This paper explores the processes of entry into and disentanglement from touristhood by a group of inexperienced long haul tourists making their first pleasure trip to Asia. Tourism is seen as an activity that occurs in liminal time and space, enabling the participant to adopt a new role with a different set of social structures and expected behaviors, to a greater or lesser extent, when he or she travels. While the original paper investigating this topic written by Jafai (1987) infers that the process of engagement and disentanglement is relatively quick and seamless, this study found both processes were much more complex, prolonged and subtle than previously envisioned. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.