I travel a lot (definitely more than the average person but usually not as much as I want to). When I share pictures of my adventures online I always receive lots of lovely compliments, like:
- “You do/find the coolest things!”
- “Your trips always look like so much fun!”
- “I love how you seem to enjoy every experience.”
There is a huge difference between experiencing mainly what a destination is “famous for” and actually doing a deep dive to see what hidden gems could be discovered there. The latter involves being open to new experiences, being curious about how people outside your own city or state live, and the desire to learn about a myriad of things along the way. It is how I prefer to travel, and I always encourage others to do the same. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone, but you can build up these skills quite easily with just a little practice, even if you’re not traveling very far from home.
When I travel–whether or not it is my first time going to any given place–I prepare by performing a research ritual. (Fun fact: my sister does this too!) The following is a list, in no particular order, of how I get my pre-trip information and exactly what I’m looking for, with “THE CITY” as a placeholder for any given destination:
Google searches. Some examples of what I search for include but are not limited to:
- What to do in THE CITY
- Top Ten things to do in THE CITY
- Must do in THE CITY
- Unique restaurants in THE CITY
- Must visit bars in THE CITY
- Unique shops in THE CITY
- What to see in THE CITY
- Events in THE CITY
- THE CITY murals (obviously if public art isn’t important to you, skip this)
- Instagrammable spots in THE CITY (if taking pictures isn’t a big part of your travel, skip this)
I do let myself get taken down rabbit holes when I’m searching, because sometimes that’s how I find hidden gems.
Social media. I always check the Facebook and Instagram accounts of THE CITY for up-to-date information like closures and events. When we went to Germany I followed many of the cities and attractions we planned to visit, just to have that information on me and easily accessible on the go. You can always unfollow later, which is what I did…except for a few that I just had to keep so I could be wistful on a semi-regular basis.
Trip Advisor. A simple search of THE CITY in Trip Advisor can bring up top experiences, attractions, restaurants, and hotels as well as reviews and commentary from other users. Trip Advisor is a great place to go when I have a question about THE CITY because usually someone has already asked it.
Atlas Obscura. I love Atlas Obscura because they feature really cool and unusual attractions in THE CITY. They almost always have something that I haven’t found on other sites.
Lonely Planet. I’ve purchased travel guides from Lonely Planet before, and their website is really good, too. When you search for THE CITY, they will give you three deep dive options: Destination, Things to Do, and Stories.
Roadside America. This site is “a guide to offbeat tourist attractions,” and a definite favorite. BUT, get the app so you can use it on the go. With the app, you pay something like seven dollars and that unlocks the entire United States. Once you do that, you can literally open the app anywhere in America and find those offbeat things to see according to the distance from your current location. It’s user supported, which means that people submit attractions and also rate and comment on them. This is extremely helpful because I’d much rather learn from others that something I plan to check out isn’t worth the stop before I actually go there. You can mark when you have visited something, too, and the app will save that information.
Local Tourism sites. Unless you’re visiting a really tiny town, it is highly likely THE CITY has its own tourism site that provides information about shops, restaurants, activities, and more, often with really good intel on parking, weather, and other details you’d find helpful. (Sometimes discounts, too!)
Groupon. Admittedly I don’t do this for every trip, but if I’ll be in a large city I do look for discounts on attractions in my Groupon app.
Public Transportation. Sometimes we have a car on our trip, and sometimes we don’t. Regardless, I like to investigate the public transportation options for THE CITY. My favorite experience with this so far has been Boston, which is an extremely walkable town, but I loved getting around on “The T” when I had to go from, say, the downtown area to Fenway Park. The MBTA in Boston is very tourist-friendly, which isn’t always the case!
Tours. I put tours into three categories: Overview, Scenery, and In-Depth.
- Overview: Something Jim and I like to do when we visit a city for the first time is to take a trolley or bus tour on the first day. Doing this gives us an overview of the area and can solidify where we specifically want to go and check out in detail.
- Scenery: You can certainly consider a trolley or bus tour part of a scenic route experience. This category also includes boat tours, bike tours, and walking tours (self-guided and docent-guided)
- In-Depth: Niche tours are a great way to get to know THE CITY. For example, Chicago has pizza tours, general food tours, architecture tours, beer tours, pedway tours, gangster/crime tours, ghost tours, and more. One type of tour that I adore that also fits here is the factory tour. If THE CITY is famous for the production of something, they might offer a factory tour so you can see how the sausage (or whatever) is made.
Weather. It’s important to research weather in THE CITY, both generally by month and specifically for the time you’ll be there. It’ll help with packing and also expectations for experiencing what you want to experience, like rooftop bars, parks, outdoor sports, and countless other elements.
Grocery stores. It’s always nice to know what the grocery situation is when visiting THE CITY, even if you plan to eat out for all the meals. Knowing where the grocery store is means you’ll have easy access to snacks, health items, or even an umbrella if you didn’t look up the weather ahead of the trip.
Something that my sister and I do that takes a little extra time but is totally worth it is to pin places on Google maps. This way, when we’re out and about we can look at the map and see what we’re near, so we can pop in/stop by. I often create a separate list of pins for murals and other public art, and change the pins so they don’t look like the other, more general list. Here’s what my zoomed-out Munich map looks like. The gold boxes are murals and the hearts are other places of interest.
This list is definitely incomplete–I mentioned that rabbit hole already–but now you know the basics of my pre-travel ritual. I hope this is helpful to those of you who want to get the most out of your experiences away from home!
