and sunbathe by the pool. This is not travel.
10. The Hopeless Traveller – these are the ones who never have much luck with travel, miss their flights, they get ill the day before they are due to go, their hotel is overbooked or they loose all their luggage. They seem doomed to never make it without any problems and are always the ones whose names are called over the intercom. Despite all this, they always make it in the end, just not always to the place they intended.

What kind of traveller are you? Can you think of any other travellers you’ve spotted – share them below.