Sorry for the delay in blog posts… I got married last month, which consumed most of my time! I wanted to truly be in the moment, so I pushed this project aside for a bit. Speaking of being in the moment, this is an excellent lead in for my next post:
How should I spend my time on a trip?
Of course you want to see a much as possible with your limited time. Naturally, you are tempted to plan every waking hour down to the minute, but don’t fall into that trap! Not only will you tire yourself out, you won’t have as memorable of an experience. I used to be someone who was always ‘go, go, go!’ when on vacation. If I wasn’t doing something, I felt like I was missing out. After the trip was done, I came back more exhausted than before I left.
Now, fast forward a few years and dozens of trips later… I have found that I enjoy trips more when I only plan a few things I want to see, taking time to truly enjoy the experience. Before I go, I research only a handful of attractions, then I try to organize my day with maybe two or three of the things on my list to see in a day. I don’t want to agonize over trying to fit in every single “tourist” attraction or “must see” place wherever I am headed. I want to do stuff that I truly enjoy!
What was the cause for this change in mindset? A friend recommended I read a book called ‘Slowing Down to the Speed of Life.” This was one of the best books I have come across about finding ways to truly enjoy every moment in life. The idea behind the book is slowing down your mind to help focus on the present moment. (The book is a quick read – I highly recommend you browse through it if you get the chance!) Isn’t that the idea behind taking a trip somewhere? You want to have FUN in the new place! If you have a million things planned that you want to do on a certain day, you are always going to have the next thing on your agenda in the back of your mind. You won’t be enjoying that museum or that hike if you are thinking “I only have 30 minutes left before I have to go to xyz.”
If you try to plan too much, you are setting yourself up for frustration; you are left feeling rushed all the time. Imagine you are in Chicago and you really wanted to check out Shedd’s Aquarium. Before you go to the aquarium you want to see the Museum of Science and Industry. Then, you get drawn into a really cool exhibit at the museum, losing track of the time. Now you are an hour behind and the aquarium is closing in 30 minutes, meaning you won’t be able to go today. Now you won’t be able to go there at all since you had to go to the aquarium today and don’t have room in your itinerary for the rest of your trip. You are now disappointed; your frustrations rise and you are left feeling like you didn’t get to see everything in the city.
After you get in the right mindset and establish your goals for the trip, how do you decide what to do?
First you need to look at yourself – what do you normally like to do for fun? How do you enjoy spending time on a Saturday afternoon when you are at home? Do you enjoy going to a park? Do you enjoy attending a local festival?
For me, this is being active/working out when I can (yes – even on vacation!), hiking, wandering around aimlessly looking at the scenery, and finding good local craft beer breweries. I also try to find local events going on in the area. I use a combination of Facebook events, Couchsurfing meetups, Meetup.com, BandsInTown, and local news sites to find out if there is anything happening that I might be interested in attending.
Sure you may be tempted to see every single museum or tourist attraction in a city, but how many public museums do you really want to see if you are not truly interested in learning about certain topics? I find that after a while similar museums all start to blur together, meaning I have less of a memorable experience. Sure there are some unique attractions and museums I want to attend, because I have an interest in the topic.
Do some soul searching to figure out what it is you are looking for. Then you are ready to plan your trip. If you find yourself jam packing each day to the brim, cut that list to only a few things. Then, leave the rest of the day up to chance. Trust me, you will end up with a more memorable experience in the end!
Does anyone else have tips for finding things to do while travelling? Please post a comment and let me know!
