Pretend you are a Tourist in Your Home Town #wkendtravelinspiration
Contents
Too often, we spend so much time traveling else where, that we forget about what is outside of our own front door. This is one of the reasons that we commenced a series on our site, called ..Outside my Front Door. Original, I know. We asked other travel writers to share what was outside of their own front door. To date, we have featured so many hometowns, from Mexico to Germany, Sucre in Bolivia, Santa Fe, Phong Nha in Vietnam and many many more. They are all fascinating and have been looked at from a fresh perspective.
On a fishing boat in our own home town of Wollongong, Australia wearing our fabulous jackets from Costwold outdoor
Why this is important
How it came about was I was wondering what I should write one day. I was gazing out my window and looking straight at the Nan Tien Temple. This is the largest Buddhist Temple in the southern hemisphere and is magnificent in every respect. I had never written about what was outside of our own front door. Shame, shame, shame. So, I did and have even written about Discovering our own backyard
Then we started wondering, do other people do this too? The answer was yes. We are so busy exploring the world that we forget where we live. My task for you is to pretend you are a tourist in your community. Play tourist and look at where you live as if you are visiting from a far away land.
How to:
What would you want to see?
How would you find out this information?
How will you get around?
Where will you stay?
What will you eat?
Why should people visit your own hometown?
Let me know how you go. Share with us how you went pretending to be a tourist in your own community. Make up an itinerary for a weekend in your own hometown.
Have fun as tourists.
Join us
1. Link one of your inspirational travel photos or stories to this post by adding your info.
2. Copy and paste our badge and a link to this page.
3. Visit some of the other wonderful travel bloggers, read their posts, and leave a comment. It would be great if you could comment on 2-3 posts.
4. Tweet it and include this hashtag. #wkendtravelinspiration .
5. Follow all the hosts of Weekend Travel Inspiration who are working hard to spread the word on what wonderful work travel bloggers are doing.
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Thanks for information. After reading this article, I know my next travel would be more manageable and fun.
Exploring your own background is always interesting, especially if you pretend you are showing it to someone for the first time.
This is a fun idea! Going to try this out here in Helsinki some time! 🙂
Definitely, let us know what you discover
As @touristathome, I’ve been a great advocate for enjoying the sights close to home. In fact, I’ve turned my interest into a blog. As a Baltimorean and Marylander, I’ve spent many a day, weekend or whole week getting to know my big backyard. I’ve walked the promenade from Canton to the Inner Harbor and hopped aboard the Charm City Circulator just to see where it goes. I’ve helped lower the Star Spangled Banner at Fort McHenry and climbed the stairs of the Washington Monument and watched the midshipman parade at the Naval Academy. I know lots of places for good crab cakes or a local craft beer or a Maryland wine that takes my breath away. I’ve delighted in our museums, historic sights and gardens — just like I have done in Vienna, Paris, Sydney and San Francisco. Hometowns are great towns to visit. We just have to remember to do it.
Thanks for your post!
Thank and and I could not agree more 🙂
Awww I missed the collection. But either way, great post! I started paying more attention to becoming a tourist in my own town when I moved to Texas. There’s so much nature and epic scenery here that rivals many places I’ve been abroad. I’d love to share photos during the next collection :).
Greig
Send me an email, we run a series of posts called Outside my Front Door, which is all about what it …outside of your own front door. Have a look at this link to see some of the amazing places that writers have taken us to. https://contentedtraveller.com/category/travel-stories-3/outside-my-front-door/
I do this all the time, but I live in a city where it’s easy to play tourist and where I feel obligated to keep up with touristy things for my website (NYC). Nowadays a lot of my staycationing is centered around kids activities — checking a new very cool playground near tourist attractions, or trying a family tour at one of the art museums. One recommendation I have for NYers or visitors is the American Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. it’s part of the Kaufman Astoria Studios in a revitalizing industrial neighborhood that has some interesting things going on. Lots of movie history, workshops, hands-on stuff, collections of famous movie paraphernalia and of course they show movies. It’s very cool without kids or with (with kids, I would say 8+ is best).
It is funny because I have just written a post about staycations to follow up on this one and it will go out in a few weeks. The American Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queen sounds amazing.
Paula, As you know I move around every few years. Within months of my arrival to a brand new locale, I’ve become the expert on what to do. Invariably the locals send people to me for advice, because as you say…they don’t go! Good reminder.
It is amazing what we take for granted in our back yard.
Interesting…
Thanks
So true – and my post this week is a discovery close to home – we are often the worst tourists where we actually live! #wkendtravelinspiration
Isn’t that the truth. Maybe it should be mandatory to know what is in your own back yard.
It is amazing how often you talk to a local and they haven’t seen the ‘sights’ in their own city/town/country. I think there is an element of ‘the grass is always greener’ somewhere else – or maybe you just need to travel away from home a bit before you can relax and get that holiday perspective.
That is why we started Outside my Front Door. We all should and do need to know what we have ourselves.
This is exactly what I am doing for the month of April, I am participating the Blogging AtoZ challenge with a topic of AmaZing Auckland. I have been really surprised a few times at some of the things I have discovered right here in the town in which I live.
I will be tuning in to read this and what a fantastic topic AmaZing Auckland.
I am playing tourist in my own back yard today too. I have often thought about the Buddhist Temple at Wollongong. 🙂
Definitely come down to Wollongong. There is a lot going on here that makes it a very worthwhile destination.