Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Look Beyond The Sites, Talk To Locals To Travel Like An Insider

Earthbound Expeditions
Tour guide Alejandro Infantes takes KPLU travelers around Old Havana. Infantes lives in Cuba's capital city and has a wealth of knowledge -- both on history and day-to-day life.

In Prague, it’s the main square. In Paris, it’s the region around the Louvre. In New York, it’s Times Square. And here in Seattle, it’s the Space Needle or Pike Place Market.

Every city has its tourist hot-spots. And while you wouldn’t want to go to Rome and skip the Colosseum, KPLU travel expert Matthew Brumley urges people to look deeper.

“If you want to get to know the world and what’s going on in it, you have to get past the tourist sites,” he said. “It’s great to look back at history and it’s so important to do so, but if you want to know what people are thinking and feeling, and come to that realization that we’re all the same, that is so rewarding to me.”

All right, but how? It doesn’t seem wise to just wander off into unknown neighborhoods.

Help Is Nearby

“Enlist a local,” Brumley said. “Popping up all over the world are these websites that are enlisting locals to show foreigners and people visiting their city the other sites.”

Look for help from sites such as Tours By Locals, and Viator.

If you’re chatty, you’ll have a lot of luck, too. Ask waiters for advice on good places to walk. Ask hotel clerks where they like to eat. Find out where the locals spend time, and follow suit.

Stay In One Place

Part of traveling this way involves blending in, to some degree, and soaking up the place you’re spending time. In order to do that, you actually have to spend a little time.

“Instead of doing the traditional two-night or three-night stay somewhere, I would try to go to one of these great cities for a full week,” he said. “Once you realize you have a full week or even longer, you start looking beyond those [usual tourist] sites.”

Look For Ex-Pats

Most big cities have an ex-pat community, too. Look by language, not by nationality.

For example: “Paris hasa newspaper called Fusac,” Brumley said, which caters to English-speakers in France. Look for counterpart websites and publications wherever you go.

--

"Going Places" is KPLU's weekly exploration of travel topics. Matthew Brumley is the co-founder of Earthbound Expeditions, which provides small-group travel to clients including KPLU.

Ed Ronco is a former KNKX producer and reporter and hosted All Things Considered for seven years.