Thanks for the great story! The one time I did something like this was when I booked a ticket to Mozambique without knowing anything about it. (I was already headed to Southern Africa, but I decided to change my starting to Maputo last minute). This was before phones was it was easy to get cell data abroad, but in a similar spirit at that point in my travels, I always clung to guidebooks to direct my travel.
There were many little challenges that came from not knowing anything about where I was. For example, I remembered being puzzled by the language. It looked familiar, but I knew just enough Spanish and French at the time to know it was something else. I finally pieced it together in my jet-lagged brain that it was Portuguese. It felt refreshing having to figure out these little things without the "answers" being given to you.
I hope that I can try the 'unplugged' approach again some time soon!
Thank you, Sutee. I think you've identified something important about traveling this way, and that is only starting to come into focus for me: how it can make almost anything--entering a building and finding out it's a museum; "reading" a menu by remembering names you saw earlier that day in the market; piecing together how neighborhoods connect just by walking, and yes, recognizing that they're speaking Portuguese, not Spanish— feel like a discovery. Turns out there's a lot of pleasure and satisfaction to be had in figuring out even small things on your own.
It's really incredible to think about how much something like a Smart Phone has changed how we travel. We just assume it makes everything easier, but does it make it better?
Thanks for the great story! The one time I did something like this was when I booked a ticket to Mozambique without knowing anything about it. (I was already headed to Southern Africa, but I decided to change my starting to Maputo last minute). This was before phones was it was easy to get cell data abroad, but in a similar spirit at that point in my travels, I always clung to guidebooks to direct my travel.
There were many little challenges that came from not knowing anything about where I was. For example, I remembered being puzzled by the language. It looked familiar, but I knew just enough Spanish and French at the time to know it was something else. I finally pieced it together in my jet-lagged brain that it was Portuguese. It felt refreshing having to figure out these little things without the "answers" being given to you.
I hope that I can try the 'unplugged' approach again some time soon!
PS I loved the quirkiness of Zadar!
Thank you, Sutee. I think you've identified something important about traveling this way, and that is only starting to come into focus for me: how it can make almost anything--entering a building and finding out it's a museum; "reading" a menu by remembering names you saw earlier that day in the market; piecing together how neighborhoods connect just by walking, and yes, recognizing that they're speaking Portuguese, not Spanish— feel like a discovery. Turns out there's a lot of pleasure and satisfaction to be had in figuring out even small things on your own.
It's really incredible to think about how much something like a Smart Phone has changed how we travel. We just assume it makes everything easier, but does it make it better?