Slow down you move too fast......

Right on! Everyone seems to have their must-sees. Our favorites were places where we were the only visitors there. It really gives one a sense of discovery to linger and imagine what history took place in an out of the way place. You can also achieve this if you visit a more famous place off season. We had a personal tour by a Scottish Laird (Duke) because we were one of the few guest visiting his castle on a rainy September day, And people seem to forget large parts of Countries because they aren't advertised as much or featured on a TV drama. Not that these places aren't great if you want to wait in line with the bus loads of tourists. So relax and enjoy the journey and the wonderful places on the way to the star attractions because they may be your fondest memories.

Ah, Simon and Garfunkel...I learned to ski in Colorado with this song playing over and over in my head. Did it's work then but never thought to apply to travel. Great advice, Marbleskies. Thanks for the reminder

Such good advice Marbleskies!

I was forced to slow down by a sprained ankle on my holiday in France this year. I could still get around but it was swollen and uncomfortable. So I simply stopped trying to see the sights in the places I visited and spent far more time just sitting in cafés watching people or reading and soaking up the sun. That felt good.

A lot of people on this Forum are too much in a hurry I think for two reasons: too short vacation and they want to see everything and underestimate distances and time it takes it to travel them. I personally am not going to Europe if it cannot be at least for three weeks but usually 4 to 6, few times 8 weeks. That way I can add a lot of category called: "Relaxation".
Very good and needed post, Marbleskies!

Feelin' groovy. . . .

All your posts "Make Me Smile"....... Chicago

I always think the itineraries in Rick's books move too fast, and I usually slow them down where it make sense for my wife and me. The more experienced I get as a traveler, the more I try to book three night stays vs. two nights, and for major tourist cities like London, Paris, Rome, my last visits to each I stayed five nights. If the worst thing that happens is that I spend a day just walking around town, shopping with my wife, and sitting in cafes, that's o.k. with me. One of the reasons I love Budapest so much is that there is so little that is obligatory there. I half wish on my recent trip to Italy that I had skipped a day of sightseeing in Rome and Florence and just goofed off. The marginal enjoyment value of the number nine and ten top sights in major tourist centers may not be more enjoyable than just enjoying being in the place. Of course there is nothing preventing one from being more selective in cities where the sightseeing possibilities are endless, but it's hard to have that discipline. The sights that I see when I am tired at the end of the day, I tend to enjoy less.

I factor in what I call "down time" in the course of the trip, such as having a day to sleep in, write postcards, go to the post office, see one museum thoroughly, go to a small town only visited by locals, etc. Since the next trip starting in the second half of May will go on for a bit than seven weeks, covering 5 countries, "down time" will be needed.

Can I just say that to have a 'lasting moment' does not necessarily require a lot of time. Case in point being most people's first kiss, or even a glance in the street. (In fact I still remember one from my first time in Paris as a young man - glance, not kiss).

Taking one's time is nice, if you have it.

This is a question of preferred travel style. Just because someone travels at a different pace than you, doesn't mean they need advice to do it your way......

I am a "go full speed" traveler while my sister prefers to linger and go slower. We manage to have great trips together by respecting each other's style and compromise.

Rick Steves has always advocated a 'vacation within your vacation', recommending taking one day (for each 7 days) to just relax on a beach, sit at an outdoor cafe and people watch, take a walk and linger over a picnic in a park, etc as a way to rest and recharge from the other active sightseeing days. Good advice and one I've always followed. Those days have usually turned out some of the best on my trips.

Nancy,
I agree about the vacation from vacation days. But for us that's not a beach. It's usually a a not very difficult hike. Hadrian's Wall, walking down from Fisole after busing up, biking Lucca's walls, all come to mind. Beach walks too, come to think of it. Oh and picnics out at "lesser" sights.

To the OP,

We find apartments and doing much cooking for ourselves slows us down in a good way. We meet, interact with, and watch locals in grocery stores. Everyone grocery shops.

djp_syd and Carol both make good points.

