Exploring, not Planning - Keeping Your Travel Plans Loose, and Just Going Wherever the Flow Takes You

[DaveO]

What I considered two excellent posts by Joe H from the wonderful What do you do with Two weeks in Western Europe thread  had me think back to some unmatched experiences that generally followed Joe H's suggestions from here

There is much to be said for literally getting lost and sharing the adventure of discovery. My nod to tech is a navigation system that will always allow me to find my way back to my hotel-if I want. There is great pleasure in research; there can be great pleasure too in finding what one might have never heard or thought of. Some times, perhaps often, the Internet can be a huge distraction from what is outside the window or through a door. 

and an excerpt from this subsequent post

My point is that many visit, take vacations where their friends and neighbors may have a frame of reference.  I am only suggesting that some of these "typical" destinations are not necessarily the most beautiful nor the most interesting. Even in the destination itself.  So many look for that which is familiar, that which they can talk to a neighbor about.  As I noted above I can imagine that many Europeans have walked on the Mall in D. C. but few, if any, have walked the Wilson bridge or, in the Spring, the Chesapeake Bay bridge.  Certainly they've never even heard of Fort Washington. (!)

I love Cortina, I based business trips in Soave, stayed in Bolzano while travelling from Munich to Verona.  I rarely met an American in Cortina, never met an American in Soave and wished I could speak German in Bolzano.  I should also mention that a Milanese developer had moved into the 1,000+ year old walled city and was renovating ancient structures for sale to those who spent weekends nearby.

With the Euro @ 1.06 as I type this these are condominiums worth a fantasy.  Certainly worth a discussion.

Perhaps a first trip to Europe should be to the familiar.  But for second trips, for a life's adventure I urge anyone reading this to explore.  Almost 25 years ago I was in another Italian walled city, Montagnana.  After my business was over I had the next day free.  The company who entertained me suggested that I should see Venice-that it was beautiful and I would have a memory when I returned to America to discuss with my friends and neighbors.  Not Montagnana which was adventurously, enchantingly beautiful (and unheard of) but Venice which, for many of my American friends and neighbors, would be familiar.

Several years later I was in Venice, having a glass of wine sitting next to a couple from, I think, Munich-at least somewhere in Bavaria.  We were in Alle Testiere a small restaurant that I passionately love.  We talked about where we, Americans, had visited in Italy and where they, Germans, had discovered.  At some point they mentioned a walled city somewhere south of Verona.  One of them thought the name was Montagnana but couldn't spell it in German let alone Italian.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  Montagnana.  A discovery for someone from Germany.  Unheard of to an American:  a walled city where nobody I ever met had even heard of.  Yet, I was sitting next to a couple from another country who like me had fallen in love with it.

For your second trip, go and explore.  Get lost.  Perhaps you'll meet someone from elsewhere that one day you'll remember and write about.  You may even have a memorable glass of wine which would not taste as good if you were in America.  You may even bring the empty bottle back in your luggage and, one day, look at it and remember the night you had a glass from it.

 

Certainly my most memorable experiences were from exploring and meeting invariably friendly and helpful natives:

Joe's suggestions reminded me of this unforgettable experience:

In the late 70's I spent 2 weeks in Greece and environs; 1 week on my own and 1 week traveling with a companion.  In the first week, while on my own I took a boat from Athens to Crete;  landing in Heraklion, the capital, plus on the Northern Coast of Crete roughly midway between East and West.  The late 70's;  there were guide books, but my plans were sketchy with the intent to rent a motorbike and ride the Northern Coastal Road with Mediterranean on one side and mountains on the other side.

When I approached an operator about renting a motorbike, he recognized my accent and relative youth and similarity in age and responded to my request with this somewhat "challenging question";  "Are you capitalist, communist, or socialist?"    (Oh damn, politics were going to intrude upon my vacation!!!!!)

Luck struck.  I had and carried in my wallet a business card from Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey, formerly headquartered in the DC area.  It was colorful with lions and elephants on it.  I responded:  "I'm none, I'm circus"...and showed him the colorful card.

