How to Travel to Unique and Unusual Places

Answer the call you feel to step away from the crowds, to see things not seen by tour groups, or not talked about by a tourist bureau or chamber of commerce. Doing this will require more research and thought than going to popular places, but it’s quite possible.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Southwestern United States Write down the kind of travel adventures you like. Do you like destinations difficult and remote for hiking, birding, discovery, or climbing? How about places historically important or interesting? Are you in search of your family’s roots in some remote corner of the world? Or do you want to simply wander without much plan, hoping to have a strange and exciting experience? Understand what kind of adventure you want.
2. Mt Cook, South Island, New Zealand Think about where you would be likely to have the kind of adventure you seek. Start a list of possible places. Read books (several are mentioned at the end of the article) and other material that are not “hype,” that is, these sources are about the adventure and not promoting the travel business. Most of what you read in guidebooks and travel sections or travel magazines is written to entice you to go to a certain place. You have to dig a bit deeper if you want to find a unique and unusual place. That means in books about literature, history, music, scuba diving, or whatever your interest is.
3. Upper Peninsula of Michigan From your potential list, look into each geographical area. Determine what difficulties or what requirements there are. For example, if the destination is foreign, what countries would you be in and what cultures would you encounter. What would you need to carry with you—like a bicycle, wet suit, or any other necessary piece of equipment?
4. Along Barge Path in France Consider time and costs. Some unique and unusual places may be a half-hour from your home, while others may be halfway around the world. Traveling to Antarctica is fairly unusual, but tour boats go there and it’s expensive.
   Some tours are pretty unique because they limit the number of guests and cater to high end travelers.
   Within the United States and Canada, there are still many places that are remote and only sought out by a few. Consider the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada, Newfoundland, Canada, Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, or the less tread paths of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado or Glacier National Park in Montana.
5. Everglades, FLorida Your idea of unique and unusual is important! It may mean off the beaten path, or a place to be where no other human can be seen, or to do something that few do, or it might be the pet cemetery in San Francisco.
   What might make your trip unique is that it includes all the places your ancestors lived on the way to where you are today.
   Much of what is needed for this is an adventurous spirit, a willingness to take the road less traveled, and to deal with the unknowns that may come with that.

Tips & Warnings

• Read:
• "I Should Have Stayed Home," the worst trips of great writers, published by Book Passage Press.
• "The World," travels from 1950-2000 by Jan Morris, published by Norton Press.
• "1000 Places to See Before You Die," on and off the Beaten Path, by Patricia Schultz, Workman Publishing Company.
• "A Writer's Paris," a guided journey for the creative soul, by Eric Maisel, published by Writer's Digest Books.
• "Blue Highways," a journey into America by William Least Half-Moon, published by Little, Brown, and Co. 1983, paperback by First Back Bay, 1999.