I have six weeks off work per year, and I know this more generous than a lot of people get. But I still have family and friends I want to visit and time for just not doing anything, so i have to balance trips against that.

Most people don't have the luxury of weeks or months to travel, and if it's their first time abroad, I can understand why they want to do and see 'everything'. It's not cheap and saving money takes time. My first trip to London was a college tour, and having someone who knew where everything was and how to get there made a huge difference in what we saw and did.

It wasn't until my 3rd trip that I felt it was okay to slow down. I also traveled with a friend whose travel style was completely opposite of mine, and it was almost a disaster. We are still friends, but we don't talk about that trip. On my next trip I realized that being back in my hotel by 6pm to wind down for the day was okay too. It can take a while to figure out your travel style. And I'm not one who looks for interactions with the people who live there; if it happens it happens, but I'm not seeking it out. It's not my personality.

Yep, we all bring our own life values into the equation of "slowing down" with the point being to find your own way to "making the moment last".

A request........

Perhaps we can add value by posting how you choose to slow down? By contributing your tips we made help other travelers learn from your experiences.

Thanks!

I think when you're young/er, you cannot afford to slow down (too little vacation time) and you have no reason to slow down (you're full of energy and can endure a hectic schedule). When you're old/er, you don't have a choice...even if you have the resources, you'll also have (largely physical) limitations that will force you to slow down. For now, as much as I'd love to slow down, I simply can't truly do it in the sense of stretching my vacation to impossible limits (even in a place like Sicily, where you're supposed to just let it soak in). I also want to take advantage of the fact that I am still healthy and fit and should do some travels that are fairly physical in nature while I can (not necessarily in Europe, but more like National Parks, trekking, hiking, etc.)

I have to redefine and reframe "slowing down" a bit differently that fits my constraints. I do it in small ways like having a long wonderful dinner at the end of the day and not rushing through other meals. If I'm traveling alone, I also "slow down" by writing in my journal on a daily basis. It really helps me interpret and appreciate everything I'm experiencing on the trip. When I get home, I "relive" the trip by organizing all my many photos. I think as long as you're able to make some time for quiet contemplation, that's a decent tradeoff to traveling more aggressively than you'd like. I also try to alternate hectic days with much less hectic days, and I don't over-plan for both the first and last days of travel (because they are not truly "full days"). Lastly, I try not to jump around to disparate places when there's plenty to see exactly where I am (so there is no landing in Rome and immediately taking the train elsewhere for me).

I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment. I think everyone can do some things to make their trips a little more relaxing and fulfilling. With that said, I think the right equilibrium is different for each person...and as one becomes more experienced in their travels, they will continually adjust and fine-tune.

My trips are usually longer than a couple of weeks so slowing down for a whole day here and there is easy. I understand that when you only have a week you're probably not going to want to 'waste' a whole day just lounging around (unless you are at a beach of course). Slowing down doesn't have to be a whole day, it may just be not planning a whole day of activities/sightseeing back to back so that you don't have a chance to breathe. It may be just a long leisurely dinner and a stroll around a town in the evening before going to bed. Or it could be just getting up a little early one day and sitting at a cafe with a coffee and pastry for an hour watching a city come to life before the tourist sights open up. As I mentioned in my other post, maybe a leisurely walk and a picnic in a park, rather than a quick bite between sights. I understand the idea of wanting to see everything, but if you plan your days too tightly and spend every minute taking in the big sights and rushing from one to the other then at the end of the trip you tend to forget a lot of what you saw and did so what was the point?

We have a "down day" every five days. We use this day for laundry and go do something special for the kids. A pool in the Wengen or a Lido Beach in Venice. We cut down the number of activities and add parks or open squares where the kids can run and play and then visit another site in the afternoon everyday. It has been nice to see our daughter interact with other kids when she cannot speak the language but every kid understands when another grabs her hand and pulls her toward a slide! Traveling with two kids now 3 years and 10 years old you have to.