How lucky.  He exulted "I love circus".   We spoke a bit and he convinced me to wait a day and he would take me on a tour of the Eastern trip along the Coastal Highway and introduce me to friends.   And so we did for one day on 2 motorbikes amidst gorgeous weather.  A highlight was stopping at a roadside inn, possibly halfway East.  He knew the owner and had me show them the business card and we all spoke circus.   We dined on fish pulled fresh from onsite aquarium storage having been recently caught.  It was incredible.  The hosts were spectacular and experience was breathtaking.

On the following day I traveled alone on the Western route of this wonderful scenic highway and stopped at a similar inn wherein he had contacted the owner and told him I'd be visiting.  The hospitality was similarly beyond gracious and the meal was again of a method and quality that I had never previously experienced.  All I did was show the circus business card.

I've had other similarly wonderful experiences by exploring and engaging natives in a variety of nations and domestically but that was the best.   I agree with Joe H.  Its a wonderful way to travel.   On the other side of the coin, I know my natural inclination has been to be similarly friendly and helpful to travelers and I've witnessed the same from others I know.  Its often the most rewarding way to travel.  I concur with Joe H.

[Joe H]

What I considered two excellent posts by Joe H from the wonderful What do you do with Two weeks in Western Europe thread  had me think back to some unmatched experiences that generally followed Joe H's suggestions from here

and an excerpt from this subsequent post

Certainly my most memorable experiences were from exploring and meeting invariably friendly and helpful natives:

Joe's suggestions reminded me of this unforgettable experience:

In the late 70's I spent 2 weeks in Greece and environs; 1 week on my own and 1 week traveling with a companion.  In the first week, while on my own I took a boat from Athens to Crete;  landing in Heraklion, the capital, plus on the Northern Coast of Crete roughly midway between East and West.  The late 70's;  there were guide books, but my plans were sketchy with the intent to rent a motorbike and ride the Northern Coastal Road with Mediterranean on one side and mountains on the other side.

When I approached an operator about renting a motorbike, he recognized my accent and relative youth and similarity in age and responded to my request with this somewhat "challenging question";  "Are you capitalist, communist, or socialist?"    (Oh damn, politics were going to intrude upon my vacation!!!!!)

Luck struck.  I had and carried in my wallet a business card from Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey, formerly headquartered in the DC area.  It was colorful with lions and elephants on it.  I responded:  "I'm none, I'm circus"...and showed him the colorful card.

How lucky.  He exulted "I love circus".   We spoke a bit and he convinced me to wait a day and he would take me on a tour of the Eastern trip along the Coastal Highway and introduce me to friends.   And so we did for one day on 2 motorbikes amidst gorgeous weather.  A highlight was stopping at a roadside inn, possibly halfway East.  He knew the owner and had me show them the business card and we all spoke circus.   We dined on fish pulled fresh from onsite aquarium storage having been recently caught.  It was incredible.  The hosts were spectacular and experience was breathtaking.

On the following day I traveled alone on the Western route of this wonderful scenic highway and stopped at a similar inn wherein he had contacted the owner and told him I'd be visiting.  The hospitality was similarly beyond gracious and the meal was again of a method and quality that I had never previously experienced.  All I did was show the circus business card.

I've had other similarly wonderful experiences by exploring and engaging natives in a variety of nations and domestically but that was the best.   I agree with Joe H.  Its a wonderful way to travel.   On the other side of the coin, I know my natural inclination has been to be similarly friendly and helpful to travelers and I've witnessed the same from others I know.  Its often the most rewarding way to travel.  I concur with Joe H.

Wonderful post, DaveO - just wonderful.  Thank you for sharing.

[Sundae in the Park]

Luck struck...

I think it depends on a lot of factors, including the traveler, the place, the locals, and the dosage of luck. Yes, one of my favorite traveling memories is wandering the Jewish quarter of Paris with my siblings, drinking quarts of freshly squeezed blood orange juice bought on the street (we all got one, then promptly went back for more. That's a loft of blood oranges!), ducking in and out of mysterious nooks and shops in the violet twilight...And then there's our experience in China. We had gone in atypically (for me) unprepared - the hotels and transportation were all pre-selected but we didn't make any food plans thinking that we could get by exploring and through local help (I speak fairly broken Mandarin, but most of it is food words). We visited quite of few of the major tourist attractions and then tried to find good food in the vicinity. Except for the street food and the lounge food at the Hilton (where we often ate in self-defense after starving all day), we couldn't really get what we wanted and people were uniformly brusque and even mean (Note that a Chinese-looking person without perfect Mandarin or some other dialect is considered defective and a great target for rudeness) when approached for help. This includes wait staff in restaurants! (There are some benefits to a tipping culture after all!) There were also a couple cases of almost literal highway robbery (the nice cab driver takes you to a great place he knows...they set a lot of perfectly good food in front of you that you didn't order but insist you eat...now you owe lots of $ and have no way out except the suddenly shark-like driver). Now, maybe this is because we were in all big cities - Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi'An, but it was our experience everywhere in China and truly one of the more disappointing travel experiences we've ever had and we regret the lack of planning to this day. An N of one, but it's my N.

