After my first trip abroad, I realized how massive the world is and I started to think it was a shame that we spend so much of our time in just one spot. I’m planning a trip now and it got me thinking:
It’s so easy to just hit the tourist spots, to take a few IG photos, etc. and come back home. But I want to make this a meaningful trip. One where I get to experience local life / food or understand a different way of living and thinking. One that changes my perspective in some way for when I come back home. When I went to Beijing, I did this by traveling with a local. This time, I’m taking a solo trip.
Are there certain things you would include in your itinerary? Other tips? Am I just over-romanticizing travel?
6 comments
I have a similar opinion. I’m not into just having a tourist type experience. My preference is to visit places where I already know someone who lives there. Like visiting Brazil, where I have a friend who back in the day was a foreign student in my country and studied at the same high school as me and then at the same university too.
So, targeting those destinations where you already know someone is a strategy.
Still haven’t found the approach for how to get something similar with a destination where you do NOT happen to already know one of the locals… If you figure out that one, lemme know. Haha
One thing I want to start doing in my travels is take cooking classes. It’s a fun thing to do and you’re learning something that you can take with you.
I try to get a feel of daily life of the locals. I will try to experience the public commute. The local cuisine. Parks or if there are cycling tracks – then i cycle around. I hit the touristy areas too. I love the idea of extended holidays. Like be in a place for a month at least. Experience as much as possible.
I usually hit up the smaller hole in the wall bars when I travel, I’ve learned so much about a town from just chatting up the drunk locals and bartender doing that, you really learn a lot of what goes on behind the scenes.
But it’s risky as well, you have to know to read a room to make sure you are welcome or not, and know how to handle yourself if you get into a situation. I grew up in Detroit though, so I get drawn to seedier places for some reason, I feel at home as bad as it sounds.
researching the food, history, politics and culture of a place not only makes the trip more meaningful, but is a great way to get excited about the trip and enjoy it even before you go.
taking classes taught by locals, like the cooking class suggestion, is good.
make time to wander without a goal, and don’t plan every minute of the trip.
OP, check out the book Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. It will forever change the way you look at travel and even local adventure. It’s a quick read.
My own personal best advice which is also mentioned in the book: travel slower. Take your time and experience a place rather than accumulating passport stamps. You’ll end up with more meaningful experiences and stories and memories that will last forever.