The Locals Know the Cool Spots

So you've decided to travel to a location you've never been to. You want to get a "local" experience during your visit if possible and not simply stick to the cliche touristy areas. How would you go about doing this?

Here are some ideas:

1)    Start Simple: Google search "things to do in X"

This is the simplest way of creating your list of locations. For any particular place, you can search Google with the terms "things to do in" and place the location of your choice.

Example for Paris:

Whenever you search Google for a particular area and use some variant of the terms described above, you can navigate your way to the "travel guide" page for that specific place. This is a new Google search feature and it's a convenient way of getting all the "must see" locations. I recommend searching images for each location and seeing if a specific location grabs your interest. Additionally, you can look through the official destination website to get more ideas. For the Paris example, you can check out https://en.parisinfo.com/what-to-see-in-paris. These sources are a good way to get started on your search but they have one major drawback: they miss lesser-known spots that only locals would be aware of.

2)    Instagram is Your Friend

So, how can you search for more local spots? One of the ways of getting a good sample of local spots is to find users on Instagram who live in the location that you want to explore. Often times, these people have pictures of numerous local spots that you wouldn't find through the aforementioned search methods.

Let's look at one example to illustrate this point: https://www.instagram.com/heydavina/

A review of her page shows that she's primarily based in New York. Now consider this post:

In the above picture we see a unique-looking restaurant. I would imagine that someone visiting New York would want to dine at such a place where you're surrounded by plants. This establishment doesn't seem to be like other restaurants and I would argue that it's distinct enough to warrant a spot on your list of stops. If you use the methods I described in section 1, you wouldn't be able to find this location. This is why Instagram is useful for "filling in the gaps" when it comes to finding local spots.

Here is another example from the same page:

As you can see, this person seems to have a theme and they specifically try to find cafes and restaurants in New York that look unique and incorporate plants in some way. If you want to make your visit to New York more memorable, you could consider borrowing this person's interest and checking out some of the same locations she's been to. Once again, the establishments from both these examples would not appear in official tour guides and Instagram is a convenient way of finding such locations.

This user is just one person and other urban explorers have their own areas of interest. Another person might prefer finding the streets in New York with the most amount of trees or plants. Yet another person might have a page devoted to high quality street art. By viewing the pages of several popular locals, you can get a diverse sample of non-tourist locations.

In addition to reviewing the pages on your own, you can also send a private message to any person whose page looks especially interesting and ask them if they have recommendations to share. I've found that most people are willing to help if your message doesn't get lost in the numerous messages they likely receive if their page is especially popular.

3)    Search "Non tourist spots in X"

Another option is to include the terms "non tourist" in your Google search. This method will find sources where the author (usually a local) has compiled a list of spots that aren't well-known. For instance, using this method for New York yields the following page: https://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/alternatives-to-touristy-new-york-attractions

The article above lists locations such as "Sunset Park," "The Cloisters," and "Fort Tryon Park." As a non local, I've never heard of these locations and wouldn't have known about them if I had restricted my search to the methods outlined in section 1.

If you are aware of other reliable methods of finding non-touristy spots, please share. The strategies in this post have often times worked for me. Also, after finding a spot, consider using the "star" feature on Google maps because it allows you to simultaneously see all the locations on the map and how far apart each one is from another. Such a visual representation allows for easier planning when it comes to deciding which cluster of destinations to visit together.

Keep it local

In a previous entry I discussed some ideas on how to get your audience to not only pay attention to what you are saying but actually care as well.  The takeaway lesson was using  themes and priorities that your audience is likely to care about and connecting them to your ideas which they probably don't care about yet.

Often times, when people are presented with an issue, their first reaction is assuming that what you're talking about doesn't affect them.  Even if you appeal to topics and people they care about, you might still not make the connection because they will consider the issue or problem relevant for others and not them.

For instance, you are tasked with giving a persuasive presentation on traffic congestion reduction strategies to city planners and engineers from cities across California.  Your goal is to push these professionals towards adopting pre-emptive measures to ward off potential traffic increases in the near future.  However, the problem is that a lot of these planners work in cities that do not have traffic issues and they believe that the problem is only present in dense and congested areas such as Los Angeles.  You strategy in this case should focus on making the problem relevant and local.  You need to clearly show that congestion problems are guaranteed to arrive after certain population and car ownership thresholds are reached and surpassed.  To drive (pun, although unintentional at first, is now intended ; )  ) the point home even further, show population growth projections for the less urban areas and clearly show that they are headed in the same direction as the dense urban areas.

Now, let's consider the case of a non-profit group fighting for clean water rights in California.  The main barrier that such a group faces is showing that contaminated water issues aren't just relevant in Northern California's farming communities where nitrate contamination is a serious problem.  Whenever this group wants to spread its message in a new community, it has to connect the problem to the local area.  For instance, there are many contaminated wells in Southern California as well.  The problem actually isn't just a problem for the north.  By showing that even local water supplies have been contaminated and need remediation, the group has a much higher chance of making their message relevant which can lead to greater support.  Another option is to show the clear progression of water contamination in the north to major urban areas in the south.  Southern population centers do get a majority of their water from the Northern California after all.  If the source of water becomes contaminated, it doesn't matter where the water travels, it has already been contaminated.

Whatever strategy you ultimately decide to take, just remember that if the issue isn't local or relevant, your ideas are going to have a difficult time gaining traction.

Source: http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/tap_water_anders_andermark.jpg?w=223&h=315