Stop Following the Map: The Case for Being a “Bad” Tourist

I once sat in a café in Rome and watched a stream of tourists walk past a 400-year-old hidden courtyard because their Google Maps told them the “Top Rated” gelato shop was two blocks further. They were so busy following the blue dot on their screens that they forgot to look at the city in front of them.

In journalism, the best stories are never in the press release. They are in the “off-the-record” conversations in the hallway. Travel is the same. If you only see what the guidebooks tell you to see, you aren’t traveling; you’re just verifying someone else’s opinion.

1. The Power of the “Wrong” Turn
The most memorable experiences I’ve had—from a rain-soaked jazz club in New Orleans to a tiny ramen shop in a Tokyo basement—happened because I got lost.

In a newsroom, we call this “serendipity.” You go out to cover a boring council meeting and stumble upon a massive corruption scandal. When you travel, give yourself permission to be inefficient. Put the phone in your pocket, turn left when the crowd turns right, and see what happens.

2. The “One-Mile” Rule
Most tourists cluster within a one-mile radius of the major landmarks. This is the “Echo Chamber” of tourism. If you want to see the soul of a city, you have to break the radius.

Take a random bus to the end of the line. Go to a grocery store in a residential neighborhood. Read the local notices on a community board. The mundane details of someone else’s daily life are often more exotic than a famous statue.

3. Put Down the Lens
We are living in an era where we “record” everything but “witness” nothing. I’ve seen people watch a sunset through a five-inch screen, ensuring they have the footage but completely missing the feeling of the temperature dropping and the wind changing.

As an editor, I know that a photograph is just a quote. It’s not the whole story. If you spend your whole trip framing shots for people who aren’t even there, you are performing your life instead of living it.