I appreciate your wisdom here. My wife and I made all those mistakes you mention by over planning my second trip to Europe.
We were car camping and had a deeply researched tight-as-a-drum schedule to fully maximize our 3 weeks crossing the continent. Which was a metric crapton of research in 1989. We plunged in with youthful vigor and started ticking boxes. After a few days we found ourselves redlining our rented Ford Escort (that's 94mph fyi) on the autobahn to reach our next checkpoint in time. Then we hit Bruges, exhausted. Woke up in that charming place and had a nice meal with some charming strangers, and we both realized our Great Plan was (insert PG13 variation of sucking donkey dicks).
We spent a few days in Bruges just enjoying being there. Lovely place. The rest of the trip was ad hoc and a hell of a lot more fun than redlining that Ford Escort.
Chris, I can't wait for you to take us on this journey with you. Some of us are too old to do this sort of thing but because of your writing prowess we are able to accompany you. God bless, and good speed (but not too good of speed)!
Being spontaneous while solo can be wonderful but I've found it really hard to pull off in a group... and I think it works better on foot than in a car. And my absolute least favorite travel moment is poking around on my phone trying to find a place to eat with a group. For that reason, I tend to plan ahead and find a place or two that look promising.
This piece checked a lot of boxes for me: serendipity, route planning, mixed landscapes rather than traditional nature-oriented hiking, finding walkable distances bracketed by accommodations.
I'm with you on all of it. I've done various Caminos de Santiago and the infrastructure is great, but you're always one of thousands of foreigners passing through. You don't even get to speak much Spanish despite being in a Spanish-speaking country.
Lately I've been walking on the American Discovery Trail (ADT), which isn't really a trail at all - more a stitched together collection of rural, suburban and urban roads running from Delaware to California. You'll find poor towns, McDonalds, beer cans, shot-up road signs and ATVs. Some really pretty landscapes too. Parts are former rail lines, like the Katy Trail in Missouri, and it follows the C&O Canal from DC to WV. But mostly roads.
People who live along the route say that they see maybe one or two walkers a month. Very few people even know that they're on a so-called "trail." The ADT is mostly a secret.
The problem is accommodations. You have to pick your segments carefully. Or occasionally turn to Uber, if it's available. In many places, especially out West, it's impossible to find accommodations a walkable distance apart.
Here's the Eastern route, which splits into northern and southern segments somewhere around the Indiana-Ohio line. Thinking about trying Cincinnati to Louisville or maybe Indianapolis.
Sorry to miss you. I leave tomorrow from Lago di Garda to Palermo but on the back of a GS 1200. Travelling freestyle exactly as you do with myself for company. Safari Njema.
Here’s a less cliché alternative. When I was a peace corps volunteer in francophone west Africa, a saying is; “Les gens que ne voyagent pas pense que les choses de la mère, sont là mer.” I thought a good translation in English; “people that don’t travel think all they see is the sea”.
We went to a restaurant in Naples last year because Stanley Tucci had mentioned it on Instagram.
Lovely little place, 10 minutes from the horrors of the tourist centre of Naples in what looked like (it was night, so hard to really tell) an upmarket neighbourhood.
And about half the tables were folks from the USA, Australia and New Zealand, which has had me wondering since what happens longer term to what was a restaurant that probably had a catchment of a few Km?
I don't begrudge the place the business, but will the locals start looking for something else because "it's not what it used to be"?
Minor comment but if you're planning trips with Claude like that, just writing "can you check if there's any mistakes above and correct them" for 1-3 iterations helps avoid those kind of weird measurement issues (not perfect but it helps it be more reliable. It's odd that this works but it does).
Thanks for the very kind words, Chris, and for articulating so beautifully the perils of 'maximalized' travel.
And thanks as well for the info! I'm delighted to learn a) that Gorgonzola is not only a cheese and b) that AI has possibilities, albeit unreliable, for long-distance walk-planning. Though, I'm surprised that Claude didn't spit out my favorite version of the journey/destination formulation, which despite being a cliche, still gets me every time: Caminante, no hay camino//Se hace camino al andar
Hi Chris, I used to live in Iseo town, on lago d'Iseo, where I taught English. It is a beautiful but poorer area, relative to its glamorous lake neighbours.
My two recommendations while there: the tiny train station of Provaglio Timoline just south of lago d'Iseo has a small bar on the first story that looks over the tracks (and the local vineyards known for their fizzy white wine), and you can drink that wine on tap very cheaply, it's a local spot, not visited by tourists and only sometimes open.
In Iseo itself there was a charming restaurant run by an elderly couple, la tana dell'orso (the bear's cave). Sadly I see it has now closed - they may have died or retired... Nearby spots like Il Paiolo are simple and nice, too, but there are a few good and unfussy options in the town, if you avoid the slightly less good lakeside-view spots who charge more for the view, of course.
Canals are a great starting point for that type of walk! By design they link towns and cities directly, are well-serviced by pubs and restaurants, and often make the town centres accessible on foot or bike.
I see “Claude” is incorrect in using “cliche” as an adjective rather than a noun. Gotta hold that line, Claude!
Thanks for sharing! I've been using it to generate ideas but hardly to finalize plans. Any chance you're headed to Turin?
A book I really enjoyed several decades ago was “The Italians” by Luigi Barzini.
I appreciate your wisdom here. My wife and I made all those mistakes you mention by over planning my second trip to Europe.