A slower pace definitely lets you interconnect with the locals.

Good conversation here! I also try to schedule a relaxing "down day" once or twice during a busy trip. But sometimes such a day can be thrust upon you. I remember once, back in 2013, when I was spending a couple nights in San Gimignano in Tuscany, and planned to take a long day toward the end of my trip to visit Volterra, which would involve an early morning bus, two hours by bus each way. I woke up very early, still really tired, and could hear that it was pouring rain outside. I quickly decided that I didn't need this long day in a downpour. So I slept in leisurely until almost 10 a.m., by which time it was sunny and bright, and I ended up spending the whole day with no plan, strolling around the more remote neighborhoods and streets of San Gimignano, away from the busy touristy area. A very different and relaxing atmosphere. (Of course with time for gelato, here and there). And then the next day traveled to Lucca by way of Volterra, where I spent several hours after all.

I think there are a lot of people who travel so they can go home and say they've been here, here and here rather than enjoying where they are when they are there. They are just checking off boxes for bragging rights. Just my opinion...

In my planner/journal I have lists of things in the order of preference, so I know, but I often don't see that many of them. I enjoy the process of walking or training or ferrying to the sights. Every minute of my vacation, when solo, is as relaxed as I can make it (although location changing days always has some amount of stress). The only transportation I hurry to is the one flying to Europe. After that I would never set transportation between locations or for heading home for before 10:00...I don't want to hurry on my vacation, "You've got to make the morning last". I don't want to get up at some ungodly hour. I want to enjoy my vacation. I do a lot of people watching as I walk, sit in parks, cafes, etc. I chose only my favorite museums, and no more than one per day, unless there is a horrible storm going on outside. I'm a big walker. And I prefer cities or larger towns. I'd rather stay too long in a place than only two nights after two nights, etc. I just think that's nuts. That being said, I'm on the RS Greece tour in 2017, which is just what I don't like, quick and early. But as other worries disappear, like how the heck do I get around the Peloponnese, I think it will balance itself out. We shall see...

I'm with Wray in a lot of ways. Hate those 1-night and 2-night stops. But I very much enjoy smaller cities and towns. My goal is always to walk every street within the historic district (not in the big cities, obviously). Since the small places often don't need more than a day or so to see fairly thoroughly (and I do get antsy at that point), I pick hotel stops with multiple day-trip possibilities within an hour or two. My downtime comes in dribs and drabs as I sit on a bus or train on my way to the day's destination. There's something relaxing about knowing my luggage is back in the room where I'll sleep that night.

It would be unimaginable to me to plan my sightseeing on a day-by-day (much less hour-by-hour) basis. I just make a calendar grid for each week and note holidays, markets, museum closures, etc., for each day. Then I can shuffle the puzzle pieces around as I like in light of current local information.

Incidentally, where will you be on Museum Day 2017? That's May 18 in most places, I think. I didn't know about it in advance but fortuitously was in Madrid on Museum Day this year. Free museums! I need to figure out a good place to be in France so I can take advantage of a freebie or two next year.

As I "mature", I plan longer stays, which builds in some down time My goal is to spend a week in each city, daytrips if I get bored. But there are so many places I haven't been yet...

I make notes on every single thing I want to see, then decide if I'm going to see it. Just like knowing what's available, almost never see everything listed for the day, and don't mind not seeing it all.

Good topic, thanks Marbleskies. It's about aging for some of us. It's about bringing the kiddies for others. It's about tight budgets for others (zooming around costs money).

Laundromats, by whatever local name, have given me some of the best down time on several trips. It helps if there's a café on the same block. And pub stops in Britain have provided rewarding conversations and subsequent visits to our "new friends" in their favorite places. Not as easy to strike up these connections where there's a language barrier.

