"My Wandering Feet" - Traveling Differently

CLICK ME for an INTRODUCTION to this BLOG Series. 
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For the maiden issue of my 'Wandering Feet", I am sharing with you traveling tips by Paulo Coelho that serve as my guide in my traveling escapades.

Traveling Differently

• Avoid Museums. If you are in a foreign city, isn’t it far more interesting to go in search of the present than of the past? Museums are important, but they require time and objectivity.  Know what you want to see there, otherwise you will leave with a sense of having seen a few really fundamental things, but you can’t remember what they were.
• Hang Out in Bars. I don’t mean nightclubs, but places where ordinary people go, have a drink, ponder the weather, and are always ready for a chat.  Buy a newspaper and enjoy the ebb and flow of people.  If someone strikes up a conversation, however silly, join in.
• Be Open. The best tour guide is someone who lives in the place, knows everything about it, is proud of his or her city, but does not work for an agency.  Go out into the street, choose the person you want to talk to, and ask them something (Where is the cathedral? Where is the post office?).  I guarantee that at the end of the day you will have found yourself an excellent companion.
• Try to travel alone or –if you are married – with your spouse.  It will be harder work, no one will be there taking care of you, but only in this way can you truly leave your own country behind.  Traveling with group is a way of being in a foreign country while speaking your mother tongue, doing whatever the leader of the flock tells you to do, and taking more interest in group gossip than in the place you are visiting.
• Don’t Compare.  Prices, standards of hygiene, quality of life, means of transport, nothing! You are not traveling in order to prove that you have a better life than other people - your aim is to find out how other people live, what they can teach you, how they deal with reality and with extraordinary.
• Understand that everyone understands you.  Even if you don’t speak the language, don’t be afraid.  Some people think that if they travel alone, they will set off down the street and be lost forever.  Just make sure you have the hotel card in your pocket, flag down a taxi, and show the card to the driver.
• Don’t buy too much.  Spend your money on things you won’t need to carry: tickets to a good play, restaurants, trips.
• Don’t try to see the world in a month.  It is far better to stay in a city for four or five days than to visit five cities in a week.  A city is like a capricious woman: she takes time to be seduced and to reveal herself completely.
• A journey is an adventure. Wander the streets, explore alleyways, experience the freedom of looking for something quite what you don’t know-but which, if you find it, will-you can be sure-change your life.