Contributing to this thread, Tourist Simulator Day, got me thinking as to whether I am a tourist or not.

I visit two or three times a year, for up to three weeks at a time so I guess that I am a tourist. On the other hand, I have friends in Switzerland who I visit and am hoping to move there at some time in the future.

If I am not a tourist, and not an expat, what does that make me?

On a more serious note, perhaps some of you may be able to advise me. If I visit for longer periods, when do I need to be aware of other regulations? I know that if I am away from home for a month or more at a time it can affect my home insurance. Are there similar things in Switzerland e.g. medical eligibility?

You live in England, therefore any visit to our shores (sic) would clearly categorize you as a tourist.

Your choice taste in music may or may not allow you to enjoy fringe benefits, but this would certainly not include: medical coverage, lawn-mowing activities on Sundays, cowbell symphonies or yodeling from mountain peaks.

Alles klar?

would it all boil down to having a local postal adress??

On a more subjective note, it's when the place feels like home and when you roam about the city/village/mountains/prairies/heidi's stomping ground as if it were you own ... perhaps

a lot of this stems from identity issues which many here must have already grappled with.

I know der Schweiz is for me; sometimes I have impressed locals because it appeared I knew the city better than them(their comments not mine)!
It's in my gut for a long time but only recently have I pushed to try and make it a reality. here's to hoping

To me, you're a traveller, not a tourist.

It depends totally ON YOU alone. Of course, on the day of arrival you ARE a tourist. I see this on arrival in Arab countries. On the day of arrival until having checked in in the hotel I am the arriving tourist. But then, getting out of the hotel a while later I am just another Arab on the road.

Like me, you could call yourself a visitor or guest (Besucher/Gast). I think of a tourist as someone racing around (often in buses) to see the sights and take photos, rather than primarily spending time with friends and/or family. That's not to say a guest can't go sight-seeing.

Of course, it's still nice to be able to fall back on "tourist" status when it's convenient (language problems, embarrassing errors... ).

I would apply to you the term I apply to myself: "regular visitor".

At least that is the term I apply to myself in Romandie. When I am outre Sarine the lack of language makes me feel like a stranger. Glorious mountains, no doubt, but I miss the human interactions.

I prefer tourist to traveler now.. lived in Ireland for a while and travelers over there had white van's with a big caravan/trailer attached to it, howya boss not the type of travelers i want to be named after

Your no longer a tourist the minute you pay rent i guess ?

True, where I come from, traveller doesn't have that connotation.

Is this how you see me?

coming back to this I have seriously reconsidered what I said


you ain't a tourist until you registered to the local gemeinde, have started paying up local taxes including the billag(some may argue they're super high, others may say omg it's great) and that you've paid a few tickets/fines for various things such as bad parking/farting the wrong pay/keeping your clothes in the washer twenty-one seconds over the alloted time.