Maybe I've never had too much of a problem because I don't overplan. Last year, I was a bit disheartened because I felt on a previous trip, I had "wasted" too many sightseeing hours and I was encouraged (or misled) by other planners on this and another forum that shall remain unnamed here, I planned a complete itinerary for 5 days in Barcelona. I don't think I managed more than half of what I'd planned, but I loved Barcelona and had some great unplanned experiences. Now I'm back to my basic philosophy of "you can't see it all, so try to enjoy all that you can see."

I'm busy making lists (I love making lists, sigh) of all the things to see and do in Italy in February. I know I'll forget some things and won't have time for others, but I'll be prepared enough not to waste time deciding where to go, and be mentally ready to take things as they come and be spontaneous. Last time I was in Venice, I swore I'd finally get to the Accademia, the Guggenheim and Ca' Rezzonico, all just a few minutes' walk from my room. In the end, went to none, and spent the better part of a day with 2 couples, Americans and Brits, drinking at sidewalk cafes and chatting about life.

On another trip, I didn't buy the money-saving advance ticket from Rome to Naples, not wanting to be under pressure to get cracking in the morning. What a blessing! I woke up to a snow-covered wonderland, spent the morning seeing ancient Rome in pristine white under a clear blue sky. I didn't get to Sorrento until nearly sunset, but I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Less is often so much more.

I think the method of travel is somewhat dependent on the reason for where you are going. Is the objective of the trip the destination and what you can see there, or is it the route you travel?

For instance, in 2007, I did a four day trip on the Romantic Road from Wieskirche to Würzburg by public transportation. I spent most of my time in twelve towns along the road, not actually traveling. So it made sense to make short day trips from one town to another with a stop midday in one or two other towns. Some days I spent only a couple of hour traveling and the rest visiting the towns.

On the other hand, three year earlier I made a trip of 12 days, staying in only two venues - a week in a town in the Black Forest, visiting surrounding towns, then five days in Boppard, on the Mittel Rhein, with visits to Bacharach, Oberwesel, St. Goar, Koblenz, and Braubach (Marksburg).

We've made it a habit to indulge in the evening paseo or passeggiata when we travel. It makes us slow down, gives us more of an opportunity to really look at our surroundings, instead of just rushing from one museum to another. If we find a bar or café where we can enjoy a glass of wine, or cider, or sparkling water, so much the better.

We've also developed a pattern of heading back to the hotel room at least an hour or two before we're ready for bed. We share some wine, make notes about what happened during the day, and peruse the guidebooks to see what we might do the next day.

I do think that much of this is because we are now "chronologically gifted." We value the special moments and the quiet moments more.

Thanks for the topic, Marbleskies.

Jane, ..."chronologically gifted." LOL. I'm going to steal this. Wray

If we only knew then what we know now, slowing down would be a valued treasure.

Akin to photography the longer the shutter remains open the greater the opportunity to develop a richly detailed image.

Hold yourself still and steady while allowing the shutter controlling your senses to absorb the surroundings.

Seek to create rich wonderful memories!

Peace to you all.

I always think it's good to take time out to enjoy a nice leisurely sit down lunch. Even when I am travelling alone I do this, but with the afternoon in mind I try to limit myself to just the one glass of wine.

Wray, help yourself! I "borrowed" it from a friend, myself.

As I have matured, I have learned to slow down and plan less. When I first started traveling, it was at break neck speed. I would see how many places I could get to.

Now when I travel, it's maybe 2 or 3 stops in a 2 week time frame. I plan one sight seeing event in the morning and one sight seeing event in the afternoon.

I also now make it a point to stop for a pint or 2 at lunch and a pint to 2 after dinner.

Of course my plans go out the window when I travel with She Who Must Be Obeyed.

Has anyone else had the "59th Street Bridge Song" running through his or her head the last few days? Not that I'm complaining; it beats "Holly Jolly Christmas."

"Hello, lamppost, what'cha knowin'? I've come to watch your flowers growin'"

And I've been thinking how nice it would be to hear some Christmas songs again . . .

Just not Feliz Navidad or Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer - those seemed to be the only songs played throughout December when I was in the Bay Area.

