How to Travel to a New City
How To Make the Most of a New City
When traveling to a new city, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. When navigating a new place, I’m always worried I’ll miss the important sites and choose bad restaurants to eat at.
I didn’t start traveling until I entered college and went abroad in 2022. Landing in Dublin, I immediately felt lost and unsure of how to make the most of my time in Europe.
Now, almost 2 years later, after living in Dublin for five months during college, and traveling to 10+ new countries and cities, I’ve come up with a few good tips to experience a new city.
Orientation Walk
My favorite part of traveling is learning to navigate the area. Whether I’m there for two days or two weeks, I want to get around without relying on my phone.
I’ve found that walking is the best way to situate myself in a city. I call this my orientation walk. Honeybees do something similar called an orientation flight. When new forager bees first leave the hives to pollinate, they take a small flight around their hive to situate themselves. An orientation flight!
When walking around a new neighborhood, I think of honeybees as I take in my new surroundings. I might not fly like a bee in a figure-eight, but I definitely walk in circles.
The length of the walk depends on how long you’re staying.
My family and I were in Florence for three days, and my mom and I took a whole afternoon to just wander around the area.
On these walks, I like to catalog what’s around me. I look for restaurants, cafes, or open spaces to hang out. Anything that might be important to me during my stay.
The most important thing to do on this walk is to study the geography. You can’t navigate a city if you don’t know how the streets work.
In New York City, it’s important to know the difference between the avenues and the streets. When I traveled to Seattle, I used the water and Space Needle as my main checkpoints.
Things like bodies of water, parks, town halls, and other big focal points help you understand where you are and where you should go without needing a map.
In Florence, I always made sure I knew where the river was. If it was on my left, I was going towards my favorite thrift store. If it was on my right, I was going towards my hotel.
Once my family left, I spent two days alone in Florence and got to put my orientation walk to the test. Though I still needed my map sometimes, I felt comfortable walking the streets and knew where I was usually.
2. Find green spaces
My biggest worry when I travel is that I’ll run out of things to do. Though that never happens, I always stress that I’ll spend too much time in my room.
And even though you want to stay as busy as possible, you are going to need some downtime.
When traveling abroad in 2022, I stayed in hostels, and some of them weren’t my ideal place to hang around. So, I’d find a park and spend time there instead of hiding in my bed.
I think it’s always nice to spend time in a park rather than in your hotel bed.
So, when you’re on your orientation flight, look for some green.
Since being in Italy, I noticed that Rome and Florence were seriously lacking local parks like the ones in the US. But! All you need is a bench and a nice enough view, so don’t be picky about your green spots.
In Rome, I found a nice spot on Aventine Hill in the olive gardens. I found it by aimlessly walking around Rome towards the random green spot on my phone’s map.
3. Do some research
My least favorite part of traveling is the research you should do ahead of time. Though I hate being unprepared, preparing for a trip is the worst.
I went to Seattle in January and was balling on a strict budget. I knew I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on activities, so I begrudgingly made a list of all the free and not free things Seattle had to offer.
This list doesn’t need to be super in-depth or detailed. I wrote down anything that seemed interesting and fun. I looked for farmer’s markets, free galleries/museums, and famous landmarks.
Making this list didn’t just help me find activities, but it helped me learn a little about the city before I even got there.
While preparing for my trip to Italy, I started reading a little bit about the different neighborhoods. I hadn’t done this before for a trip, but I knew I wanted to explore more than just the city centers.
Knowing the different neighborhoods helped me get out of the touristy areas and see different parts of the city.
4. Find places to sit
Similar to number 2, I like to look for places to sit.
I’m spending my first week in Florence with my family, then I’ll be alone for the rest of my trip. As we explored the city together, I noted different squares and areas where I could sit and read, eat, or do anything else.
I sometimes don’t want to sit alone at a restaurant when I’m solo traveling. I find it easier to grab a quick meal and eat it somewhere. When I first visited Italy in 2022, my friend and I liked to grab pizza and find a place to eat it.
I’ve been making notes of places I can bring my dinner to once my family leaves, and it’s been helping ease my solo traveling anxieties.
5. Talk to people!!!
No one knows a city better than the locals. No matter how many blogs and articles you read, you’ll get the best advice from the people you meet.
Don’t be afraid to chat and ask questions. When I was living in Ithaca, I loved when people stopped me on the street and asked for recommendations. People love to talk!
If you’re out to dinner or on a tour, ask your waiter or guide where they like to go or what they like to do.
By doing this, you’re stepping away from the typical touristy recommendations, which are still great, and learning more about the city’s depth.
I think it’s important to visit the popular sites in a city. Don’t shy away from the tourist recommendations just because they’re touristy. However, also make a point to eat places and see things that you might not find on Trip Advisor. Talking to locals will help you do this.
In Florence, one of the touristy things you shouldn’t miss out on is visiting Piazzale Michaelangelo.
Me at the Piazzale!
Closing Notes
Salve! Welcome to my first travel post since 2022! Check out my old posts here. Some of you might remember my travel blogs from my time abroad during my junior year of college. Well, I’m back in the EU for the first time in two years, and I’m taking you all with me. You’re welcome.
I’ll be in Italy until May, and I’ll be posting a mixture of content. On this site, I’ll be posting more professional-like content like the best places to travel.
If you want to hear about the nitty-gritty of me staying alone in Italy for a month, check back soon for my first diary entry.
Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like to mince my words, so check out that site if you want the deets.
I’m excited to start writing more travel-related posts, so let me know your thoughts! And if you know of any people looking to pay people for travel writing, send them this blog ;)
