This is great unless you live in an area of almost absolute geographic and social homogeny in a 100 mile / 160 km radius. "Yo friends, want to drive an hour and see if the fast food in a strip mall is the same as our fast food in a strip mall" just doesn't quite land or "Want to drive 45 minutes and walk in a park that was built in the early aughts and lacks proper shade and had all it's benches removed just like ours?"
Yeah, not everybody lives in Switzerland or the San Francisco Bay Area.
I've been in many a road trip up, down, and across the Great Plains of the US, where I spend a full day driving only to arrive in a town and geography that looks the exact same as the one I woke up in that morning. Only the signs are different.
Would you mind sharing the general region where you are? Based on your criticisms it sounds like the US, but my experience is quite different. I have only lived on the West coast though, and we're quite spoiled with amazing natural beauty around every corner here. I had a great time road tripping around small towns in the northeast around Vermont and Maine though.
The Midwest in particular is extremely homogeneous and flat, mostly plains and farmland for hundreds of miles. The West cost has more in 15 miles than the Midwest has in 100, on average. There are pockets here and there, but not enough to warrant the several hour drive it will take to get there.
Honestly, most of the US is like this. It's huge and very, very sparse.
Yeah that makes sense, that's too bad. The coasts are the most interesting places for local travel, but the elites living there don't seem to have the time of day for it. More for me I guess.
I live in Texas, which is probably very similar to where you’re thinking of, and I could list off at least 10 different places within a 1 hour radius that should be visited.
You are generally correct, despite the rebuttals in the reply comments to yours.
But I think the challenge here is that we can have great places if we do the following:
1. Focus on transportation and ways of living that focus on walking or taking a tram.
2. Create and support medium-density, mixed-use neighborhoods
3. Require good, sound architectural principles. When you think of Paris and those narrow streets or the apartment complexes in the best neighborhoods, we need those. None of this modernist bullshit or 5-over-1s made with recycled concrete. Use bricks, stone, and more. Incorporate design elements requiring skilled craftsmen, and pay for it.
Those 3 alone should get you most of the way there.
My final comment would be, when you're thinking about spending $5,000 - $10,000 or whatever on a big international trip to go look at some nice stuff in some other country, consider spending that money instead on your own home, or garden, or donate to organizations that maintain those things for you. It also doesn't have to be all or none, you can still travel, and still invest locally. Make where you live the kind of place you would have wanted to travel to. Gardens in Great Britain, for example, can happen where you live too you just need to spend the money and build and maintain those things... like they do.
The transit and transportation stuff is much more difficult to fix. Most Americans want a Jeep and suburban house and to wait in line and beep their horn at the Costco gas station and that's a tough hill to climb, but the 3 items I highlighted above are guaranteed to increase quality of life and lower costs long-term.
This is great advice, and I appreciate the opening sentence to frame it as a "yes, and" sort of situation. We took our teenagers to London and Paris last year (we're from the upper midwest in the states) and it was a joy to see them experience a) a different culture and b) art and architecture they never would have experienced otherwise.
But visiting local destinations is also such a joy. I'm a mile from one of the best BBQ joints in Michigan, in a "blink and you miss it" village. I try and make sure I don't take it for granted.
It isn't the same as travelling to truly remote cultures, of course, but odds are, your area has more stuff going on than you realize. My wife and I have taken to planning our occasional 2 week vacations with 2-4 days that we have plans for, and then plan to just use local resources to figure out what to do from there. And we always find things. Sometimes literally just driving down the road on the way to something else we found online and there's a little park on the side of the road or something dedicated to some interesting little thing. If you're just traveling as the wind takes you, it's not a problem that maybe that little park is only 10 minutes of "interesting". It's not a bad way to travel.
I usually prefer to make a detailed plan for my trip, but I allow myself to break free from it anytime I find something more interesting to do. This way I'm more sure that I won't waste too much time or money staying in wrong places, choosing wrong means of transport and falling for some tourist traps or common scams.
