BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Solo Travel What do you love to do when travelling?

In my recent article, Perfect Travel Itinerary - Do What You Love While Travelling, I told the story of how I love to explore raw food restaurants when travelling, like on my recent trip to New York.

What do you love to do when travelling?

I love to read a book about the place I'm visiting while I'm there.

i research about the history and culture of the place i visit. and i love to go to historical sites in the area <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Eat! I love finding out about different cuisines and I find it's a good way to get to meet people from whereever I am <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> And I'm a sucker for buying trashy cheap souvenirs too <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Jane

I sketch. I fill journals with quick sketches, pen and ink doodles, rubbings, and small diminutive scaled watercolor paintings of places seen and visited. Traveling with a sketchbook is also an icebreaker and a great way to meet people. It also helps while waiting for the check to arrive after a meal and (heavens) when one misses a connection! Here is a link to view a few: [url= [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/46467728@N00/sets/72057594070716090/[/url]]http://www.flickr.com/photos/46467728@N00/sets/72057594070716090/[/url][/url]

Cynthia

Can't resist the trashy souvenirs, bus tours to see the most popular places to visit around where I am visiting at the time and I like to go to the local pub and just mix.

Dancing - so much so, I built a business around it...I also love to eat and do absolutely nothing, in warm, exotic places.

I like independent travelling. I will read the introduction about the place I would like to go as more as possible, the scenic points, the custom, the transportation, the hotels and delicious food. If you ask me what kind of thing I like the most when travelling is to eat, eat the local famous food.

Settle into my "neighborhood", discover things for myself, and people watch. I try to stay at least a week, preferably 3 or more, in one place. I explore the neighborhood where I live thoroughly, looking for green markets, take-aways, ordinary shops like pharmacies and convenience stores, etc. I pretend I live there, going to the same place for my morning coffee and afternoon snack, sitting around reading on a neighborhood bench, bringing home a take-away instead of going out for the evening and so forth. This is part of why I never carry a camera. If I visit a city repeatedly, as I have London, I always stay in the same neighborhood, preferably the same B&B. I've never been there for longer than a week or two, but there's a neighborhood that feels like my London "home" to me.

When I go to a "tourist site", I travel by public transit and get off a stop or two before the one I think is right and use my map to find my way. If I find something interesting along the way, I might never actually make it to the famous place. The more likely that is, the better I like the city. This happened all the time in Barcelona. I'd get entrigued by the fancy doors and stained-glass windows and wander off the track entirely.

If I can find a place where the "life" of the place happens, mothers and babies gather, kids come after school, teenagers "haunt" checking each other out, people meet for dates, I can spend hours there just reading, nursing a drink, and watching. There's a square in Barcelona's Gracia section that fit that bill, and most Paris parks do.

One of the best things I ever did was to start a piece of crazy quilting on a trip. I stitched all kinds of things I found onto it as I worked on it along the way, and turned it into a cushion.

DJC

My favourite travel activity is people-watching - while sitting in a cafe. Few cities in the world lack a good place to sit outside and people-watch. In some regions of the world, like parts of the Middle East, a woman on her own would be best not to linger but that's the exception, not the rule.

What can happen in a cafe? You might:
- discover how local people dress
- find out what they think by watching their facial expressions
- understand culture by noticing how people behave in pairs or groups
- read a book about your host country
- write a poem or journal entry
- draw your surroundings if you're an artist
- learn about food and drink habits by watching what they order
- practice language skills by listening in (discreetly!) to loud conversations
- get a sense of the flow of movement in the city - traffic, bicycles, scooters, ships...
- meet local people if you're so inclined - if people know you speak English you won't be lacking companionship - many people may ask you to practice with them!
- and last but not least, have a great cup of coffee! (you have no idea how much you can tell about a country just by tasting their coffee...)

Local foods and history is what I love the most. I go see every historical site I come across, as well as things like museums. I read all the brochures and try to see things that are off the beaten path.

It's no surprise - eating ranks number one. But not just any old chow. Like joanj, I do my homework - online, at the library, in visitor centers and by simply asking around. I love to eat out as well as discover regional specialties and recreated them in my RV. Delicious!!

While researching good eats I also look for unique, unusual or offbeat things to see and do. For instance, this Tuesday I've got reservations at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in Palo Alto, CA to hear the US Department of Energy talk about what's new and then give us a tour of the facility. In case you hadn't heard, this is the place that has the huge oval track that smashes atoms. Now, I'm no science brain but it sounds so interesting.

I love tchotchkes but living in an RV makes it difficult to collect. Instead, I've become an avid photographer with nearly 2,000 digital pix on my laptop (and use them as my screensaver, too - memories abound!!)

Happy and safe travels everyone,

Evanne

In addition to seeing the architecture and tasting the local cuisine, I like to go to the theatre in each city I visit. To name a few places I've been and seen shows - Toronto (Beauty and the beast), London (Guys and Dolls), NYC (42nd Street, Mama Mia, The Producers).

I travel mostly to go birding in new places, so visiting wildlife preserves, national parks and anywhere that interesting birds might be lurking appeals to me. The fact that many of these places are also of historical interest is a bonus.
When forced to be in town, I enjoy seeing local architecture, it interests me how regional styles vary.

When I travel I really love to stay in a nice hotel. I have always said that my idea of camping is a hotel without room service .

Recently I was lucky enough to travel to Washington DC and it was great. I stayed in the OmniBellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Aside from eating --- I like walking around and getting a feel of the culture, then discovering something new that wasn't in any of the travel brochures.

Taking lots of pictures with my digital camera.

The one thing I love to do when traveling is hitting every museum possible! You see amazing things, and usually get to meet people who share your interests!