Guilty Tourist

Travellers travel to "find themselves"
I haven't heard that one in years!

Another thing!
Your friend's purple dress is adorable!!

The question is, why did you write about this?
And I am asking it because of what you tell Magda: With a melancholic tone, I told Magda, “I won’t write about this.” “Why would you?” she replied understandingly, “This has nothing to do with traveling.” So what made you change your mind?

Aha, I understand :)
If it helps at all, don't feel guilty about what you have or have not seen, and don't place too much importance on the opinions of fellow travellers/tourists. I am pretty sure the guilt flows both ways anyway, there are plenty of 'tourists' who are told by 'travellers' that what they are doing is somehow unworthy of travelling. People have the tendency to judge each other on what they do or don't do, and upon that judgement we are then placed in whatever category fits the description best. I personally consider myself both a tourist and a traveller and don't see any discrepancy between the two, one flows from the other and vice-versa, at least for me. For me the guilt used to work the other way around. I used to feel super guilty about going to a tourist attraction, because in the eyes of my fellow travellers this was seen as a faux-pas. Doing so was crossing some invisible line and a betrayal to the community and inevitably I would get disapproving glances. Sights are for tourists, the real traveller has passed far beyond that point and discovered some invisible truth. Luckily I grew out of that guilty phase and I really couldn't give a hoot now about how others view me. I will happily go to the Taj Mahals or Ankor Wats of this planet, because for me they are not only extremely beautiful places, but they are interesting from a historical, cultural and religious perspective. And just because millions of other people think so as well, doesn't make them less significant. In short I do it for myself, and how I measure up to other because of that doesn't enter the equation. Your guilty tourist complex will most likely leave you at some point as well, and you won't care whether or not you have been to the Great Wall of China after spending two months in Beijing or so, and you won't feel guilty when somebody tells you, you should have. Only you know what you should have done, and mostly likely you will have done that which you wanted to do.

I AGREE
You describe it perfectly. I agree with you. I am a traveller because I have been a tourist. Hugs from Argentina. Graciela

Why do we travel?
'Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest'. Georgia O'Keeffe A true traveller's motto. I'll drink to that, Chantel. http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/panorama-5048.html

Tourist vs Traveller
I fully agree with Ralf's response to you earlier - namely that the distinction between the two is blurred. However, if pushed to define a difference, I would say that the more one person immerses themselves in an place in order to experience and understand it more, then the more likely they are to be a traveller. Having said that, I've proudly done both - most times I am the traveller, but I'm also happy being the tourist, seeing some famous site or relaxing somewhere just to escape the world rather than following my usual traveller's approach of seeking to understand this glorious planet more.