Travelers have a way of being judgmental about other travelers

During my siesta-time internet browsing, I came across this post: Travelers have a way of being judgmental about other travelers. I had to laugh, because Tatyana and I have actually been having a fair amount of conversations about this exact topic. Generally, we're not being that judgmental about other travelers. Just comparing and contrasting.

This morning, I went on a walking tour of Sevilla that was filled with only Rick Steves american tourists. I call them "Stevies." I like Stevies. I'm a Stevie.

-The women from SoCal with $2K cameras and questions about flamenco who thought I was the guide before our real guide arrived.

-The retired people from Spokane in matching purple shirts and head to toe REI gear.

-The couple who was in Spain for a short time and then going on a 16 day cruise back to Houston. The wife was dragging the husband around on tours. He clearly wanted a mai-tai and a texas hold 'em tournament ASAP.

Then, there was the 22 year-old trustfunder on the bus yesterday who was describing how he was spending $10K, yet spending only 24-36 hours in every major european city. Awesome dude.

I've been traveling in a very different way than I have in the past. During a month of travel, I will have only slept in six different cities and two different countries. Last fall, I traveled for just two weeks, and I slept in 3x as many cities and countries. On this trip, we're trying out airbnb.com. Basically, people rent out rooms in their homes for short or extended stays. It is somewhere between couchsurfing (I'm still apprehensive of this) and a real bed and breakfast. The neat thing is that you really get out of the tourist areas and experience how people live. In Barcelona, we stayed in the same neighborhood for six days and never saw a tourist in any of the restaurants and stores we went in to. Here in Sevilla we're staying for an entire week. We're a 45 minute walk (10-15 minutes by metro) from the city center...there isn't a large camera and a backpack within a mile of us. We were happy to leave Granada yesterday when the town got over-run by local holiday weekenders (All Saints Day is tomorrow).

Is our relaxed, local way better? Maybe, but maybe not. I recognize that I have the luxury of 4 weeks of vacation time. If I was only here for the standard two week trip, would I spend all of it in the residential neighborhoods of Sevilla and Barcelona? No, I would hostel hop major cities every 2-3 days and come home exhausted. Would I enjoy cooking my own food from local grocery stores if I normally cooked for a family of 4 at home? No, I would appreciate the over-priced and mediocre paella and gazpacho from the english-language menu at the city center. If I'm honest with myself, I really want to order Dominos right now. I saw one down the street and they deliver on Vespas. Everything has a time and a place. Maybe those giant tour groups blocking all the paths with their with matching orange lanyards and headphones aren't so bad after all.