Travel: the leisurely way

Exploring a new city is exciting, but sometimes it can feel overwhelming. How do you see everything you want to? How do you balance an itinerary with meandering?

While studying abroad in Austria, I struggled with that balance. I feared that if I didn’t see everything now, I would never come back to see it again. And that might be true, but I’ve made peace with what I was able to do and what I had to miss out on.

photo from Wix media library

I recently took a day trip to Boston, and I feel that I was able to apply my new philosophy for travel. Instead of letting the fear of missing out dictate my city experience, I opened my eyes to what was in front of me and enjoyed it just for what it was.

Keep in mind that there’s a difference between a long vacation that allows you to plan more and a short, more spontaneous day trip. But there are still some universal rules of thumb that apply to the different categories of travel.

Here’s what I’ve found to be the best approach for keeping travel leisurely (and some fun ideas of how to spend time in Boston).

Explore

One of the best overarching philosophies toward travel to keep in mind is a mentality of exploration.

Just wandering a city has been one of my favorite aspects of each excursion. It allows you to take in a city’s culture and understand its general feel, rather than defining it by what activities you do within that city.

In Boston, we first walked on the Harbor walk along the Boston Harbor. We were able to see a good bit of the city and just enjoy the general atmosphere. Stopping to see how people live, observing businesspeople attending to their daily work, and mingling with other tourists.

I would highly recommend walking around a city, stopping into shops, and generally observing the native atmosphere of each place you travel.

Activity

Have one must-do activity that you want to do in each new place. This will help you structure spontaneity in how you get to that activity and where you go from there but won’t leave you following a tight schedule.

For us in Boston, it was Mass at Our Lady of Good Voyage. After all, according to Josef Pieper, worship is at the heart of leisure.

Whatever you decide to be your one staple activity, stick to it. It might help to have a few ideas of things to do before and after but don’t get too attached. It’s best to only have expectations for one event (or maybe two depending on how much time you have in your travel day).

Food

Instead of trying to find the absolute best place to eat in a city, have some ideas in mind, but reassess where to go when it comes time to eat.

It’s a good idea to regroup and do a few internet searches before you start wandering the city to find a meal…hangry decisions usually end poorly.

While we were in Boston, we stepped aside for no more than 7 minutes, looked up some ideas, and decided on where to eat. We didn’t mourn the fact that it might not be the pinnacle of Boston cuisine. But we were confident that there would be good food and a good atmosphere. (Check out The Granary Tavern in Boston!).

Because we waited to make a lunch decision until right before we ate, it was easy to eliminate options that were too far away. Just one more thing to make our decisions smoother.

There might be some different circumstances that allow for more planning, or a restaurant that is a must-eat. But overall, this is the approach I would recommend.

Also, while you’re at the meal, make intentional conversation with the people you’re traveling with. Don’t feel like you should rush to your next activity. Rather, embrace the time you have together and make memories while you’re in each other’s undivided presence.

Make it your own

In any city you travel to find some way to make the experience your own. What will help you remember your specific adventure with the specific people you were with?

For us, it was dumping a few tea leaves in the Boston Harbor. Completely harmless, completely comical, but completely our own.

I will always remember that we were able to mark Boston with our own recreation of a historical event.

Now, it’s up to you to discover a creative way to make each city your own.

Hopefully, you can implement some of these ideas into how you travel.

I do believe that they will help you enter the places you visit with more peace and leisure. Bon voyage!