Experimental Travel

Filed in archive Offbeat on June 10, 2005

Why oh why are summer vacations always the same?! Quite frankly, I always had this feeling that something is amiss. That something better is out there. Not just the standard vacation fare.

Like this summer, guess where we're headed? Tuscany! I know, I know, I shouldn't complain. After all, Tuscany is a beautiful place and I have never been there. But (!!!) when we get there, I want to do something different. None of the standard city/town tours where you can compare notes with everyone else who has been there.

There should be another way to enjoy the country, right?!

Well, here is what I just read...

They call it Experimental Travel. No, it's way more than just doing extreme sports. It's a zany idea. The perfect panacea to a package holiday.

Take for example...

• A couple who took different flights to Venice. Without the aid of telephones or agreed meeting place, they had to look for each other all over Venice.


• A man who wandered around France wearing a Horse's head. Seriously.


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• Someone woke up and found that the gnome he had in his garden had gone missing. After which, he received postcards from different places all over the globe with his gnome in the foreground of the picture. Up to now, he has yet to find out who stole his garden accessory.


• Discover the city using Monopoly. Buy the local version of the game and visit the streets, stations and jail by throwing the dice and following the game's rules.


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  There are more insane ideas being passed around. Each one more insane than the next. Isn't it great that some people have taken traveling into the next level?! You do not even need lots of money to be able to do it. Just courage and lots of imagination. The wilder, the better!
  
  Anyway, if you want more ideas, go check out Lonely Planet's Experimental Travel, written (and from whom the original idea came from) by Joel Henry. YOu can either copy their ideas or just go on from there and make up your own.
  
  Now, if you ever do something crazy, let me know. Email me at melissa.petri@gmail.com or leave a comment with your account and/or ideas for Experimental Travel. The one who can give the best/original idea will get a copy of Joel Henry's Experimental Travel, courtesy of Creative's Flyaway-weblog and will be feautured here.
  
  From my end, I'll try to think of something original for our trip to Tuscany in July.