The Lazy Genius Podcast - #269 - How to be a Tourist in Your Hometown

Episode Date: July 4, 2022

It’s summer, we’re traveling, and faraway places seem lovely. But so can home! Today, let’s Lazy Genius how to visit where you live like you’ve never been there before.   Helpful Companion Links Courtney Cleveland from All the Best Days // use code LAZY to get $10 off her travel guides You can find her on Instagram @bestdaycourt Here’s an episode from 2020 with Courtney where we talk about staycations Episode #177: The Lazy Genius Plans a Day Here’s my guide to Greensboro Download a transcript of this episode.   This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 269, How to Be a Tourist in Your Hometown. It's summer. We're traveling and faraway places seem lovely and often are. But so is home. Today, lets Lazy Genius how to visit where you live like you've never been there before. I will mention this at the end of the episode as well, but I want to make sure that you know about my favorite lazy genius travel guru, Courtney Cleveland, from all the best days. I've had Courtney on the show before where we actually talk about staycations, which we're kind of going to do now.

So we will put that link in the show notes so you can hear Courtney actually say words and be fabulous. But if you are interested in travel, Courtney has some fantastic resources for packing and other like universal. travel things, but she specifically has travel guides for a handful of cities, and they are so good, so rich, so detailed, full of so much permission. She has city guides on New York City, Colorado Springs, Maui, the Great Smoky Mountains, and the one that I will personally be using next week, Washington, D.C. She covers touristy things, food, drink, ways to get moving, places to get inspired, and she holds hands of scaredy cats like me by having information on things like public transportation and those little details that you're afraid you're going to miss or mess up. These guides are an absolute winner.

So if you're thinking about taking a trip soon and are looking for a location, you could be inspired by the travel guide that you most want to get and just like go where she tells you. She has new cities all the time though. So I bet we'll have some new ones soon. Plus you can follow her on Instagram at Best Day Court. The best day is because she wants to help you find your best day in every city. It would simply not be a complete travel episode without mentioning Courtney. So wanted to make sure I'd do that. All right.

So let's lazy genius being a tourist in your hometown. I'm going to take you down a path to help you figure out your own day or weekend. It can be a weekend in your hometown. Our first stop on this hometown tourist path and frankly any trip, really, is what matters, of course. What matters most to you about this day in your hometown? Is it a feeling? Are you wanting to feel something specific? No matter what you're doing, okay? Is it a location? Like, is there a place in your town that you've always wanted to go to, but haven't? When I was in New York a couple of months ago, I was on a food tour and I met a couple of women who grew up on

Long Island and had never been to a ton of touristy New York City places. Like they'd never been to the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center. It was just where they lived, right? And they didn't see any of those places with the same freshness as tourists. So is there a place in your city that everyone visits, but you've never gone to? Now, what else could matter? Maybe it is a specific experience. Maybe you want to spend a day in your town on foot. Maybe you want to visit every park or every bakery or every pizza place. Maybe you grew up where you currently live and you want to take your family or your friends to all your favorite places from when you were young. Maybe the experience matters. And remember that if you're doing this hometown tourist thing with

other people, what matters to them also matters. It's not just you. So be sure you ask them. Our next stop is asking, what's keeping you from that thing? What's keeping you from? What's keeping you from having that feeling, going to that place, experiencing that kind of day. What is in the way? Now, it could be an expectation that things have to be a certain way in order to count for a trip. It could be an assumption that your city just doesn't have enough fun things to do. It could be that you don't have enough time to spend in your city the way you'd like because of jobs or commitments or health restrictions. It could be the thing that's keeping you from doing this is the interest or buy-in from your family.

No one thinks this is a good idea but you. So name what's in the way so you can either remove it or address it. For example, if your kids or partner or anyone involved in this idea is like, this sounds boring, we'll just come back home. It won't really be a vacation. You could stay in a hotel in your city or get an Airbnb downtown or like a different part of town. You could remove the barrier of it's all the same by making it not all the same. Now obviously that all depends on what matters to you and what your barriers are,

but consider that anything counts, anything counts if it supports what matters. So after you name what matters and you name what might be in the way of that, what are you missing? Is there anything you need that you don't have to be a tourist in your hometown? Maybe it's expertise. Maybe you've only been in your city for a short time. A lot of that being during the pandemic. So you don't actually have any idea with the city holds because you're new here.

