Saturday, May 16, 2009

What to See When You Travel

I have been doing a little research preparing to meet my friend Meg and two of her friends in Barcelona to celebrate one of her milestone birthdays. We had no agenda but all promised to do some research ahead of time. I was searching for some travel podcasts about Spain and also downloaded Rick Steves interviewing Patricia Schultz, the author of 1000 Places to See Before You Die. While I don’t own a copy of this book my friend Mel does and it’s always on her coffee table when we visit. Every time I’m there we end up talking about it as we flip through various locations. The interview was really good, and it has made me interested in getting my own copy as well as her latest which focuses on places in the U.S. and Canada.

A few interesting points in the interview:

1.Don’t avoid an experience because it’s a cliché. It could be your only time ever in a place so take advantage of it. If it’s a cliché it’s probably because it’s worth seeing or experiencing.

2.There are great things to see all around you. She said that when she was writing the book about the U.S. and Canada Americans would joke that she was going to have a hard time finding 1000 things to see. That is so not the case.

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