Last Updated on 8 July 2021
Traveling offers a perfect opportunity for creative inspiration. Experiencing out-of-the-ordinary sites, sounds, tastes, people, and culture helps stimulate out-of-the-ordinary thinking and ideas.
Get the Inside Scoop
Before you leave for your destination, consult insider/underground guides for the places you are visiting. These guides often provide more insight than tourist guidebooks and share the gritty aspects of local life.
Connect with Locals
Talk to everyone you meet. Talk with shopkeepers, concierge, taxi drivers, roadside vendors, and others. Listen a lot. These locals will proudly direct you to places off the beaten path.
Start with the “Cheesy” Tour
Take the tours that locals refuse to attend. The double-decker bus, the land/water tour, or the sightseeing van. (You know which these are, similar to those you refuse to do in your town). These tours cover vast areas of the city, highlight key landmarks, and provide a broad overview of an area. They provide an excellent starting point and allow you to become more familiar with the layout of a city. Use these tours to determine which parts of the city you will later explore.
Hero Hometowns
Walk in the footsteps of one of your heroes. Visit their birthplace, see where they grew up, went to school, and visit the places that inspired them. Don’t have a particular hero? Adopt one and explore the path of a great inventor, famous artist, or great leader – you’ll be surprised how what you learn will inspire your own life.
The next adventure you take, augment your travel plans so you may go beyond being a tourist… to being an explorist.