My philosophy on travel is not worrying about how hectic a schedule is or isn't, but how much time is wasted?

Most Americans are going to try and pack their European vacation with as much as possible. The reasons have been well noted here. And most of us regular posters are veteran travelers that either have learn how to slow down and enjoy our trip or are old enough to need to ;) So while it's great to advise people to slow down, it's not often going to be followed.

What I try and focus on in my advice here and my own travels is avoiding wasted time. Mostly I consider excessive transportation between sights as wasted (unless it is about the journey). I do enjoy train rides and seeing the scenery, but long trips (over 2-3 hours) don't add much value to a limited vacation schedule. So I encourage people not to jump all over the place and try and focus on more compact regions. Limiting short stays is helpful, as time spent checking in and out of hotels and waiting around in train stations is mostly wasted. I used to waste lots of time searching for hotels (pre-internet days); now I pre-book so I can hit the ground running when I arrive. Pre-book trains to avoid waiting in long lines at the train station. Pre-book popular sights to avoid waiting in long lines.

Douglas, we recently (the last couple of trips) have started prebooking things other than hotels. This year I prebooked all our in-country (England) transportation, and the previous year I booked transportation, a museum, and a food tour, all in addition to reserving hotels. Although it added fuel to DH's conviction that deep down I am truly OCD, it took a lot of stress off me, and therefore made his life more pleasant, as well. The only downside is that it seriously reduces spontaneity, but I tend to think spontaneity is overrated, myself.

Not having to worry about what train or bus to take from one place to another was a blessing for me. I know not everyone would like this kind of planning, and we have come late to it, but it makes our trips more enjoyable. And most of our time in any one spot is completely unscheduled, allowing us to just wander, make new "discoveries," linger longer at a new favorite... But having a few things taken care of before we leave the States has made our last couple of trips freer, in a way, because we're not stressing over how and when we're going to get to the next town.

Marble,

I absolutely agree with those sentiments! I've found that my travel style has evolved over the years. In the beginning the main focus was to cram as much into every day as possible, getting to as many Museums, Galleries and historic sights as possible. In later years I've slowed the pace down considerably and now take the time to just sit and enjoy a coffee or a glass of wine, chat with locals or other tourists or just watch the procession, and I don't feel "guilty" about wasting time. I also now typically book at least three nights in each location (and sometimes longer).

Perhaps it would be appropriate to add a soundtrack to this thread, so that readers can listen as well as read the posts.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJBhdKrwTOc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc_xD0dZG-w

Those tunes sure bring back some great memories!

Yes, indeed, Ken. As I said early on in this post, I learned to ski to 59th St Bridge song...back when there wasn't any big rush to get to the bottom of the run as quickly as possible! I enjoyed these links-thanks!

I think planning some relaxation time is a great idea and I like to get it outside the cities. One day out of seven is a good rule of thumb - but the more you travel the more you can gauge your own need for down time.

One thing I notice from many people new to Rick's itineraries is they often don't factor in travel time from one location to the next. On Rick's show, the change from say Rothenburg to Neuschwanstein is simply the time to fade from one scene into the next.

You will have a much more sane trip if you plan ahead for travel time (plus packing/unpacking, checking in/out, finding food, making connections) that can consume much of a day each time you move from one destination to the next.

Are we preaching to all the faithful with many trips to Europe (except perhaps me and a couple of others) or those with one, and only one, chance of a lifetime to visit Europe?

Our congregation is "all inclusive" regardless of the number of trips made or planning to make.

On my first trip to Europe, I visited major attractions in many countries and my pace would leave most/all regular posters shocked. Did I regret it? Nope, as I wanted to see as much as I could and did not know when my next journey to Europe would be possible. In hindsight, I would not change the scope nor pace for that trip. Since then, I have visited Europe many times and even lived and worked there. The pace of more recent trips is still far too rapid for many, but hey, that works for me along with bicycle trips with single nights in most cities and villages. Anyway, just a little different perspective.