What am I expecting?

I have now explained the aim of this blog and all you can expect. But what am I expecting myself?

Is there some anxiety present because of the turmoil in the middle-east? I expect that this is the case. I myself am not anxious to travel to dangerous areas, such as Guatemala, one of the countries with the highest criminal records where I have also been. Nevertheless, the last few months I have checked the travel warning of the Dutch government regularly, out of fear I believe. Besides that, I decided to hang around at the airport for four hours to be able to travel together to the hotel instead of alone, as a woman in Jordan, a country in the Middle-East. This is only what I have experienced in Holland, imagine what it will be like there.

Considering one of my other objectives, namely the question whether I will experience this trip differently because of the knowledge about tourism that I have received, I am expecting that I will. Because I can now recognize some of the aspects of tourism, I can link the theories with the occurences in Jordan. For example, when I smell the food and I hear the cars honking I will think about the gaze by John Urry or other theories that explain that you experience the destination with all the senses, such as the more-than representation theory or embodinebt. Moreover, when I talk to tourist who mostly enjoy the restaurants, cafés, shops etcetera, I think about urban tourism. These are only a few examples of thoughts that cross my mind while travelling that didn't before.

What kind of tourist will I be? I believe I am situated between mass tourists and backpackers, which means that I do share some characteristics with the typical tourist, but do not fit in the definition entirely. The mass tourist is most likely present only in Petra.

references:

Urry, J. (2002). The tourist gaze. Sage.

Edensor, T. (2009). Tourism. Elsevier