We were car camping and had a deeply researched tight-as-a-drum schedule to fully maximize our 3 weeks crossing the continent. Which was a metric crapton of research in 1989. We plunged in with youthful vigor and started ticking boxes. After a few days we found ourselves redlining our rented Ford Escort (that's 94mph fyi) on the autobahn to reach our next checkpoint in time. Then we hit Bruges, exhausted. Woke up in that charming place and had a nice meal with some charming strangers, and we both realized our Great Plan was (insert PG13 variation of sucking donkey dicks).
We spent a few days in Bruges just enjoying being there. Lovely place. The rest of the trip was ad hoc and a hell of a lot more fun than redlining that Ford Escort.
Chris, I can't wait for you to take us on this journey with you. Some of us are too old to do this sort of thing but because of your writing prowess we are able to accompany you. God bless, and good speed (but not too good of speed)!
great post. just tried it for some of Ignatius's pilgrimages. My question to you is how you go from the days route to the solid gpx file?
Being spontaneous while solo can be wonderful but I've found it really hard to pull off in a group... and I think it works better on foot than in a car. And my absolute least favorite travel moment is poking around on my phone trying to find a place to eat with a group. For that reason, I tend to plan ahead and find a place or two that look promising.
This piece checked a lot of boxes for me: serendipity, route planning, mixed landscapes rather than traditional nature-oriented hiking, finding walkable distances bracketed by accommodations.
I'm with you on all of it. I've done various Caminos de Santiago and the infrastructure is great, but you're always one of thousands of foreigners passing through. You don't even get to speak much Spanish despite being in a Spanish-speaking country.
Lately I've been walking on the American Discovery Trail (ADT), which isn't really a trail at all - more a stitched together collection of rural, suburban and urban roads running from Delaware to California. You'll find poor towns, McDonalds, beer cans, shot-up road signs and ATVs. Some really pretty landscapes too. Parts are former rail lines, like the Katy Trail in Missouri, and it follows the C&O Canal from DC to WV. But mostly roads.
People who live along the route say that they see maybe one or two walkers a month. Very few people even know that they're on a so-called "trail." The ADT is mostly a secret.
The problem is accommodations. You have to pick your segments carefully. Or occasionally turn to Uber, if it's available. In many places, especially out West, it's impossible to find accommodations a walkable distance apart.
Here's the Eastern route, which splits into northern and southern segments somewhere around the Indiana-Ohio line. Thinking about trying Cincinnati to Louisville or maybe Indianapolis.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1tBBXdhpVq9Rts8GboCBPaRP3jnaavC4&ll=39.538292097927346%2C-82.7108475&z=6
Sorry to miss you. I leave tomorrow from Lago di Garda to Palermo but on the back of a GS 1200. Travelling freestyle exactly as you do with myself for company. Safari Njema.
Here’s a less cliché alternative. When I was a peace corps volunteer in francophone west Africa, a saying is; “Les gens que ne voyagent pas pense que les choses de la mère, sont là mer.” I thought a good translation in English; “people that don’t travel think all they see is the sea”.
Chris,
We went to a restaurant in Naples last year because Stanley Tucci had mentioned it on Instagram.
Lovely little place, 10 minutes from the horrors of the tourist centre of Naples in what looked like (it was night, so hard to really tell) an upmarket neighbourhood.
And about half the tables were folks from the USA, Australia and New Zealand, which has had me wondering since what happens longer term to what was a restaurant that probably had a catchment of a few Km?
I don't begrudge the place the business, but will the locals start looking for something else because "it's not what it used to be"?
Exactly that happened to my favourite restaurant in Palermo. Got too expensive and American and now closed
Minor comment but if you're planning trips with Claude like that, just writing "can you check if there's any mistakes above and correct them" for 1-3 iterations helps avoid those kind of weird measurement issues (not perfect but it helps it be more reliable. It's odd that this works but it does).
Thanks for the very kind words, Chris, and for articulating so beautifully the perils of 'maximalized' travel.
And thanks as well for the info! I'm delighted to learn a) that Gorgonzola is not only a cheese and b) that AI has possibilities, albeit unreliable, for long-distance walk-planning. Though, I'm surprised that Claude didn't spit out my favorite version of the journey/destination formulation, which despite being a cliche, still gets me every time: Caminante, no hay camino//Se hace camino al andar
So true, Lisa. As you know we lean almost completely into zero planning beyond booking a place to lay our heads
Nice one, dude.
Hi Chris, I used to live in Iseo town, on lago d'Iseo, where I taught English. It is a beautiful but poorer area, relative to its glamorous lake neighbours.
My two recommendations while there: the tiny train station of Provaglio Timoline just south of lago d'Iseo has a small bar on the first story that looks over the tracks (and the local vineyards known for their fizzy white wine), and you can drink that wine on tap very cheaply, it's a local spot, not visited by tourists and only sometimes open.
In Iseo itself there was a charming restaurant run by an elderly couple, la tana dell'orso (the bear's cave). Sadly I see it has now closed - they may have died or retired... Nearby spots like Il Paiolo are simple and nice, too, but there are a few good and unfussy options in the town, if you avoid the slightly less good lakeside-view spots who charge more for the view, of course.
Canals are a great starting point for that type of walk! By design they link towns and cities directly, are well-serviced by pubs and restaurants, and often make the town centres accessible on foot or bike.