I'd say that, for a planner like me, there is value in knowing the wonders that can be found off a schedule or itinerary. As such, excursions to particular areas suited for exploration (feasting from as many stalls as possible when dropped off near Bangkok Chinatown) can be trip highlights, but I still need to be mindful that a complete lack of preparation can result in relatively expensive cab rides to random scary neighborhoods culminating in McDonald's on our last night in Asia  (my companion was on her last straw and insisted). On the other hand, a cab driver in Mexico City directed us to his family's place, which ended up being the best meal of the trip. It is important to know that I don't always need to show up clutching a cross-referenced hit list of geographically efficient critical darlings. Just most of the time ;-)

[Bart]

I completely agree with both of you, but on the other hand, if time is short planning out your visit makes sense.

But back to the subject at hand......all of my adult age trips to Europe and Asia have been work related so free time was limited to nights and weekends.  And most of my best memories were related to random events and activities.

I was also in Crete but with a group of 7 or 8 coworkers.  On a Saturday we decided to drive from the north west coast to the south west coast to the famous pink sand beach.  I plotted a course along a tiny, windy mountain road with nothing on it except beautiful views and one small town about half way (45 mins or so) to the beach.  We got out and went into the only store we could find.  It was a literally a mom and pop store that sold food and drink and olive oil, etc.  We ended up buying a ton of stuff to take home, like plastic bottles of home made olive oil, filled before our eyes out of a big barrel, complete with hand written labels, tea, wine, raki (a local after dinner communal drink served in shot glasses and often tasting slightly worse than paint thinner), etc.  We also bought some food to eat and drink for breakfast at the little tables outside.  As were sitting there eating, the old man and his wife came out with a tray with a bunch of cookies and 8 shots of raki for us to enjoy.  Maybe as a thanks for buying our half their store, or maybe as a thanks for being an unexpected surprise outside of tourist season (this was November and by the time we made it to the beach, we were the only ones there).  Who knows?  Either way, that tiny shop and that nice gesture is one of my best memories of the trip.

I had planned to write more but ran out of time............more to come maybe.....?

[DaveO]

I agree with Sundae in the Park and Bart also.  On business trips with fully scheduled days and coordination and travel time booked....plan, make reservations.  It beats ending up at a hole in the wall for dinner.  About two decades ago in one leisurely trip, mostly reliant on "exploring" we both experienced..being taken advantage of and hostile reactions....and positive experiences  (SE Asia).   the best best experiences though have been via exploring.   The positives have outweighed the negatives.

[dracisk]

Interestingly enough, I had one of the best unplanned travel experiences of my life in China when I studied abroad there in 1993 (eons ago, especially when it comes to China!). I don't look Chinese-American (I'm white), and I spoke Mandarin very well at the time. I know my fellow travelers in my study abroad group who were Chinese-American had experiences similar to what Sundae in the Park described ("Your Chinese is terrible!" "I'm American!" "No you're not! You're Chinese!"), but basically whatever came out of my mouth was amazing because I'm white.

We had a week-long break from school in the fall, and a friend and I flew from Nanjing to Chengdu (a really big deal to fly at the time!) then took a train to Chongqing in order to take a Yangzte River cruise through the Three Gorges back to Nanjing. (We took a boat for Chinese tourists as opposed to a boat for foreign tourists (not that there were many foreign tourists in China at the time) and ate fangbian mian (a/k/a "convenient noodles" a/k/a instant noodles) for a week. I have no idea why we didn't eat in the cafeteria with everyone else "“ maybe we were trying to save money? We were quite a curiosity on the boat.)