But it's also been home for a while. And you haven't made any friends, though, to show you around because you've been stuck inside. It's like super complicated. So maybe what you're missing is someone else's expertise. Or it could be a plan. You're missing a plan. You have all of these ideas floating around, but they're not part of one. cohesive plan. We'll get to that, but it could be as simple as that. It's only overwhelming or even

underwhelming because you haven't yet made a plan and you haven't put things in their place. Or maybe you're missing time. Maybe you're missing time. I mentioned this before that a lack of time could be in the way. So maybe you need to create space for more time, like take a day off of work or not plan anything for three days straight like you would if you were actually taking a vacation. just because your home doesn't mean that you need to still do the same things that you normally do. So make sure you have what you need based on what matters to you. We'll be right back. Aw isn't something we need to travel for.

It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Next up, let's start to get some stuff on paper here. Your next step is to lock something, lock anything into place. Remember the episode about how you can play in your day with flags

and chairs and bunting? We'll put that episode in the show notes if you don't know what I'm talking about. But flags are things that don't move, right? In a regular day, it could be a doctor, appointment or a meeting at work. On vacation, the flag is more fun, which is very exciting. So what is something you want to lock? What is something you want to lock in? Plant your flag. It could be a certain place that you will absolutely visit. Everything revolves around eating breakfast at that restaurant or visiting that museum or riding through that park on a bike, right? It could be, the thing that you need to lock is a day of the year or a time that you're doing. this trip, you know, maybe you have a long weekend coming up off work or families coming

into visit and you want to take them exploring whatever the reason, the thing that's locked could be a date. Or maybe it's budget. Maybe you got a cash gift from a family member or you got a refund check for something or you came in under budget for another thing and you want to spend the surplus on exploring your city. So the thing that's locked could be your budget. Now, no matter what's locked, having something fixed and ready to go will automatically impact your next few decisions. If your budget is locked, you can eliminate super expensive things. If your date is locked, that can eliminate things that could be outdoors or related to whatever season you're in. If the experience is locked, you put that thing in the best part of the day and then you work

around it based on how much time you want to spend at that one locked place. Does that make sense? just lock something in and it will help you continue to make decisions as you plan. So you've named what matters about your vacation. You've named what might keep you from it. You've named what you're missing to make it happen and you've locked something in. Next I want you to borrow Courtney Cleveland's phrase and I want to ask yourself, what would make the day the best day for you and your people? What happens on your best day?

it doesn't have to be all the same kinds of things but most of us have certain things that make up our best day now Courtney has categories she's got some pretty fixed categories that work for a lot of people those are get coffee get moving so you know something active or outdoors get inspired like a museum or something that makes you think or like feel good creative vibes you know get touristy where you go do touristy things get food obviously, and get shopping. Also, obviously. So those are categories that probably hit a lot of people's boxes. Now, for me personally, I know that my best day will always include something book related. So visiting a bookstore or an amazing library, going to a museum for a favorite

author, something like that. I have also found, depending on the city, of course, I love visiting old churches. Three of my favorite vacation moments were all at church. Westminster Abbey in London, St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, and Jane Austen's Little Country Church in England. Now, it's probably not likely that during most of my vacations, I'm going to find an old church. But if I can, I'm going to go. It's part of my best day. Now, I also love to get coffee. I love to get great food. Those are like kind of no-brainer things. But my other favorite thing that makes a day the best day is taking a long walk through a city listening to music. It's one of my favorite things on the planet. So if I am taking a trip,

those things will happen. Now have I ever walked through my city with headphones on? Listen to music. No. I mean, I've gone on walks in, you know, parks and around my neighborhood and stuff, but I've never gone through the city like I do on trips. And now I kind of want to. So the point here is what elements do you and your people need to have a great day, to have your personal best day? Because everybody's versions of this are different. And that's why I love the question. And I particularly love Courtney because no singular trip is for everyone, right? So what do you need on yours? Now, your final step is to plan, right? You're going to gather up your ideas and you're going to start to orient them around whatever is locked, whatever your flags are.

