The Best Travel Guidebook Is No Guidebook at All

Let your heart be your compass

The village of Rocamadour in south-central France — photo by the author

After a 5-year hiatus from overseas traveling due to the pandemic, my partner and I embarked on a 6-week journey through Europe to make up for lost time. I recently retired from my corporate job to pursue writing full-time. This trip would certainly inspire the creative juices to start flowing again.My traveling companion had spent months researching places we would enjoy. Her research was spot on. But we did something on this trip that we’ve never done before. We went with the flow and didn’t stick to an agenda.No guidebook could have anticipated or planned for the surprises that starting each day with a minimal agenda and following the fork in the road to the road less traveled gave us.Most of the best experiences on this journey were unplanned and unexpected.

The Case Against Overplanning

If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, the 1969 comedy about a group of American tourists on a whirlwind guided tour of Europe captures the confusion of fast-paced tours during which travelers often lose track of which country they’re in. The film pokes fun at how over-scheduled vacations often turn iconic sights into little more than a blur.