I am a huge proponent of this. I find it shocking how many people I talk to in California have never even heard of so many amazing parts of the state outside of a few urban bubbles of SF/LA/San Diego and major attractions like Yosemite. Such a better experience in nature when you aren't surrounded by tourists in places like the Mendocino forest or the Inyo mountains. I also learn so much about our history and how regular people live in small rural towns, they often put effort into preserving it, and the locals love to talk about it. I also love seeing all of the huge mines, factories, infrastructure projects, etc. that support our cities, but people rarely think about.
Traveled the world in my youth and regretfully did not visit several notable locations when I lived close-by. Now I'm partially retired I am making up for it big time - though it helps having a great starting point.
Last week I hiked the Paparoa trail (West coast NZ) for 4 days through old mining trails with one of my friends who was a local historian and gold prospector, the whole experience was fascinating, and great inspiration for my next novel.
I recently found out about a tiny room in the local public library that resells books (most for $0.25-$1). I've lived here over a decade.
Overreliance on echo-chambering platforms like Reddit/IG/Google Maps limits one's ability to explore. There's still lots to discover. And re-discover as you grow up.
amazing, thanks for sharing. I was curious if there's already a name for this local travel. Micro-travel or planless-travel are close. Mini retirements are another term I like to use. I heard from the Pathless Path book (I think), which is traveling for up to 4 weeks - it's not 100% related, but it is what came to mind when I heard Microadventures.
Funnily enough, the country where I'm from is so touristic that if you're a local (with a typical local salary i.e. miserable) you get much more value for your money by going abroad.
I agree. In Europe we're particularly lucky that, after only a few hours in a train, we can be in a totally different culture, speaking a different language.
But even without this, traveling in the country side, getting to learn the history of those places, with the "small history", not the big battles, but the local inventions, the local specialties, etc, is so enriching and rewarding
This is great unless you live in an area of almost absolute geographic and social homogeny in a 100 mile / 160 km radius. "Yo friends, want to drive an hour and see if the fast food in a strip mall is the same as our fast food in a strip mall" just doesn't quite land or "Want to drive 45 minutes and walk in a park that was built in the early aughts and lacks proper shade and had all it's benches removed just like ours?"
You might want to take a look at Atlas Obscura Places map: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/all-places-in-the-atla.... For the US at least, it shows a variety of interesting and quirky sights in most parts of the country.
Yeah, not everybody lives in Switzerland or the San Francisco Bay Area.
I've been in many a road trip up, down, and across the Great Plains of the US, where I spend a full day driving only to arrive in a town and geography that looks the exact same as the one I woke up in that morning. Only the signs are different.
Would you mind sharing the general region where you are? Based on your criticisms it sounds like the US, but my experience is quite different. I have only lived on the West coast though, and we're quite spoiled with amazing natural beauty around every corner here. I had a great time road tripping around small towns in the northeast around Vermont and Maine though.
The Midwest in particular is extremely homogeneous and flat, mostly plains and farmland for hundreds of miles. The West cost has more in 15 miles than the Midwest has in 100, on average. There are pockets here and there, but not enough to warrant the several hour drive it will take to get there.
Honestly, most of the US is like this. It's huge and very, very sparse.
Yeah that makes sense, that's too bad. The coasts are the most interesting places for local travel, but the elites living there don't seem to have the time of day for it. More for me I guess.
I live in Texas, which is probably very similar to where you’re thinking of, and I could list off at least 10 different places within a 1 hour radius that should be visited.
somehow I think of pickleball.
You are generally correct, despite the rebuttals in the reply comments to yours.
But I think the challenge here is that we can have great places if we do the following:
1. Focus on transportation and ways of living that focus on walking or taking a tram.
2. Create and support medium-density, mixed-use neighborhoods
3. Require good, sound architectural principles. When you think of Paris and those narrow streets or the apartment complexes in the best neighborhoods, we need those. None of this modernist bullshit or 5-over-1s made with recycled concrete. Use bricks, stone, and more. Incorporate design elements requiring skilled craftsmen, and pay for it.
Those 3 alone should get you most of the way there.
