As I have mentioned before, in a prior life I was an Event Manager for an International department. And yes, the job was as wonderful as it sounds - even if I had to work harder than most people can imagine. Still, I did get to travel internationally quite extensively, and for that I will always be grateful. As you may or may not be able to tell by my blog and my posts, travel is extremely important to me. I have a MAJOR case of wanderlust - always have. So it was pretty awesome to have a job that indulged that desire? need? (it's very hard to distinguish the difference for me).
It was also awesome to travel in a first class way most of the time. Since the majority of the trips I planned were to reward the top performers in the company, we strove to provide them with the very best - from the five star hotels to unique experiences wherever we went. And because we worked to ensure a premium experience, I always had the best local support possible in each country we visited. The companies providing this support are called destination management companies, and their job is to line up all the details in visiting their location.
The reason I mention this is because - in spite of my considerable travel profile - I actually have relatively little experience in figuring out this kind of stuff myself. Someone always met me at the airport, made arrangements for all tours and transportation, figured out the best things to see and do, always knew the best restaurants, etc, etc. To be honest, the thought of going to another country and figuring out how to get transportation from the airport, what sites are the best to experience, and how to do that exactly, feels daunting to me, even with my prior experience. Now I get how people can feel intimidated about international travel. What I have learned, though, is that no matter how badly you stumble through it, the experience will be worth it. It is guaranteed to do at least one of the following: open your mind to local customs and attitudes (good or bad), make you feel accomplished, make you laugh, and/or provide a story that may well end up being better in recollection than in actual experience.
Joining a group/escorted tour is actually a marvelous way to experience a new location because someone else has already figured out the details. It is wonderful to have someone else deal with all that and just go along for the ride. However, in my experience there are two major negatives to joining a group: 1) it is almost always more expensive than you could put together on your own; and 2) you lose almost all control over the schedule (most will give you free days, which is good but insufficient). My specific gripe to the second point is the way shopping is put into most group tours. I am NOT a shopper. For the most part I don't find it enjoyable at all.
One method that really works for me is the HOHO (hop on, hop off) buses that most cities have. Because they plan routes that take you to most major attractions, it's a great way to get a narrated overview tour quite inexpensively...and most importantly for me, at my own speed and schedule. I like to ride the bus for the whole loop, and then go back to the locations of most interest to me.
In the end, I will make whatever adjustments I must to continue to attempt to see as much of this world as I can. I know that I can figure stuff out as I go, that there's nothing except your passport and payment method(s) that can't be replaced if needed (and even those can be replaced, though with much more discomfort), so I don't tend to worry too much about packing. I have taken too much far more often than not having something I needed.
I have many travel quotes that I love, but I'll leave off here with this one:
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." (Augustine of Hippo)
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