Do you need a good imagination for a memorable trip?

Sea Urchin,

You make some really good points! I think that travelling requires an attitude that allows for things like crowded piazze or waiting in line to get into a main attraction. Everyone seems to want to go somewhere in which there are no tourists except for themselves, of course. I can definitely relate to this myself, since it is great to be among locals, but a little open-mindedness is in order, I would agree. Don't look at waiting on line to get into the Uffizi as "waiting-on-lin-to-get-into-the-Uffizi," but rather as a chance to strike up a conversation with a local, or a tourist, or to read a few pages of a book, or to look up at some of the interesting architecture around you, etc. Life is too short!

If I can "rant and rave" for just a second, let me say that many of my own friends and colleagues claim to want to be the only tourists in certain areas but never want to try to learn a foreign language. I mean really LEARN a language (not an impossibility for Americans), not just 20 phrases. Many friends of mine complain, as you appropriately describe, that there are so many "Americans" or "tourists" at these touristy places. My advice? Learn the language, be able to deal very well in a language other than English (heaven forbid!), and go to non-touristy hotels and restaurants. (Of course, learning a language takes time, and I am not suggesting that people postpone their travel plans for five years, but you get the idea.)

Sorry for the linguistic rambling (I am a quadlingual American), but to answer your question, I think that one does need a good imagination, but more than a good imagination, the humility to admit that his or her way might not be the best way. If there is not enough ice in your soda at the hotel in Capri, use that as a point of reflection--do Italians use less ice than Americans? Or, do Caprese use less ice than Americans, I wonder? Too many of us are too eager to criticize, complain, and get ourselves down on our own vacations. Now, wanting more ice in one's soda is perfectly noble, but I would say, "relax, enjoy, and have a good time--ask politely for more." Don't like the fact that Italians don't typically have pancakes for breakfast? Reflect a bit--is there something about Mediterranean (perhaps) culture that lends itself to lighter breakfasts? Does the larger mid-day meal have anything to do with this, etc.

In short, yes, I think you need a good imagination, but also, some humility, flexibility, and willingness to learn (if possible, even a foreign language!).

MMM

I think a healthy imagination is useful for all sorts of things, including travel. Sometimes imagination is all that gets you through an ordinary work day.

In traveling, you can't help but run into crowds and into situations you didn't expect. Not saying 'disappointing', but not what your expectations were. So, you do something else... or you don't. But one of my favorite pastimes on a trip is the "I wonder where that road (side street, path) goes?". And then you go find out. I've never been let down by those side trips, because I'm not really expecting anything other that what I happen to find. Those are almost always the best memories of a trip.

sea urchin, I agree but you don't need imagination, you need attitude to enjoy.
For instance all these posts telling you to avoid Provence in July/early August. Shoot! that is when the lavender fields, the sunflowers are in bloom. By the end of August the lavender is harvested and the surviving sunflowers have turned brown. So you will never see the beauty captured in pictures. For the first visit go July, very, very early August to see these fields that are the esence of Provence.

No, imagination is not a requirement, although it helps. For me, I KNOW why I'm going where I'm going. For example when I was in Rome I pretty much wandered around the Coloseum and Forum saying "WOW" for 2 days. That was why I was there, to walk in the footsteps of history. And so as long as I got to do that, I didn't really care who else was walking around me. Instead of imagination, I think a memorable trip is in the attitude. Yeah Europe can be crowded with tourists, but it's also a big place. If you don't like where you happen to be... IMO move on to somewhere else.

SeaUrchin.

If it were not for imagination, why would we leave home in the first place.

For most of us on this board travel is not a 'merit badge', in 'been there done that'.

We follow our fantasies.

I think there is a big mentality difference between 'thems as thinks they go because they should' and 'those who go because they want to'.

I do find it somewhat amusing when I read or hear people saying "we should see the Uffizi", or some piece of art. I wonder how many people really want to see art in the Louve, or do they go just so they can say they have seen Winged Victory.
I know people who think they should see a play in London, even though they are bored stiff.
Or have tea in London then go out for a decent meal.

I think imagination adds to a trip just as it adds to our life. A sense of adventure and an open attitude like others have mentioned are needed on a trip as well as in life too.

Do you think people travel in the same way that they live? I find it true.

