A recent conversation with my mother about how I'm conducting my current travels led me to evaluate my travel methodology. Based on my observations of myself and my friends, I believe there are two extremes to the traveling spectrum that most people fall somewhere between. On the one hand you have those people who read all the books and fill each minute of each day with a tour, sight, or museum. Then there are those people who don't plan anything. They do no research and figure it out as they go. This summer for example, I met a young traveler in Boise who was figuring out how to get home to Pocatello, Idaho. As it turns out, my family was driving as far as Twin Falls on Tuesday, so her plans changed to leave Boise Tuesday instead of Friday. For her, traveling was a constant process of making friends. Need a ride? Make a friend. Need a bed for the night, make a friend.
This post has been moved. Check it out at
moreoftheroad.com
Step 1: WHERE? The answer to this question can be determined in as
arbitrary a method as you like. For example, I chose to visit Folkestone on my current trip to England because
it had some of the cheapest hotel prices within a two hour train trip of
London. Arbitrary? Yes. Good choice? Yes.
 |
| Folkestone harbor |
Step 2: BOOK A ROOF For me, this is the most important step. I've learned the
dangers of traveling without reservations. It can mean sleeping
outside in sometimes less than savory spots. My earliest memory of
this is Copenhagen during the summer of '92. My family spent $100 for a train-car
style staff room in the basement of a hotel. With the conveniences of the internet, it isn't hard to jump online and make a reservation and it can save a good deal of expense and uncertainty later.
Step 3: FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET THERE figuring out locations and transportation can involve a bit of research. Trains and buses often post schedules online, but sometimes it is just easiest to go to a station. I also print a copy of the Hotel
address and a google map of the area before I travel. The map is so I
don't get lost, the address is so I can get a cab if I do get lost. What to do if google maps is wrong (believe it or not, this happens)? Find a place with Free Wi-Fi (in the UK I recommend the train stations) and check again.
 |
| Dunbar's Close Garden, Edinburgh |
 |
| Fountainbridge in Edinbrugh |
Step 4: GO Yup. I generally do very little additional planning until I
am in the location. Sometimes I'll do some research on the history and geography of a location but discovering local attractions and definite plans I put off until after I arrive in the location unless there is an event or place that requires a reservation. There is something about traveling without definite plans that allows for happy surprises, like finding the comfortable and charming writers' museum in Edinburgh nestled in Lady Stair's Close (pictured below) or the little garden that hides in behind the buildings of Canongate beneath the watchful gaze of the Nelson and Burns monuments (pictured above)
 |
| Edinburgh Writers Museum |
Leaving planning to chance helps keep my heart and mind open to the place and the people who inhabit it. It frees me to observe a place with fresh eyes
and decide where I want to go and what I want to do based on what I see and experience and
not on what someone else says I
should want to do. I can see modern
music performed on an intimate stage while floating on a
barge by the
Brooklyn bridge instead of as one among thousands Avery Fischer Hall; I
can walk a pebbly beach amidst a blustery coastal storm instead of
spending the day in a
Canterbury museum; I can enjoy the moment as it comes to me. This is why I travel without plans.
How do you travel? Do you like to plan every detail or 'wing it?' Do you enjoy spontaneity or the certainty of reservations? Stories welcome!
No comments:
Post a Comment