A few weeks ago I posted about why college students should study abroad, so I thought I'd keep in that same vein for today since traveling is so near and dear to me.
When I studied abroad, I not only learned a lot about me but I also learned a few tips and tricks to traveling efficiently on during long weekends. Even though this tip is primarily for short trips, it is also really helpful for long trips too and it's a tip I now live by whenever I travel. So enough build up (and very poor build up at that I might add). Here's my tip:
"The first morning you are in a new location, go on a city tour."
There you go. I just gave you gold. But why does this matter, you might be wonder. Why the first day? Great question.
1) To help you get your bearings
I'm very directionally challenged. When I went to Florence for a weekend, the running joke between my friends and I was "Taylor, where's the river?" I missed it almost every time they asked me that. And if you've been to Florence, you know how small it is and how easy it is to navigate...for everyone but me apparently. So, I love to go on a tour of the city first thing in the morning on my first full day so that I can identify where everything is relative to everything else.
2) History
I love learning about different cultures, different places, and different people. And what I love about going on a tour is all the insider information I get. For example, when I was studied abroad in Paris, my program paid for us to go on a tour of the city (great choice IES, it would've taken me forever to get to know the city without the tour). When we were on that tour, the guide told us the story behind Pont Neuf and why it had little outcroppings on the bridge. When the city was first built, all the bridges had houses on them and there was very little sunshine in the village. Well, one day they decided to build a bridge without any houses on it and the outcroppings on the bridge were designed so people could sit and talk in the sun. Pont Neuf was that bridge. The first bridge to have no housing on it. How crazy is that! I would've never known that unless I went on that tour.
3) Identify the attractions you have to see
Many big cities offer a bunch of attractions and if you're only there for a short amount of time, you can't see all of them in detail but if you start your trip out with a tour, you can see the most popular ones all in a few hours. Then, you can pick out which ones you want to go back and take your time looking at. It's great because you get to see everything right away and then you get to create a priority list of what you are most drawn towards.
4) Learn about local spots
This one is my favorite reason to go on a tour in the beginning of your trip and I've been to some awesome spots because of it. When I traveled to Budapest, our tour guide (who was super awesome and really funny) told us about a local bar. But the best part about it was the fact that the bar was actually a ruins bar. Back during the war, there were a lot of buildings destroyed in Budapest. For a while they just sat there but eventually people started turning some of them in to bars. And let me tell you, those were some of the coolest bars I have ever been to! So you never really know what a city has to offer until you go on a tour with someone who is local to the area.
So there you go! You are all set with my number one tip as to why you should go on a tour the first morning you are in a new city. Now I don't have a particular type of tour you should go on. I love the walking tours to help me understand the city even more, but that's my personal preference. There are tours for all kinds of people though. The tours I went on were all free walking tours, which are really easy to find for the cities you are traveling to. I know hotels will also give you tours through a professional tour guide if requested. And then most cities have bus tours as well, but I don't like those as much because I find it hard to hear the tour guide over the speaker. Either way, you can't go wrong with whatever works for you. No matter what you choose, taking a tour in the beginning of your trip will help you get your bearings, give you some history, help you put together a priority list, and give you some great local spots to go check out. Hope this helps and I'll talk to you in my next blog post!
Love, Taylor