Ditch Your Schedule and Go Off the Beaten Path

As a traveler, you may only have so much time allotted for your vacation and a huge list of things you want to do. This generally means drawing up a schedule to fit everything in. Although this is a common practice, most travelers find it impossible to visit every place of note in a city, and it is rare to be able to cram in everything you want to do in a limited amount of time.

This can create some stress, especially if you have your family with you and everyone wants to be able to do different things. Before long, you may find that your schedule is ruining your vacation, as you attempt to get everything done in a very short period of time. Instead of enjoying where you are at any given moment, you end up thinking about how to get to the next spot before your time runs out.

By staying a slave to your schedule, you may be missing out on some incredible opportunities to learn more about the culture of the place where you are staying. In addition, trying to get through a tourist guidebook of places to see generally means that you’ll be missing out on discovering some great hidden secrets. Although a schedule can be important, if you want to get off the beaten path, you’re going to have to throw that schedule out the window, at least for one day.

It is best to find a way to spend one day just roaming about, instead of making any set plans. You can do this on your first day in a city, or as one of the last things you do before you go home. Instead of following a rigid schedule on these days that you’ve set aside, allow yourself to sleep in, enjoy a late breakfast and then set your feet to wandering.

Forget about the tourist traps and spend this day visiting local pubs or cafes. In fact, just simply taking a long walk through part of a city can open up numerous new opportunities for fun. You can discover hidden restaurants that aren’t in the guidebooks, as well as unique stores. No matter what you’re interested in, just start wandering around and see what you can find.

If you’ll be staying in a large city, or if you have difficulty with directions, you may want to consider using a handheld GPS system. This will give the safety net of being able to easily find your way back so that you can just focus on having fun. You can even program your hotel in and get exact directions back from wherever you are. This takes a lot of the stress off of wandering around and will give you a chance to see just how many new places you can discover.

On your next trip, give this plan a try and see how much fun it can be to travel when you’re not held back by a schedule.

Photo Credits: 1

Popularity: 20% [?]

This post involves:

amount of time, beaten path, cafes, different things, guidebooks, hidden secrets, huge list, new opportunities, period of time, pubs, restaurants, rigid schedule, short period, sleep, stress, tourist guidebook, tourist traps, traveler, travelers, unique stores

... and focuses on:

Hidden Gems, Localyte, Meet the Locals, Travel Ideas

Posted by Localyte.com Team on November 20, 2008