Travelling

Why is everyone so shocked when I say that when visiting a foreign place I prefer to eat what the locals eat, speak their language, rather than doing those stupid tours and taking the same pictures as everyone else?

Does that make me shallow because I prefer culture to History? I'm not saying I don't like History, it's just that I prefer more spontanous trips that can help us broaden our minds. I value meeting the locals, actually speaking with them, learn something from them, taste their delicacies, visit their markets, buy their clothes, see their points of view.

Going to London with Portuguese friends, speak Portuguese all the time, go sightseeing, go to McDonald's because it's cheap and then come back home with a bunch of beautiful conventional pictures that we were in line to take... I'm sorry, that's not for me.