It's always exciting to explore a new city
‘How do you eat yours?’ So asks the successful ad campaign for Cadbury’s (or should that be Kraft’s?) Creme Eggs. The point being that faced with eating the same egg shaped piece of chocolate, people will adopt a disturbing diversity of approaches to the task.
And surely the same observation applies to visiting a new city. You arrive at your accommodation and drop your bags. The day is still young and it’s time to explore. What is your strategy? Here are just a few of the most obvious approaches. Maybe you fit into one of these. Or maybe there’s a big group I’ve missed out entirely?
1. The military general. The map is pulled out in the hotel and double checked. A series of points have been carefully marked out, and a line drawn to join the dots. You know exactly where you’ll go and what you want to see, and you will follow this route come hell or high water. You have even chosen a place where you will eat, and know the time at which you will reach this spot. Reservations booked of course.
2. The bar hopper. You have the names of the favourite hang-outs as listed in your guidebook, and you immediately head for these watering holes. You’ll step out for some fresh air and visit the nearby sights if you have time, but if the craic is good then what’s the point? It’s the people who make a place memorable and you’re surrounded by a great crowd already, so why leave?
3. The tourist in denial. You have read the many stories warning you not to look like a tourist. So you have your map, but you never look at it in public, only letting it see the light of day when safely locked in a toilet cubicle. You won’t ask for directions in case people pick up that you’re not from round these parts and cart you away to be slayed as a human sacrifice. So you go from memory, having studied the map in detail before you left, and rely on frequent trips to the bathroom to recheck your coordinates.
4. The fearless wanderer. Not for you the predictability of a map or a guidebook. You’re straight into the heart of the action, and the smells and sights will guide you on your way. You don’t care if you won’t see the must-see sights. Within an hour you’ll be deeply engrossed in a conversation with local people, sharing photos of your family and being invited to eat the insides of a goat that will be slaughtered in your honour at a mountain cabin.
5. The useless planner. You want to be organised, and you’ve spent ages reading the guide books and studying the maps. You set off with a strong idea of what you want to see and how you are going to get there. And then it all goes wrong. You get distracted by a food stall that serves something you can’t resist, and then you get lost and end up somewhere you shouldn’t be. When you get out your map you realise you’re miles from where you thought you were, and you end up looking at glum suburbs and getting back to your lodgings exhausted and having seen little of what you’d planned.
I suspect we can identify a little of ourselves in many of these styles. For myself I would have to confess to fitting mostly into the last category. I don’t know why I bother planning. Last year we arrived in Damascus and as we were staying less than a mile from the Old City I decided to leave the guide book in the hotel and just make our way there and explore the narrow lanes and the souk. We spent over an hour wandering a series of narrow lanes, thinking that it really wasn’t that nice and wondering why there were no tourists. It eventually clicked that we were in the wrong part of the city altogether! Thankfully we had three more days to find the real Old City…
Oh, no surprise here. I’m sure you’ve already guessed I’m the fearless traveler
Oh, I hope to bee the fearless wanderer, but it’s nice to read about the pitfalls of citysploring!
that’s some very smooth product placement there! why, that’s funny, suddenly I feel like a cadbury cream egg?
I’m a military general who goes on city breaks with the OH who is a useless planner. So we end up doing something in between.
Glad to hear there’s a healthy mix of types out there. Heather, I really should get sponsored by Cadbury’s here shouldn’t I
Thanks to all for the comments.
Before leaving I lay a route on the map from point A to point B, memorize it and then put the map away and follow it. The thing is that my memory isn’t that good, so I end up wandering a long time getting to know the location
Use second hand record shops as way points, you can always visit the sites as you wander searching for vinyl. Meet people, find local music, get to see bands and get recommended great local bars and locals only happenings..
You will still have to hunt the stores down
Plans are there to be changed, just keep your wallet in your front pocket and a photo copy of your passport some where.
There’s no place not worth going.
I guess I’m mostly type 5… but you can also discover great places just wandering around! Planning is fine but getting distracted isn’t bad as long as you’re having a good time right? You can always go back to see everything else you didn’t cross off the list the first time around..
I’m definitely #5 – useless planner. I get distracted easily…hence why twitter is like a drug.
depending on circumstances and time available..I can be number 4/5 or even 1
There’s nothing worse than going to a new city with someone who has EVERY single detail and cheesy tourist trap mapped out. I traveled with a friend to Paris a number of years ago and I swear, every minor detail (which was to the hour) was on her iphone. The best way to travel, in my humble opinion, is to simply turn up, and see where the crowd takes you.
Thanks for sharing RIchard. That sounds like a nightmare travel companion!
Umm… I have to admit that reading these types of travelers/visitors I don’t know if I’m a perfect match for a single type. When I go in a different country and don’t know when I’ll get back there I must admit i have a plan (days and points of interest). However, although I stick to the plan, I always want to explore, go in different places, see the streets and places not so common (mentioned in guides). When in my own country the things are simpler. However I plan a trip in advance – including vacations in Romania (for instance this year I knew the touristic objectives available in the Apuseni Mountains, close to the place where we stayed). We found out also different ponits of interest and visited them too – and promised to get back there for there is a lot to see.