My final comment would be, when you're thinking about spending $5,000 - $10,000 or whatever on a big international trip to go look at some nice stuff in some other country, consider spending that money instead on your own home, or garden, or donate to organizations that maintain those things for you. It also doesn't have to be all or none, you can still travel, and still invest locally. Make where you live the kind of place you would have wanted to travel to. Gardens in Great Britain, for example, can happen where you live too you just need to spend the money and build and maintain those things... like they do.
The transit and transportation stuff is much more difficult to fix. Most Americans want a Jeep and suburban house and to wait in line and beep their horn at the Costco gas station and that's a tough hill to climb, but the 3 items I highlighted above are guaranteed to increase quality of life and lower costs long-term.
This is great advice, and I appreciate the opening sentence to frame it as a "yes, and" sort of situation. We took our teenagers to London and Paris last year (we're from the upper midwest in the states) and it was a joy to see them experience a) a different culture and b) art and architecture they never would have experienced otherwise.
But visiting local destinations is also such a joy. I'm a mile from one of the best BBQ joints in Michigan, in a "blink and you miss it" village. I try and make sure I don't take it for granted.
It isn't the same as travelling to truly remote cultures, of course, but odds are, your area has more stuff going on than you realize. My wife and I have taken to planning our occasional 2 week vacations with 2-4 days that we have plans for, and then plan to just use local resources to figure out what to do from there. And we always find things. Sometimes literally just driving down the road on the way to something else we found online and there's a little park on the side of the road or something dedicated to some interesting little thing. If you're just traveling as the wind takes you, it's not a problem that maybe that little park is only 10 minutes of "interesting". It's not a bad way to travel.
I find it also much more relaxing if you just go, with less planning, and more surprises. Travel as the wind takes you, that's it.
I usually prefer to make a detailed plan for my trip, but I allow myself to break free from it anytime I find something more interesting to do. This way I'm more sure that I won't waste too much time or money staying in wrong places, choosing wrong means of transport and falling for some tourist traps or common scams.
I am a huge proponent of this. I find it shocking how many people I talk to in California have never even heard of so many amazing parts of the state outside of a few urban bubbles of SF/LA/San Diego and major attractions like Yosemite. Such a better experience in nature when you aren't surrounded by tourists in places like the Mendocino forest or the Inyo mountains. I also learn so much about our history and how regular people live in small rural towns, they often put effort into preserving it, and the locals love to talk about it. I also love seeing all of the huge mines, factories, infrastructure projects, etc. that support our cities, but people rarely think about.
Traveled the world in my youth and regretfully did not visit several notable locations when I lived close-by. Now I'm partially retired I am making up for it big time - though it helps having a great starting point.
Last week I hiked the Paparoa trail (West coast NZ) for 4 days through old mining trails with one of my friends who was a local historian and gold prospector, the whole experience was fascinating, and great inspiration for my next novel.
Notably:
might as well be in Skyrim
I recently found out about a tiny room in the local public library that resells books (most for $0.25-$1). I've lived here over a decade.
Overreliance on echo-chambering platforms like Reddit/IG/Google Maps limits one's ability to explore. There's still lots to discover. And re-discover as you grow up.
I like the name that Alastair Humphreys uses, it's not 100% the same but the same direction: Microadventures
https://alastairhumphreys.com/product/microadventures/
amazing, thanks for sharing. I was curious if there's already a name for this local travel. Micro-travel or planless-travel are close. Mini retirements are another term I like to use. I heard from the Pathless Path book (I think), which is traveling for up to 4 weeks - it's not 100% related, but it is what came to mind when I heard Microadventures.
Birding is also a great way to discover interesting environments in your home locale.
Funnily enough, the country where I'm from is so touristic that if you're a local (with a typical local salary i.e. miserable) you get much more value for your money by going abroad.
What's the next place in your list?
I agree. In Europe we're particularly lucky that, after only a few hours in a train, we can be in a totally different culture, speaking a different language.
But even without this, traveling in the country side, getting to learn the history of those places, with the "small history", not the big battles, but the local inventions, the local specialties, etc, is so enriching and rewarding