Comments on: Yes to travel spontaneity

By: flsdjfsljflakjsf

flsdjfsljflakjsf — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:26:09 +0000

No, I think I can say with 100% certainty that there is no %#$@$ way Lincoln, Nebraska could ever be “interesting.” If you wind up there you made a really really bad call.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:16:36 +0000

I usually build in a couple of days in every trip that are not scripted (that is, I book no hotels, and no train tickets, so that I have no idea where I’ll be until I get there). I don’t know if it counts as “spontaneity” if I remain in the same country in which I’m already touristing, and get the strong city recommendation straight from my Rick Steves guide, but here goes: Goerlitz. I was in Germany, and needed a destination for the night or two I’d left free. Rick Steves was raving a bit about Goerlitz (the “oe” in the name is really an o with an umlaut), and saying “see it before it’s discovered!” Sure enough, I went, and it was a wonderful little town. It’s right on the Polish border (if you cross the bridge across the river that divides the town, which you must be an EU citizen to do, you’ll be in Poland; a lot of Poles came across just for dinner). I think it’s the river Elbe that runs through it, if you’ll forgive my Google-fu laziness in not looking it up. It was full of character and charm, with many buildings from the Baroque and Renaissance eras, and even before. It was like a little Prague, but with far fewer tourists.

Continuing on spontaneity: Sometimes I take recommendations from locals as to the cool things to see. Sometimes they’re boring, but sometimes interesting. The Ogham stones in western Ireland were like that. They’re stones upon which, perhaps two or three millenia ago, the locals carved a sort of alphabet they’d made up. The letters were formed by carving either one, two, three, four of five lines, either horizontally or diagonally, proceeding either from the edge of the stone to the left of the edge, or to the right of the edge. So they ended up with about 20 “letters” in their alphabet. The lady who told me about them said that through recent times, locals would actually make hand signals to one another, using their fingers to form the letters. That was a spontaneous visit to the stones, which probably would have been boring to some people ;D but were rather interesting to me.

By: Hola Hong Kong Day 4

Hola Hong Kong Day 4 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:04:14 +0000

[...] » Yes to travel spontaneity :: Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts … [...]

By: Jamal N

Jamal N — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:35:34 +0000

I am not in for travel spontaneity.

Read my blog u will know why

http://20years20countries.blogspot.com/
My life Journey.

Best,

By: » Yes to travel spontaneity :: Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts … | developtravel.com

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:01:23 +0000

[...] See more [...]

By: Ed F

Ed F — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:55:02 +0000

I did it in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a lovely city, but I’ve been there half a dozen times and, lovely as it is, there isn’t a whole lot to do once the tourist virginity has worn off.

Needing to be there on business, I decided to stay the weekend. When I awoke Saturday morning I decided to try to roulette route; walked over to the train station, and took the first ICE (Inter-City Express) train that was leaving the country. First stop: Cologne. And got there for their Mardi Gras. All sorts of folks dressed as geeks, goblins, and gigolos. I kid you not.

Much more fun than another canal cruise around Amsterdam.