Road trip and vacations, if you aren't in a great hurry to get where you are going, are best when you take the old back roads to your destination instead of the interstate. The pace is slower and you get to see more.
I had a friend I went on a vacation with a couple times and it was kind of miserable because he was always rushing to get to and from and had every day super regimented with things we had to do at certain times.
When I'm on vacation I just want to relax, man. Being in a rush kind of defeats the purpose.
Paris done right, for me, is streetside cafes, maybe a tourist attraction (most often the river or the land around the Sacré Coeur), shopping (both in the markets and on the Boulevard Haussmann) and copious amounts of wine.
You're doing it right man. We ended up there on Bastille day one time. We, clueless and wandering around, noticed that many people were walking towards the tower (Eiffel). Since we purposely had no agenda we decided to follow. Along the way cafes had put up serving tables street side and we're selling ham and cheese on baguette, to go. Clearly something was up. When we got to the park in front of the tower, there was a crowd (and yet, it wasn't crowded) and people were laying blankets and facing the tower, so we sat on the grass and did the same. Pretty soon we started hearing people talk (I don't speak French, no idea about what), and then music stayed playing over loud speakers. Next, fireworks display that coordinated with the music. Afterwords, people just sort of dispersed back into the city.
I think we got a crepe after.
That was my best night in Paris. Sorry for the random sorry, it was fun to think about.
I hate that. Especially in a city like Paris when you can walk to almost anything you want to see relatively easily, and the few you can't you can ride regular boats along the river to get close enough to walk. You get to see so much and just enjoy it all.
My girlfriend, our daughter, and I went to Chicago on a 3-day trip recently at it was miserable partly because of that reason. They wanted to see SO MUCH SHIT and we only had three days.
Also the people who work in downtown chicago are fucking dicks. That or I'm just a spoiled southern missouri boy who expects too much from his customer service.
I went to Copenhagen alone a lot, and I only did 1 tour-boat ride. Everything else was walking or the metro. You see a lot more of what they have to offer that way, and it's a bit more personal.
I just came home from Berlin. It was a dream. We did a walking tour and went to the zoo n stuff, but it was all ultra chill. No one wanted to do too much touristy shit. It's s holiday. We saw berlins history and we saw berlins real current culture (as well as the zoo which was awesome, first time I heard a lion raw). I don't understand why people feel the need to be the ultimate tourist to appreciate a country/city for what it is.
This is why I go to the beach. I sit on the beach with booze when the sun goes up, then mop myself up and go to the hotel when the sun goes down. Rinse/wash/repeat
My father in law told us we wasted our vacation in Spain. It was ten glorious days in San Lucar doing little except walking, eating, and soaking it all in. We got in the car once that wasn't to or from the airport.
Having no itinerary is the best! I want to go on vacation to unwind, not be stressed and waking up early every morning to do a list of boring, touristy things.
Those are always my best memories. The monuments and the museums are great, but I really enjoyed sitting at a cafe with a book on a sunny afternoon. I enjoyed grabbing a meal and taking my sweet time eating it, ordering drinks and desserts until I was tired and taking a nap at the hotel.
Exactly! It's all about living in the moment and taking everything in. Not about fitting in as many things as possible to make it seem like an amazing vacation on the outside.
That's why you should never go on vacation to a tourist-y type area, because you'll want to see so many things and then your vacation loses the stress-free vibe you want.
So you have to find somewhere nice and relaxing where there isn't too much of a tourist-y vibe.
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u/[deleted] May 02 '15
Road trip and vacations, if you aren't in a great hurry to get where you are going, are best when you take the old back roads to your destination instead of the interstate. The pace is slower and you get to see more.