I love to hear that there are still people with open minds and common sense out there. I will say, I am one of those (blush) that goes to Venice and brings back a beautiful Carnivale Mask, or goes to London to tour the London Bridge, you know. It never fails: when places are brought up in conversation, it always sparks these memories which at the time, I would have thought to be "forgettable" at best.
Berlin - Walking in the night rain to Alexanderplatz (before I could understand German).
Paris - Lost in Nueilly trying to find the American Hospital.
Vienna - Looking out my window at the Klosterneuburg. (Can't seem to get it out of my head!)
Jakarta - My friend, rubbing VapoRub on her neck and rubbing it with a coin when she was sick. She explained it to me, but I still never got it.
Colombia - Walking down to the cemetary of a little hilltop village with my cousin on a cool summer afternoon.
I barely remember the Eiffel Tower, the Tower of London, San Marco's, or the Glockenspiel. I dont remember what I might have eaten on those days and I dont remember if any locals ticked me off or if any Americans embarrassed my by the way they acted.
It is these other little snippets of places you would have never thought you would remember that stick to your memory. And every time I get back from a worldwind trip I think to myself that I should have just relaxed and paid more attention to those little things, those times between the sights which actually make up the feel of the place. Because for everything else there are postcards.

I think the majority of folks who post here are probably doing so in order to help others or to find out some piece of legitimate information. It is unfortunate when people forget that what they think is "the best" cannot possibly and should not be the same for everyone.
I think you need a spirit of adventure and flexibility when you travel and certainly a great deal of acceptance of what others do and are.

I think it's not as much imagination, as it is flexibility. You can't control your environment when you are on vacation, and I think that's a problem for some people. Or sometimes I think they expect the other countries to be "Disneyland", I love Disneyland, but I don't expect Rome to be Romeland, or London to be Londonland.

And yes, there just might be other tourists there, geez...why did you decide to go there? Maybe other people want to see it too?

Bottom line, an open mind, I think is a necessity when on vacation and a love of people watching doesn't hurt either.

Hey SeaUrchin,

There are tourists and there are tourists; and the bad ones aren't always Americans.

I recall speaking with some Germans in Denmark. They had just arrived from Italy, which they didn't care for. I asked where they had gone that week and they didn't really know.

When I asked if they had been to Firenze, one said, "No, but we saw Florence and Rome".

Not sure if anyone has read "The Art of Travel," published earlier this year, I believe. It speaks to a lot of these issues and takes travel to a quasi-philisophical level.

MMM

I think the person who most enjoys a trip is a cross between a pilgrim and an explorer.

I mean a pilgrim in the sense of paying homage to those wondrous things you have read or heard about, be it the fiords of Norway or the Titian exhibition in London's National Gallery.

You need to be an explorer: willing to try that little restaurant (even if nobody from Fodor's board has recommended it) or wander down an alley in Venice and suddenly realized you were lost but to go in the tiny shop where the owner doesn't speak English (and you don't speak Italian) and she gives directions with hand signals, etc and the exclaimed "couraggio" as you leave.

You'd also better be resilient and flexible because things may not go exactly as planned: you've arrived in Paris but your luggage hasn't or the elevator in the hotel has died and you're on the fourth floor.

You'd better be tolerant. Amazingly, some customs are different than your own.

And, most of all, have a sense of humor.
Going thru that roundabout between Glasgow and Edinburgh for the third time until you finally got it right really was funny and so what if the kids squirted you accidentally(?) with water guns in the square in the old town in Stockholm.

An addition to my prior post. You should be able to experience childlike awe. You know, something that makes your eyes open wider, your mouth pop open, your breathing have a little hitch and your heart beat a little faster.

If that has never happened to you, I suggest you stay home and devote yourself to good works.

I love all of these qualities ideas you have described.

childlike awe
sense of humor
tolerance
resilience
willingness to explore
openmindedness
ability to follow your fantasy
common sense
spirit of adventure
flexibility

what a wonderful and expressive list...I've got to agree with each one, and add just one more: a capacity for joy.

...and the urge to tell others about your experiences so they can have them too and you can enjoy living it again through the re-telling

Something maybe to add to that list.

You have to "care". I don't mean some warm and fuzzy thing, I just mean that whatever it is you're doing, whatever it is you came to see - it should be something you care about.

Whether it's the local culture, the environment of a place, it's history... something. I think there has to be something that you respect about a place that makes being there worthwhile. And that something isn't something anyone else can define for you. But, without that, you're just chalking up a notch on the travel log. You have to care about why it is you're there. If you have that then, crowds, vendors, weather and changes of plan won't make that much difference.

Good point, Clifton, but that includes the ability to get outside of ourselves, doesn't it? I think it is to care about something else so much that we forget about ourselves for a moment. I totally agree with you.

I have become so absorbed in some sight, in Europe, America, Asia or the South Seas, that neither crowds nor any other external element could deter or disturb me.

Some people just can't be happy unless they have something to bitch about.

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." Ralph Waldo Emerson
I saw this quote the other day and it really made me realize that if we do not bring beauty of thoughts, etc. with us when we travel we really will only see the "ugly" side of travel.

topping my question - any other ideas?