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Just curious...how many of you travel abroad and do short "stints" in each city that you visit?
I am asking this because I am planning a vacation soon and had just planned on doing 2 cities (I might have about 9-10 days). We're talking Algarve/Lisbon regions. (May throw in Barcelona but doubt it.)
One of my Facebook friends...I'm not close to her but used to hang out with her every once in a blue moon a few years back...travels a lot whenever she gets the chance. I just happened to notice the purpose of her trips seems to be moreso to see as many things as possible...meaning, she fits in as many cities as she can in a very short amount of time.
As an example, I just noticed she is traveling right now and just flew out to Lisbon and spent 1.5 days there, then flew to Budapest and spent 1 day there, and flew to Naples to get to Amalfi coast and may spend 1-2 days there. (I believe these are all places she has never been before.)
My first reaction was getting tired just thinking about that kind of itinerary! I do have a little experience doing a similar kind of trip. The advantage of course was being able to "check more things off of a list"...and the disadvantage to me was feeling rushed and tired.
It got me to wondering about my travel "style"...does it make more sense for someone like me to try to do things this way? Since I only have a few weeks off a year to go places, maybe I should make plans to see more cities in the time I have off as well? Of course the other side of me thinks I should keep things at a slower pace so I can not just say I went somewhere, but actually "experienced" it if you know what I mean. Then again, how much more will I really experience in 2 days versus 5? Hmmm...
Anyways, of course there are no right or wrong answers here! I was moreso interested in hearing if others travel this way...when they go to Europe for instance, do you only spend a day or two in one city before heading to another city that is not in the same country?
People argue two constraints that explain these whirlwind tour type travel - time and expense (particular for Americans traveling to another continent). It's hard to argue with that - if you can only afford to travel once in your lifetime to Europe you try to get as much as you can out of it.
However, for anyone that does not have those constraints, no you will not really experience anything with 2 days per city except a good view of train stations and airports and I would never recommend it, and you get the "if it's Tuesday this must be Belgium" effect. You lose something. Even for those that have these constraints above I would recommend scalling back. My recommendation for anyone traveling to Europe is only one country at a time, in some cases restrict it to only one region in a country - Central Italy only (Save Venice for another trip), Bavarian Germany (save Berlin for another trip) and so on, for at least ten days, preferably two weeks. This way you can see not only the main tourists sites but also the off the beaten trail sites. You get exposed to the flavor, the culture, and the people of that region. Much more rewarding.
Just curious...how many of you travel abroad and do short "stints" in each city that you visit?
I am asking this because I am planning a vacation soon and had just planned on doing 2 cities (I might have about 9-10 days). We're talking Algarve/Lisbon regions. (May throw in Barcelona but doubt it.)
One of my Facebook friends...I'm not close to her but used to hang out with her every once in a blue moon a few years back...travels a lot whenever she gets the chance. I just happened to notice the purpose of her trips seems to be moreso to see as many things as possible...meaning, she fits in as many cities as she can in a very short amount of time.
As an example, I just noticed she is traveling right now and just flew out to Lisbon and spent 1.5 days there, then flew to Budapest and spent 1 day there, and flew to Naples to get to Amalfi coast and may spend 1-2 days there. (I believe these are all places she has never been before.)
My first reaction was getting tired just thinking about that kind of itinerary! I do have a little experience doing a similar kind of trip. The advantage of course was being able to "check more things off of a list"...and the disadvantage to me was feeling rushed and tired.
It got me to wondering about my travel "style"...does it make more sense for someone like me to try to do things this way? Since I only have a few weeks off a year to go places, maybe I should make plans to see more cities in the time I have off as well? Of course the other side of me thinks I should keep things at a slower pace so I can not just say I went somewhere, but actually "experienced" it if you know what I mean. Then again, how much more will I really experience in 2 days versus 5? Hmmm...
Anyways, of course there are no right or wrong answers here! I was moreso interested in hearing if others travel this way...when they go to Europe for instance, do you only spend a day or two in one city before heading to another city that is not in the same country?
It's funny that you post this as I'm am working on my itinerary for my trip in a few weeks and this is pretty much the way my sister and I travel. Last year we were in Europe for about 10 days and we visited Paris (3 nights) Rome (3 nights) Florence (2 nights), Venice (1 night) and Milan (1 night). Overall it wasn't a bad pace, but first and foremost our plan wasn't to fully experience each city, our general philosophy is that we could come back another time to explore what we missed. We also had the same pace when we went to Amsterdam and Brussels for 4 days later that year.
This upcoming trip will be trickier because we are traveling with a larger group (8-10 people) so it may be more difficult for everyone to keep up that pace but so far we will be visiting somewhere in the Milan area, Ibiza, and Paris in the first week. Other than a trip to London for a graduation in the second week things are up in the air.
