Since summer is coming to an end and I have been reflecting on my travels and things I have been doing, here is an article I wrote about traveling itself. Traveling is so fun and it is all about trying new things and utilizing what you have around you. It is about embracing differences and learning about different environments and cultures while also relaxing and enjoying your down time away from the stressfulness home can represent at times. Here are some tips and such I find important and just plain fun to do when traveling that you can do just about anywhere.
1. Shop
Avoid only going to shops tailored to tourists. Try thrifting or antiquing if that is something you are into. When I was in Paris, my favorite souvenir I got was from a thrift shop and I got it for one euro. If thrifting and antiquing are not your thing, I still recommend going beyond the touristy areas to shop.
2. Go on tours
There are so many tours that people overlook on vacation. There are historical tours, sightseeing tours. Also, there are these things called dark tours, there is a new show on Netflix called, "Dark Tourist," that explores really intense versions of these. Dark tours are basically just tours that are about weird, morbid, sometimes historical events that usually surround death. I have gone on ghost tours on both the West Coast and the East Coast of the United States—both are incredibly interesting and entirely different experiences.
It is also fun to play tourist in your own city, or a big city near you.
3. Immerse yourself in the culture
Visit a cultural center or go to something that is unique to the area. In Hawaii, go to a luau—in Texas, go to a rodeo. It is a cool way to get in touch with the roots of the area and connect with their history. This along with going on tours and doing some research before or during your visit to decide what you want to do, will help. For example, my mom bought a book on the shipwrecks in the Atlantic when we were around the ocean in North Carolina.
4. Try new things
In every area, there are foods and drinks unique to the area. Make sure that you try foods unique to the areas—it is another way of feeling more in touch and learning from the places that you visit. Also, there are different blends of drinks wherever you go—coffee, wine, beer—whatever you fancy. I am quite the coffee connoisseur (an amateur coffee connoisseur but one none the less), and I find the different tastes and blends of coffee that differ merely in the different sides of the United States.
Another thing to do, is to go outside and try new things. Whether it be hiking in the mountains or surfing on the beach. It is important to try new things. You can find hiking trails just about anywhere, no matter the climate. In tropical places, there is snorkeling, scuba diving, boogie boarding, and surfing. For some of these, you must take lessons to learn how to properly learn.
When I was in Hawaii one year, I took a surfing lesson and expected to just be terrible at it but it was actually a lot of fun and it was not as hard as I thought (to my dismay, I have never been a natural athlete—and obviously, I am still no pro but if I lived somewhere tropical, I would take up surfing).
Even if you do not have a knack for anything you try while traveling—I think it is important and the most enriching when travelers try to immerse themselves in a culture. With this, I hope the next time you travel—or you decide you want to explore the city closest to you—you get out there and do it. If you do not like it, at least you tried it, and you learned something about a place, and maybe even about yourself.
