Coping With Your Topophilia (Travel Tips Part 2)

TRAVEL BOOKS
Buy a travel book. I have a very conflicted relationship with travel books, but I usually end up with at least one on the area I’m visiting. They can be interesting and useful, but they have so many downsides:

1.They start going out-of-date almost immediately after being printed.
2. They are generally expensive.
3. You usually only want about 1/4 of the information in them.

Nevertheless, things like self-guided walking tours, suggested day trips, museum listings, and restaurant price range listings can be be very helpful. In Houston, I actually bought lots of books that each had a section or two of information that I actually wanted. I made photocopies of those sections, and then returned the books for a full refund. It’s not a super classy thing to do, but it’s also not my fault that these books are only 1/4 appealing. Another option is buying these books on discount websites like half.com and amazon.com. I’ve found some $20+ travel books for less than a dollar on these sites.

In the midst of the overwhelming abundance of mediocre travel books, I have found one absolutely perfect travel guide. Unfortunately it has a very limited number of titles, but they have more in production. They are called PLACENOTES. Here is an excerpt from their website:

PLACENOTES is dedicated to the simple proposition that good places, whether they be ones we make, or ones that surround us naturally, are central to the quality of our lives, and the well-being of our communities. Everything that we do, in fact, is somehow connected to a place. Life Takes Place.

PLACENOTES is an attempt to lead people to and teach them about the qualities of good and enduring places - places that makes us feel rooted and connected, and places that we wish to preserve and care about.

It is a very intriguingly packaged set of cards, each dedicated to a location within the city that both contributes to and communicates that city’s Spirit of Place. The decision to print each “page” on an individual card allows you to take a few cards with you (and maybe slide them into your Moleskine journal pocket, if you are feeling trendy) as opposed to having to carry around a cumbersome travel book. The front of each card has photograph of the location. The back has pertinent information (descriptions, quotes from the architect, hours, address, phone numbers, websites, maps etc.) I really encourage you to check out the website. It’s very interesting. I found PLACENOTES while looking for a travel book for Houston. Fortunately, Houston is one of their nine titles in publication. Hopefully there will be many more in the future.

placenotes.com

Coping With Your Topophilia (Travel Tips Part 1)

I’m now on my second extended business trip. This time I’m in Mesa, Arizona. So far, I have learned a lot about living out of a hotel, and making the most of working alone in an unfamiliar city. If you have read my previous post, you know how poorly I handled the situation in Houston, on my first trip. I’m finally getting my act together, and I have begun to develop an all-around strategy for my first few days in a new place. Remember, my goal when traveling, (and when writing this blog) is to discover the spirit of a place, the Genius Loci. Spirit of place affects all of us, wherever we are, whether or not we are aware. It’s happening to you right now, where you are sitting. Your sense of place is evolving. My thought though, is that we should actively search for the Genius Loci, as opposed to being content letting it happen to us. Find it; don’t wait for it to find you. Life will be so much more fun and comfortable once you honestly start to figure out where you are.

Do some research.

There is so much information available that will give you a jump start on discovering your new city (or your familiar city that you never bothered to explore). Unfortunately, when it comes to this kind of information, the good stuff is generally found surrounded by a whole lot of useless crap. If you are willing to put forth just a little time to poke around through the crap, here are some good ideas.

• Search Wikipeida for the city where you will be staying. It’s a good place to get an overall description of where you will be. Some of the information will prove useful, and some of the trivia, interesting.

• Use Google to search for “events” and “things to do in (whatever city you are visiting).” Yes, the results that pop up will usually be on the cheesy, corporate travel websites, and many of us prefer the idea of finding “locals only” type businesses and “off the beaten path” activities. But nonetheless, these websites offer some good suggestions – enjoyable ways to ease yourself into the local culture of leisure. My current favorite is 10best.com. No doubt, some of it is crap, but if you read the descriptions, you can get a pretty good feel for the places you will actually enjoy. You’ll find those lesser-known destinations mostly by asking people, and, of course, by accident.

• Find the city’s official website. You will usually find a calendar of events and links to things like museums and performing arts venues. This is also where you will find out about local festivals and fairs. On the Mesa website, I found out that the Chicago Cubs have spring training in Mesa, and that I can get a ticket for less that $10 and that there is a huge beer tasting festival coming to town in the near future.

• Buy the local paper. There are usually a couple weekdays that include special sections announcing local events, concerts, and other entertainment. Look out for other independent, local publications too. Most of them are free and will clue you in on things you would probably never find out about otherwise.