My Santorini by Jono Cusack

Santorini, a beacon of light and hope for Greece in the middle of the Cyclades. The island is typical of paradise with incredible views, spectacular beaches, and supposedly, the occasional beautiful woman. The only thing missing, was everyone else.

The tourist

Etymologically, the word tour is derived from the Latin, ‘tornare’ and the Greek, ‘tornos’, meaning ‘a lathe or circle; the movement around a central point or axis’. This meaning changed in modern English to represent ‘one’s turn’.

The suffix –ism is defined as ‘an action or process; typical behaviour or quality’, while the suffix, –ist denotes ‘one that performs a given action’. When the word tour and the suffixes –ism and –ist are combined, they suggest the action of movement around a circle. One can argue that a circle represents a starting point, which ultimately returns back to its beginning. Therefore, like a circle, a tour represents a journey in that it is a round-trip, i.e., the act of leaving and then returning to the original starting point, and therefore, one who takes such a journey can be called a tourist.”*