In Chongqing we somehow got to talking to this Chinese guy who was probably a little older than we were. I think his English name was Eric. Now that 22 years have passed I can't remember how we came across him. He may have just approached us, which happened often because people wanted to practice their English with us. We ended up spending most of an afternoon with him, and he invited us to his apartment for dinner. At the time (not sure if this has changed) going to a Chinese person's home was a big deal for a foreigner. At our schools (one in Nanjing and one in Beijing) we stayed in foreign student dorms, not with families. I can't remember the details of what we ate, but I remember enjoying the meal. (I seem to remember a tofu dish. Could it have been mapo dofu? We were in Sichuan Province.) Our cruise back to Nanjing left the next morning, and Eric met us at the dock to see us off. I remember standing on the deck of the boat and watching him wave to us as we pulled away. So sweet.

He gave me a tchotchke as a memento that I still have. My toddler was recently pretending to answer the tchotchke as if it was a phone (it's roughly the same size as a smartphone). I think we stayed in touch via letter for a while (this was pre-email for Eric, although I had primitive email back home), but we lost touch a long, long time ago.

[DanielK]

Warning - long post ahead!

Back in the early 90s, I was on a cruise and tour of Alaska with my (now ex) wife for our honeymoon. A week on the boat, and then a week-long "semi-escorted" tour on the land. (side note - EVERYONE should do this trip at least once in their life. 20+ years ago and I remember every day like it was yesterday). As we're on the buses after the ship, heading to Juneau, everyone is being delivered packets that lay out your exact agenda - which hotels you're at, what time your bags need to be outside the door, when to catch your bus, etc.

There are a couple of older gentlemen sitting in the row across from us, and they look mighty confused. Clearly they are having a language issue with the docs. We can't figure out what language they are speaking, but my ex spoke pretty fluent Spanish, and it sounded *like* Spanish, so she thought she would say hi and see if they needed help.

As it turns out, they did also speak Spanish, but what they were speaking was Mallorqui, a dialect of Catalan. After a bit of back and forth, it turns out that they had requested Spanish documents that weren't provided. We spoke to the tour representative, and apparently they never got the notice, and there wasn't anything they could do at this point.

Now, when you do the semi-escorted tours, that means that they get you from place to place, and provide some tours along the way, but you're largely on your own for meals and getting around in the cities. But it also means that there are a lot of possible itineraries, so it's not like 1000 people on the boat were all doing the same thing.

So, here's the stunning coincidence - the two gents had *exactly* the same itinerary that we did, down to heading to similar-timed flights out of Vancouver on the final day, and they were the only ones on the ship that did. So, for the next week, we had traveling companions. We made sure and checked in with them a couple of times during the day, letting them know where they had to be, and we shared a number of meals with them, but they also gave us some space, so it's not like we were with them every waking moment. They were very gracious and appreciative, and obviously experienced travelers. Best friends from childhood, as they told us, and they loved to travel together.

At the end of the week, as we're in the airport saying farewell, they give us their contact information in Mallorca. "We own a hotel", they say, and you must come visit us next year and stay at our property.

This is where the actual story begins.

We call them that winter, and say that we'd love to come out that year. Spring is best, they said, before the high season kicks in. We settle on a week, make travel plans, and prepare for our trip. I'm a bit concerned about the language barrier, but after communicating with one of their granddaughters who is roughly our age, it turns out that "everyone speaks English and Spanish - only my grandfather and his generation insist on speaking Mallorqui". Their town is roughly in the center of the island, but nothing on the island is more than 30 minutes drive from their town, so we figure we'll get a rental and explore as much as we want.

As the date gets closer, they insist that they will pick us up from airport, and we can get the car another day. As the puddle-jumper from Barcelona is pulling in, we can see that every car, as far as we can see, is TINY. Most of them are Fiat Cinquicentos, 3-door hatchbacks. We wonder how 4 of us and our suitcases are going to fit into one of those.

Well, they meet us at baggage claim, and we walk out to their car. Parked in a no-parking zone at the curb. A brand new, high-end, extended-wheelbase Mercedes. It's the only one like it we see the entire week.

We start driving, and catching up on what's new since last summer. After nearly an hour (should have only taken 30 minutes to get from the airport to their town), they say "oh, we forgot to hold a room for you at our hotel, but we're putting you in our friend's place." Hey, free hotel for a week, what do we care?

