The difference between the tourist and the traveller is that the traveller allows themselves to be so shaped by where they are at the moment that they can rightfully say, “I’m not just in Toronto, I am Toronto. I’m not just in love, I am love. I’m not just in the abyss, I am the abyss.”
Unlike the tourist, the objective of the traveller is to not just be moved but to be remade.
And to then shun where and who they are completely so that they can move on to a new way of being, a new city, a new them. Because the traveller knows that you can’t ever truly be in a new city, in a new moment, in a new you, when an older has even a bit of your soul.
The objective of the traveller is to one day look back and say, “Not only did I see everything, I was everything. Not only was I alive, I was life. I was never a tourist.”
“For in my eternal search for something greater, I’ve left too many cities, too many lovers and friends, too many daily routines and ways of living that I was still madly in love with for me to have such a half-hearted title. I am a traveller. I pack my entire life with me when I move, my entire being, I leave nothing behind, not even love.”
The difference between being a tourist and being a traveller is exactly how much of your heart you carry with you.