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How do you travel?

When one of my best friends travelled to Italy recently, he planned intensively for it. He read every travel guide, scoured TripAdvisor everyday and visited blogs, in order to find out which were the restaurants that he had to go, which hotels he would stay in and which attractions were a must-see. By the end of his planning, he had a clear itinerary and even knew what the opening hours of the restaurants were.

I, on the other hand, only bother to look through TripAdvisor to find the best accomodation and several top attractions, and then arrive in the country with a sketchy idea of where I want go and no clue of how to get there.

I wouldn't say my way is the best idea. Meals involve walking up and down a street, trying to decide on a restaurant and then finally getting annoyed with the process, choosing a random one and then left hoping that the food would taste good and authentically local. And several times, upon leaving the country and telling others about my trip, I'm made aware that I didn't go to places that I should have gone, and have to fend off indignant statements like how couldn't you have gone since it's the most famous place there.

But still, I like going to a country, with zero expectations and zero pressure to visit everything. I like going to a place, and be geniunely surprised by what I find. I like walking through the city, and upon an unplanned turn at a corner, see something that amazes me and I won't go " Oh, I read about that. It looks exactly like that photo I saw." And I like taking my time to go through a city, without rushing from attraction to attraction. And that's why I don't want to know if there is a statue that I HAVE to see, or a bridge that I SHOULD cross. If I don't know about it, I won't be pressured to visit it and can instead, use that time to slowly appreciate the city and its people.

But still, everytime it is time for a meal, I do kick myself for not doing more research on where are the best places.