Should you travel on or off the beaten track? Do what everybody else is doing or make your own path while traveling? No regrets afterwards when you do this:
Should you do what everybody else is doing, or do everything different? Do both! Yes, it may look cheesy to have photo of you next to an elephant in Thailand. Or a picture of you ‘pushing back’ the leaning tower in Pisa? But hey, at least you can come back home and say you did that! It may sound cool do only do off the beaten track things that nobody else does. But when you come back home and you have to explain every time someone hears you went to Sydney, but didn’t go see the Opera House, you probably wish you did. Or why you didn’t go see the Eiffel Tower in Paris (pretty impossible to miss though…).
So go and do the cheesy been-there-done-that things. And then add some more to it! Go see the Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but then also go see the Beng Mea Lea where almost no tourists go to. Go take a picture on SatC’s Carrie’s door step in New York City, but also check out a fantastic little restaurant with exotic food. That’s how the awesome travel stories are made!
Get lost
A fun way to travel is mainly: get lost. Okay, don’t walk into dodgy areas, but you know what I mean. Don’t always just follow the guide book, go your own way and discover some interesting restaurants or buildings you wouldn’t have seen if you walked the tourist route. There are several cities and towns in the world where getting lost is the best way to find the little hidden gems that not everybody will go to. For example: Venice in Italy, Bruges in Belgium, Trinidad in Cuba.
Travel global, ask local
Also: ask locals where they love to eat or go. Don’t ask where the other tourists go, but where they themselves love to go to. What are the favorite little restaurants that the tourists won’t find because it’s not in the guide book? You can ask a local in Florence where you can find the best Bistecca Fiorentina. En then you will not bump into a lot of other travelers, and the food and experience will be so great!
