For example, if you’re interested in touring the American northwest, you could spend a full week in a large city like Seattle, or you could divide your time between several cities, like Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland. If you’re traveling abroad, you may need to obtain a travel visa for the country you’re visiting. These can take some time to obtain. Contact the State Department of the country you’re planning to visit to find out if you need a travel visa and how to apply for this document.
Whether you’re traveling with a group or alone, avoid wearing flashy jewelry or clothing, and each member of your party should carry more than one form of official identification (e. g. a passport and a driver’s license).
If you were to stay on the outskirts of a city, in a rural area, or in a small town, for example, it would be much harder to find locations to spontaneously travel to and visit.
Having only a single bag will enable you to move quickly from one city or region to another, and you’ll be able to use any type of transportation that you please: plane, train, renting a car or Uber, hitchhiking, bicycle, or just walking.
For example, plan on one significant cultural experience per day: if you’re in Rome, you may wish to visit the Colosseum; if you’re in Paris, plan a trip to the Louvre. After that, do something spontaneous that appeals to you: sit in a café and watch people passing by, visit a local market, wander into a nearby museum, or take a hike or rafting trip through nature.
“I’m spending a few days here without a travel itinerary. What are some places you’d recommend I visit, other than big tourist attractions?” If you’re open to any type of spontaneous experience in the region you’re traveling, ask locals about their favorite outdoor activity (weather permitting): you’ll likely receive recommendations for hiking location, but perhaps also fishing, swimming, bird-watching, or mountain biking.
Avoiding review sites will leave you open to enjoyable surprises as you use your own intuition and the advice of locals to find interesting travel destinations. Sometimes tourist destinations plant reviews in order to drum up business. A high rating may not be entirely legitimate. Go to touristy sites to scout out more hidden local treasures. One benefit of going to a “tourist trap” is that locals (bartenders, tour guides, waiters, hotel staff, shopkeepers, cab drivers, etc. ) expect outsiders–and these people are often great informers to local favorite places.
You can also look for last-minute bookings at hotels and through travel apps like Priceline, HotelTonight, Blink (for travel in Europe), and Booking Now. [8] X Research source
For example, if a restaurant isn’t enjoyable, leave and wander through a food-heavy district of town until you find a better place to dine. If you can’t spend the day hiking, rent a car and drive through the countryside instead. One of the major benefits of spontaneous traveling is that unexpected changes of plans become part of the norm. Leave yourself open to this, and enjoy where the trip takes you. Being open and flexible also allows for optimizing vacation time. A rigid schedule may not allow for spending less time at places that are not of high interest, and more time at another.
If you do end up seriously lost, don’t panic. Avoid areas that seem unsafe or feel uncomfortable, and use your phone or map to find your way back to your hotel or hostel. If you’re lost in a town or city, you can call a cab (or find someone to call a cab for you), or book an Uber on your phone. It’s important to consider safety issues when wandering through a foreign city or region. If a part of a city makes you feel uncomfortable, trust your instinct and leave. Always have an idea of how far from your hotel or hostel you are by car, and avoid getting lost in areas without a phone or internet signal.
These local events could include large concerts or musical festivals, cultural holidays (e. g. Day of the Dead), religious holidays, food festivals, sporting events, or any other number of local events. On the other hand, large holidays, festivals, or holiday weekends may increase your travel costs or increase congestion on highways. An increase in a city’s population—say, due to a large ongoing music festival—will also make hotel and hostel rooms both more scarce and more expensive. [12] X Research source
If you plan ahead before you travel, you can take advantage of a group hotel discount through a site like HotelPlanner or even directly through a hotel website itself.
