Comments on: Developing Your Own Philosophy of Travel

By: Howard Koor

Howard Koor — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:11:40 +0000

I love your philosophy on travel. We just returned from Rome. My first time in Europe. Rome blew me away. We stayed a week. I could have stayed a month. We stayed in a modest hotel in Trestevere. Every morning I would wake up early and wander around taking pictures and sip cappacino at some outdoor cafe. The people watching was great. We did do some tourist things: Sistene Chapel, Saint Peter’s Church. Don’t miss this highlights. It is worth the wait. I could walk around Rome and wander the narrow little streets that have a million secrets. We took the bus and speaking little Italian we got around. Rome is a must see.

By: Howard Koor

Howard Koor — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:24:18 +0000

When traveling I do go to some tourist sites. I want to see the history and be swept up into the romance of the past. But I also love to people watch in the present. Just sit on a bench on the sidewalk and watch people. If you can slow down enough to watch others from another country you will see the everyday in a new way.

By: AJ

AJ — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:54:49 +0000

Hi! I’m so inspired by your thoughts about travel (ok, philosophy…but I don’t usually use such big words). I’ve just recently started by own travel blog, and you have inspired me even more. Thanks for putting up this AWESOME site!

By: Karen

Karen — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:54:03 +0000

I completely agree with what you say about finding your own travel style. Personally, I also like to mix it up, depending on where I am going. I usually calculate and determine how I will spend my time by factoring in what I most want to do/see in a specific place and how much time I will be there. My husband and i are going to Turkey and Albania (and elsewhere in the Balkans) and will be away for a month this August. While I am definitely curious about the daily lives of the people of Istanbul, I would never forgive myself if I didn’t devote much more of our brief stay to seeing historical sites like the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia. While in Albania, where we will be staying with my husband’s parents, I am extremely interested to see how he lived/grew up before we met and, while we travel around Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo, what the general situation is there. My priorities in the two places are different, but I think I will come home feeling satisfied with my trip as long as I follow my interests.

I’ve had the opportunity to mix it up in Italy as well — spending a total of about a year there from 2004 – 2006. I stayed with a host family for part of it and with my husband (then fiance) for the rest. I mastered Italian, visited parts of Florence tourists never do, scored free food at the University of Florence cafeteria, made friends, went food shopping with people, went to malls outside the city that tourists never see, basically really lived there, etc., but also took time on my own to travel around and visit important historical sites and play tourist. My time in that beautiful country would have felt incomplete had I missed the Vatican, the Uffizi, the Scrovegni Chapel, San Vitale, san Marco, etc.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:53:23 +0000

I enjoyed this piece about your travel ideas. I feel the same way. I am working on a few travel goals of my own and it deal with traveling with three young children.

The important thing is you do what is right for you and do good for others. This is the essential idea to live by regardless of why or how we chose to do things.

Thanks,

Chris

By: wayne

wayne — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:31:07 +0000

One of my interesting little ventures in Arusha, Tanzania was the grocery store, even though there were armed guards at the door. The packaging and food choices are an insight to local culture.That and a local coffee shop were excellent places to people watch. I saw no tourists in either place.

By: jason

jason — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 08:30:37 +0000

Sometimes it’s a temptation to want to see the *real* Mexico(/USA/Whatever). Then I look out the window and say, “Hmm. It all looks real to me.”

Or you might feel guilty or silly about eating a Burger King. You say, “But I want to eat *real* Mexican(/American/French) food!” But it’s food, we’re in Mexico, and Mexicans eat it all the time. How is it not Mexican food?

By: Yo Camino

Yo Camino — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:06:02 +0000

You were lucky your taxi driver didn’t try to charge you more in El Salvador, taxi drivers here like to charge a lot, especially tourists. What else did you see from El Salvador? I’d like to read that.

By: kazari

kazari — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:23:25 +0000

I like to travel slow and deep.
City hopping leaves me exhausted and emotional, but if i can spend at least a week in one spot I am happy.
Recently we had a 6 week trip to Europe, and we only paid for 3 nights in a hostel. The rest of the time we stayed with people we knew, except for one week where we hired a holiday house (a renovated stable) near Fontainebleau in France.
I get a huge kick out of grocery shopping in foreign countries!

By: Wayfaring Wanderer

Wayfaring Wanderer — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:49:34 +0000

When I have the opportunity to go places, it’s all about saving money. On a recent trip to Big Sur, California, we camped at various sites along Highway one, although reserved one night at a posh yurt village that cost nearly seven times more than a camping spot! I can do both just like you, but I always rather camp out……