Now, on these trips, whether it's a short day trip or a two-week vacation, your time is limited at your destination. How do you maximize your enjoyment, considering your limited available time? I think the answer is simple: Research before you depart.
Whenever I go on a trip, I do plenty of research beforehand, especially seeking food and wine spots, from restaurants to markets, from wine stores to wineries. I have other interests as well, and will seek out places which meet those interests too. I want to know about some of the best and most interesting places before I get there. I want to know which places are closest to my hotel, those places I can easily walk to and those places I might need to drive to, or take a taxi.
For my upcoming trip to Croatia, I've already been doing my research, finding fascinating spots that will be close to my travels. I did similar research for my first trip there in 2019, and as an example, I found Cahun, a hat shop in Zagreb that made hats by hand. I found a fine fedora there but it wasn't a shop I would have stumbled upon by accident. If I hadn't done the research before hand, I likely would be been ignorant of this place.
Sure, I like to wander around a new place, to stumble upon place of interests by surprise but,I don't want to rely only on surprise. For that can be a mixed bag, sometimes finding a good place, and other times being very disappointed. And I'd likely miss some fascinating spots that never came within my usual travels. I want to minimize my potential disappointments, so I do my research first.
I might visit an area only once and never return, or not until years later. Thus, I want to experience the best of that area that I can, and that is unlikely to happen without research. A prepared traveler is more likely to have a better and more thorough time, getting to sample the cream of a city. I strongly doubt I could get lucky and just stumble upon all of the great places.
There are some places you might never stumble upon, because they are hidden away, in more remote areas. They might be well off the established tourist routes, or simply difficult to find as they are but one of dozens of similar places in the same region. I want advance information and only research will bring that to me.
Online research about most travel destinations is relatively easy. All it takes is a little time and you will have almost anything you need. Yes, you will have to weed through some useless information, but the search is more than worthwhile. It has definitely made my prior journeys so much better.
So why do some people remain ignorant travelers? Why do they fail to do the proper research before traveling? Why take such a huge risk, especially when you may only get a single opportunity to explore a new region?
When you travel, do you do research first, or just wing it?
Sure, I like to wander around a new place, to stumble upon place of interests by surprise but,I don't want to rely only on surprise. For that can be a mixed bag, sometimes finding a good place, and other times being very disappointed. And I'd likely miss some fascinating spots that never came within my usual travels. I want to minimize my potential disappointments, so I do my research first.
I might visit an area only once and never return, or not until years later. Thus, I want to experience the best of that area that I can, and that is unlikely to happen without research. A prepared traveler is more likely to have a better and more thorough time, getting to sample the cream of a city. I strongly doubt I could get lucky and just stumble upon all of the great places.
There are some places you might never stumble upon, because they are hidden away, in more remote areas. They might be well off the established tourist routes, or simply difficult to find as they are but one of dozens of similar places in the same region. I want advance information and only research will bring that to me.
Online research about most travel destinations is relatively easy. All it takes is a little time and you will have almost anything you need. Yes, you will have to weed through some useless information, but the search is more than worthwhile. It has definitely made my prior journeys so much better.
So why do some people remain ignorant travelers? Why do they fail to do the proper research before traveling? Why take such a huge risk, especially when you may only get a single opportunity to explore a new region?
When you travel, do you do research first, or just wing it?
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