What I See with Peter Fiorenza: Why I reckon it’s best to travel at leisure, without plans to soak up culture

As I get older, I think about travel a little differently. Yes, I’m still interested in the sights, but I’ve discovered travel can be so much more. For instance, when I last went to Europe, I decided to limit my experience to a few locations instead of trying to get as much in as possible. When I was younger, I was fortunate enough to join a organised tour of several weeks with a group of similar age. It really was great, I got to see almost all the major sights in one hit. On reflection, it was somewhat of a whirlwind tour that left me feeling fulfilled and also empty at the same time. Although I saw Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum in Rome, it all seemed a bit of a blur. You could say, I really didn’t get to soak up the experience. I didn’t take time to stop and just feel the experience, take in the sights, along with the sounds, smells — what it felt like to be in the moment. So, my last Europe trip proved to be a revelation. It was a case of getting up each morning, with no solid plans and making each day an adventure with no schedule. And it worked a treat. We just went with the flow, starting with a casual relaxed breakfast at a café, chatting with the staff and other guests and watching the world walk by. Then it was on to trekking the pavement at leisure, checking out the immediate surrounds, interrupted by a bite of lunch and dinner at a local restaurant. Don’t get me wrong, there were still visits to places of note, such as museums, galleries and the like, but the focus was more about sampling the culture. And that’s how I viewed my recent trip to Tasmania. There is no doubt, I could have made plans for every day and returned home with ticks on my “bucket list”, however, I believe that a holiday shouldn’t exhaust you — it should refresh you. My trip to Hobart was simply that. I stayed at a lovely hotel in the heart of the city, got up late every day, ate brunch at the retro café on the corner, making plans to have a localised experience each day. One day, I did a bus tour of the city, the next we took a ferry up the Derwent, and then a couple of things out of the box. The first of these was a horse and carriage ride around the famous old streets of Battery Point, while we also decided not to opt for the usual bus tour to the top of Mount Wellington. Instead, I shelled out to get an enthusiastic young taxi driver to give us his own, unique guided tour of the iconic peak. And he was certainly entertaining. Wherever we went, we were always back at the hotel early evening — time to spruce up and head to one of the lovely eateries for dinner. Now, I’m not telling you how you should holiday, but I guarantee you’ll come home refreshed if you decide this approach is for you. I still haven’t told you about the great food on offer. I promise, next time. Peter Fiorenza is a City of Greater Geraldton councillor who hosts Fiorenza on Sunday on Radio MAMA, which returns in early February.