Seeing and Observing

The desire to travel to some faraway countries is growing in me faster than my body fat ratio. The route I have in mind is Prague – Vienna – Salzburg & Hallstatt – Munich.



I still have fond memories of my week in London last June, but in retrospect I feel I might have rushed a bit. Before the trip I told myself to slow down but once there, I found myself dashing from one attraction to another as the “this museum, check; that monument, check” mentality took over (but then, there was so much to see and do in London). It was my first solo trip so I might have overplanned, even down to the number of hours to spend at each attraction.

In short, I forgot to relax. I saw, but I didn't really observe.

That’s why for the next trip, if it materialises, I’m going to leave a few blank days on the itinerary to allow some room for serendipity. I can also foresee my itinerary to be less museum-heavy because I want to spend more time out there on the streets, to observe the everyday life of the places I visit. This can be as simple as wandering aimlessly for a couple of hours, punctuated by brief stops at cafes where I can watch the people come and go, while jotting down my observations when they are still fresh. The point is to really pay attention to little things so that, when I come back, I'll have more stories to tell beyond what people can already learn from guidebooks.