I don't think the quick pace type of travel is for everyone, I'm sure there are some that think that a quick pace is the height of insanity but that is the way that I feel about people who talk about spending two weeks in one city. But ultimately if you are happy with your experience then that is the most important thing.
I prefer to 'experience' it and if I like a place I can make it 'mine'. The people, the food...all the culture to me is more important than the quantity'. Gives me an excuse to return to fit in things I may have missed. I usually start in my favorite place (Madrid) and then improvise, using this major location as my home base and launching pad for other places. For example, I start in Madrid, get my bearings, rest up and do my favorite things there, save some things for the end of my stay, even getting any shopping out of the way. I head out early, Go to a cafe for coffee / Danish and plot my day.
I get the current 'leisure guide' /'guia de ocio' to see what's happening in town and plan around some of those events including travel to other cities, but don't set too much in stone in case I find a great event (performance, exhibition, museum, etc. that would be too interesting to miss). I just hang out there for a few days before I travel to other cities, visit museums, restaurants, etc. all my favs and any interesting new things I find happening.
I check the Renfe train schedule ( I always buy a Eurail Pass - You HAVE to buy this BEFORE you leave the US! This gets you a discount on rail travel which imho is the way to go throughout the European countries. It does NOT pay for the entire train fare, it is only a discount, but a good one.). I plan around train schedules. I prefer to travel by train at night so I can rest and not miss the daylight at my destination. Once I spent only 3/4 of a day in Paris, due to not planning well in regard to the travel time I had remaining before returning to the US and it was awful. I did enjoy Paris but it was a ridiculously short visit. Never again. I misjudged the travel to/from and in the city (super crowded and at a rush/crush hour time).
I tend to spend at least one day in most small cities since my time there is usually in order to see a very specific cultural site. Taking day trips is easy on regional buses (and very inexpensive). I spend more time in my favorite larger cities, Barcelona, Salamanca and Madrid, Lisbon, three days to a week. I hate spending entire days just getting 'to' places. I suppose you will have to gain a little experience in various scenarios to get an idea of your travel style. Research beforehand helps so a good travel guide such as Fodor's (mine was dog-eared before I even first traveled to Spain/Portugal) will be a great investment.
I usually spend four weeks in Europe.
Hope you have a great trip.
1.5 days per isn't enough time for me. With constant travel every other day it just doesn't make sense. I like 3-4 days at a min to be able to get my bearings and explore, revisit things if I really liked them
I do not like that pace of travel at all. I am quite outspoken in my preference to spend at least a few days seeing what it would be like to live in the city I'm visiting. But now that you've got me thinking about it reveals an interesting trend. I'm noticing that about 90% of my travels in Asia and NA I am able to uphold to that standard. But the two times I've been to Europe (aside from my brief stint studying abroad there) has indeed reflected a much faster pace with 1-2 days at most in each city. I imagine it has something to do with the number of places to go, all in close proximity, and the fact that Europe as a continent feels like a destination. With Asia I'm usually there for a month or two and it's much more of a second home feeling.
That is how we travelled when I was a kid. For instance, one year we went to Gatlinburg, TN, but stopped in Memphis along the way, Ashville, NC, then Washington DC on the way back just because it was kind of on the way, so why not? That was my only visit to DC, was there about 6 hours, saw all the main points of interest. As an adult I have generally travelled the same way, though all of it has domestically. A different place every night.
It wasn't until I was adult, less than 2 years ago to be exact, that I ever stayed in a hotel for an entire week without moving on. Travel has always been about packing in as much as you can.
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I've done both. Typically, I like to spend a few days in one place at least. But I've also been on trips where I didn't have much booked, and really appreciated the freedom of saying "_____ isn't my bag, let's move on to somewhere else". That said, the flip side is I've really fallen for some places and regretted having to leave them for the next city or town.
I've also done both. In my younger days I would pack in as many places (in Europe) as I could; 1 or 2 days at most in any given city. I don't have that energy any more, nor do I want my vacations to be regulated by "having to catch XYZ train" on time. My last 5 or 6 European trips have been much more relaxing - we usually rent accommodation for 1 or 2 weeks at a time rent a car and drive to nearby towns/cities. That way you get a much better feel for the place, its history, the people and best of all, the food!
Whichever way you decide - have a wonderful trip!
I can't speak for everyone, but personally, I get 15 days vacation every year. That gets bumped up to 20 in about a year and a half, so when my fiance and I are planning a Europe trip, it's going to look like a whirlwind tour. For example, this is my honeymoon itinerary:
2 nights in Lisbon, 3 nights in Florence, 1 night in Venice, 3 nights in Santorini and 2 nights in Athens. I've got 13 days vacation, and I'm using 10 of these on this trip
I've got my sights set on Prague and Vienna in mid-May next year. I'll leave on a Saturday, get there Sunday, and maybe spend 3.5 days in each. I'll only use 5 days of vacation b/c I'll be coming back Memorial Day weekend. I'd like to spend the rest of those vacation days in Japan next September.
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