Paris Primer II: My Travel Philosophy
The two biggest mistakes one can make when traveling to a new city are:
Underpreparedness
Not knowing where to eat after touring a museum/monument/cathedral, being very hungry when you’re done, and eating sad pizza at a proximal-but-disappointing tourist trap where the large group of Americans at the next table is talking loudly about The Office.
Inflexibility
Trekking across town after a long museum visit to eat at the hidden-gem bistro you read about in Bon Appétit eight months ago because it’s not open the other days you’re here, and everyone is grumpy about taking the 30-minute metro ride to eat a pretty good paté de campagne/steak frites/award-winning baguette.
I’ve made both mistakes many times, in several different cities, and I have also learned how to avoid them, thanks to my simple travel philosophy:
over-plan, under-exert.
If you overfill your itinerary with a variety of indoor and outdoor destinations, you can go with the flow and actually enjoy your time, instead of feeling like you need to stick to one specific schedule no matter the weather or circumstances.
Between the rain, unexpectedly long lines, and just needing to lay on the lawn at Parc Monceau a little longer (an underrated reason, imho), plans change often. Embrace it!
The downsides to this approach:
It takes considerable research to create an overly full, well-strategized, prioritized itinerary. But it’s worth it! Instagram, Trip Advisor, and your favorite food and travel sites are your allies here.
You will become acutely aware of how many adorable chocolateries, flower markets, cheese shops, medieval churches, and famous cafés there are in the city, and you may feel overwhelmed at all you want to do. But when traveling, I find this feeling far superior to feeling underwhelmed by a certain city or neighborhood because of my lack of proper research beforehand.
Any place you travel– Paris, Rome, Des Moines, your childhood suburb– has something worth doing, seeing, or tasting nearby, if you’ll only look closely enough. Cliché notion of how the world is in your backyard? Yes. True nonetheless? Yes.
See why I am so taken with Paris in the next post.