We finally pull in, it's early afternoon. We get to the desk, and the clerk looks up, obviously recognizing our friends. They say a few quiet words, and a key appears. They tell us to settle in, and they'll pick us up at 8p for dinner.

We take our bags upstairs, and I take a glance out the window. And all I see is sand and water - we've gone clear across the island to a beachfront hotel in Port d'Alcíºdia, considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the Mediterranean. And our "hotel" room is gorgeous - a 1BR apartment with a full kitchen.

The next week is unbelievable. Nearly every day they either take us to visit something on the island, or take us out for dinner. They refuse us to pay for a single thing, laughing every time we offer.

At one of the dinners, they meet us there, just giving us an address and time. We find the place, but there's no sign it's a restaurant, just a number on the door. We knock, and the door is opened. A small dining room is beyond the door. We introduce ourselves, and are taken to "their" table. Near the front door. We start to sit, and "oh, no, those are their seats, you sit here." Their seats face the door. Over the next 3 hours, through more courses than I can remember, including a paella that I do still remember, every person that walks through that door either talks to them, or at least acknowledges them.

Another day, we're taking a tour of the mountains on the west side of the island. We pull into what is basically a rest stop, with a steam table cafeteria in front. We walk in, they walk in, they're recognized, and 5 minutes later there's a single table set with a tablecloth and fresh flowers, and we're brought a fantastic multi-course lunch.

There are a dozen more examples like this over the week. It was funny seeing them interact with younger people, who would speak in Spanish or English, and they would insist on being addressed in Mallorqui. It's still a hot topic there today.

We kept in touch with them for a few years after, sending holiday cards, and eventually lost touch.

But to this day, I am absolutely convinced that we were guests of the Mallorcan mafia.

[astrid]

A lot of these lost stories sounds more like a local took you under their wing and you had a great time.  I'm not sure that's what I think of as getting lost.  More like signing onto a guided trip and then having a really awesome time, which I'm totally down with.

For me, lost is going blind into a situation with no more than a map and trust that things will work out.  We've done a few driving trip out west with very vague plans and they have worked out pretty well, but we also missed major landmarks that we would have wanted to see if we had known about them (like the time when we flew out of Page AZ and the BLM information desk lady didn't tell us about Antelope Canyon or Rainbow Bridge, so we didn't get to see them).  After a few of those trips, it just made more sense to me to do more planning ahead to make sure that I didn't miss something I really would have wanted to see, knowing that it'll be many years before I can justify another trip to cover the same grounds.

In any case, I don't think spontaneous travel experiences must be separated from trip planning.  In fact, good planning allows for vagaries of weather, surprises pleasant and unpleasant, and information gathered once on the ground.  For me, I read the guidebooks and websites to make a potential list of must-dos and maybes, book things that make sense to book ahead (high demand restaurants, guided tours, hotels, car rental), and then leave enough time on the schedule to accommodate other activities.  Sometimes, something comes up that sounds good and we'll follow that.  But many of my best travel experiences would have been impossible without meticulous planning ahead.

[dracisk]

I think there's a difference between exploring without a plan and getting lost (though exploring without a plan may result in getting lost). I've done trips in which everything was planned (by me and/or for me) and trips where little was planned. I think when you're wandering around a neighborhood or a town without a plan (popping into a bookstore or a coffee shop or a church that looks interesting but isn't in your guidebook) you're more likely to meet a local who may take you under his or her wing. If you're constantly rushing from one planned activity to another I think you have fewer opportunities for such spontaneity.

The bottom line is that I think a little bit of both (planning and exploring without a plan) makes for a great trip. If I've never been to a place I'm certainly more likely to plan more before I go so I can see the major sights that interest me. At the same time, I'm always sure to build in plenty of unstructured time to just wander, hang out, and (hopefully) enjoy wherever I am. One of my first trips to Europe was an 11-day tour of London, Paris, and Rome during which we basically bolted from one major tourist sight to another the entire time. I'm never doing that again. Now when I travel I usually plan one or two activities each day and devote the rest of the time to cafes and park benches. :-)

[astrid]

Now when I travel I usually plan one or two activities each day and devote the rest of the time to cafes and park benches. :-)

That sounds like an excellent "plan".