Going to Travel?

Travelling as an activity is, by nature, a learning curve. If you are the right sort of tourist (and there can be no two opinions about it) you are a conscientious person, considerate of others, but eager for the attraction, have done some research beforehand to avoid missing what you will love and are interested by, and enthusiastic to learn more. If you’ve done it well, a good tourist, camera or no, will feel like nothing more than a large pair of eyes at the end of a hard day’s sightseeing. And having carefully attended to all that a guide or guidebook can say (I refuse to downplay the value of these), will still habour an interest that will cause further self-study or more exploration on one’s own.

In my case, I would be a liar if I didn’t own that my experiences have always been pretty instructive, whether I will it or not. In the past two weeks alone, I have learnt that I can navigate the complicated Underground of London, but have not managed with straightforward overground, the necessity of tea in teapots and therefore tea cups in social tea drinking, the value of an evening newspaper, that suffixes like ‘worthy’ (as in Eggworthy) mean a hamlet or homestead and that I can no longer ride a bicycle.

As testified by journalist Caitlin Moran in a recent article, life can be divided into ‘AMAZING ENJOYABLE TIMES’ and ‘APPALLING EXPERIENCES THAT WILL MAKE FUTURE AMAZING ANECDOTES.’ And the same principle can be applied, without fail, to anyone’s vacation. Being able to laugh at yourself is a valuable asset on any trip whether it be one day or a lifetime. That being said, here are a few tips to abide by on your travels.

1.       See Everything. If you’re reading this, I can already guess several things about you. That you are preparing to make the most of your vacation, is easy. The Experienced Well-Travelled Person (who is always a bore in company, speaking with annoying superiority of the sights you have not yet witnessed) is not the sort of person who would be interested by this article, having managed so far so well on their own. You, however clearly are interested in improving your experience in every way. Therefore I can safely advise you to see everything. Don’t be afraid to be the tourist. So many people who live close by don’t even notice what they are daily passing, or take no trouble to see the wonder on their doorstep. You have the advantage of the time and will to see things, and the fresh eyes of an outsider. Visit historic sites, famous artworks, and favourite buildings. Buy souvenirs – not only ‘for friends’ but yourself. Take pictures – when will you ever look back on a photo of something beautiful, or the thrilled face of yourself in front of something so well-known that it feels surreal to be there, and regret it? Don’t become acclimatised to the beauty of it all, despite the soulless movement of the crowds. Be awed every day. Look at the awe on the faces of others. Talk to the locals, get to know their stories. Mingle in their circles and find out their favourite spots. Don’t be tempted to just ‘do’ the sights, immerse yourself in your location. Absorb it all.

2.       See Nothing. Don’t be afraid to prioritise. If you’re on a tight schedule or a shoe-string budget, don’t hesitate to dock the lists of hotspots. Sure, you may not see everything in the Baedecker, but would you really want to see everything in a rapid superficial way, or experience the best of them with a little breathing space to enjoy it? Don’t misunderstand me, I am not censuring the hop-on, hop-off bus trips for example (because they are invaluable to discover the layout of a city, and can often be helpful in prioritising what wants further exploration and what you are satisfied from the vantage point of the vehicle). What I am saying is that after walking a city all day, I see nothing wrong with yielding to the temptation to go home early, enjoy a quiet supper, a nice glass of wine and or an early night. If you are fatigued, what good will extra pleasures have, stuffed in wherever there’s space, when you have not the wit to enjoy them?

3.       So Research Everything. For those on tight schedules or empty budgets, research is crucial. What you want to avoid is discovering, once the opportunity is gone, that you have missed something that would have really appealed to you, that you overspent on some article here, when you could have spend half over there, or that you came within a few steps of something you were desperate to view, but never knew it was there. One of my regrets was never going up the Notre Dame, because I was not aware that the queue was some 2 hours long and had I known, I could have made the time, but as it was, I missed it. Those are the sort of little annoyances you want to avoid. It’s pretty hard to bear when no return journey is on the near horizon to know by what a small margin you missed out on something great. So prepare for that, and find out ticket prices, opening times, map out a route for optimum time management when going around to all the places you need to go.

4.       Regret Nothing. So yes, we’ve established that funds are limited, and your trip (unless you are a multimillionaire, at leisure to take off as much time as you need to do whatever you want – in which case, why are you reading this?) will also be limited. You will of course try to cram in all you can, but once you have done that, you can do no more. Don’t come back and ruin your memories with regrets, enjoy your experiences and come back enriched. Having said that, actually, I’m sure you can hardly do otherwise.