and you're going to do that based on what matters and also think about whatever your best day is. Okay. And so I want you to make a list of the things that you could do thinking through those lenses. And you could think outside the box, right? Like especially when you're talking about being in your hometown, you might have to try to refresh your perspective a little bit. So, you know, you might do this for a whole day. It might be a weekend. It might be a summer or like seasonal project.

almost to explore new parts of your city on purpose over a certain period of time. You could mix familiar things with new experiences. You can think now about the on and off ramps to this trip and what you might need to prepare and to rest from afterward. Just brain dump all your things. And then you can put the most important things in the right order and in the right place, depending on what matters most about your trip and on the flag or flags that you have already locked in.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind when being a tourist in your hometown is to keep an open mind. Don't make assumptions about your city. Try not to gloss over certain things because they've just become like that pile of stuff on your desk that you just don't notice anymore because it's always been there. You know, fresh eyes. pretend you don't live there. If you were exploring your own city for the first time, what would you be drawn to?

Just find one thing, one thing, and you can build around it. You can also utilize your local friends and family to share their favorite place to go or eat or their thing to do in the city. Maybe something that is beloved by them, it could be new to you, right? So they're kind of like your secret travel agents. And then, of course, you can check, you know, Yelp and TripAdvisor and stuff and see what is rated and ranked in your city. There might be things that you didn't even know we're there.

So I live in Greensboro, North Carolina, and I do have a Greensboro guide on my website that will link to in the show notes. But those are all things I've done and I already love. I would like to look at my city the way I would if we were visiting it for the first time. Like our family might stay in a downtown hotel for a night and spend the day walking downtown walking to the Children's Museum that we've been to before, but walking to the downtown parks and to the Civil Rights Museum and the pizza place that we've never gone to

because downtown parking is not as easy as Papa John's delivery is. So it's a different experience and still fun because you're looking at it through a different lens, even though it's where you live. I will also make this commitment to you that when it is no longer hot in summertime, I'm going to put in my earbuds and I'm going to take a multi-hour walk through my city. I'm going to do it. I'm super pumped about this. So to recap, if you would like to take a trip this year, but you cannot travel, so you're going to do this hometown tourist thing, here is a path you can walk

to plan that day, right? First, name what matters about the day or the weekend. Name what is keeping you from that. Name whatever it is that you might be missing and you need to make it happen. then lock something in so that you have a flag to plan around. Name whatever makes your best day and then begin to brainstorm things that fit this kind of loose structure that you've built. Keep your eyes open. Ask friends for their favorite things and watch those assumptions. There is a lot of fun to be had wherever you might live.

I promise. And if you're like, Kendra, you're wrong. I live in a tiny town with nothing. Okay? that's fair point i don't live where you live but maybe you could do this for the closest like bigger town to you right proximity is good too so that is how to be a tourist in your hometown now before we go let's celebrate the lazy genius of the week this week it's Nicole Vega who shared this great tip summer is full of birthday parties showers and bridal events i'm a busy mom so most of the time i get a gift

at the last minute, aka on the way to the event. I started keeping a few different sized neutral gift bags from the dollar store as well as white tissue paper in a collapsible crate in the back of our car. It saved me some money, not having to buy the expensive bags wherever I get the gift. I used to keep bags and tissue at home, but I never used them. Having them in the car has helped me so much. Nicole, this is such a great idea. It is another example of putting something in. its place, which is a lazy genius principle, but in a place that makes sense based on what matters to you. If you're not wrapping gifts at home, you don't need to store the wrapping stuff at home. It just sits there, right? But putting it in your car, that's so good. Now, this doesn't mean that

everyone needs to do this, or even that everyone can, honestly. Some of you live in big cities, you use public transportation, you don't have a car to store gift bags in. But I hope that this example shows you how you can put anything anywhere. if it matters to you. It's like the other week where we had a lazy genius of the week where the mom stored her daughter's hair bows by the back door, like in a bowl by the door, because that's where they always needed them. Not in a room, not in a bathroom, on the way out the door, right? You put things where you need to put things. So I love this, Nicole. Congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. Okay, that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening, everyone.

Remember to check out the links in the show notes to all the travel things, particularly to Courtney's travel guides. They are robust, thoughtful, so beautifully designed, and they're making me want to go to the cities she's offering rather than wait for her to come out with a guide to wherever I'm going. They're just so good. She is a lazy genius through and through. Also, I'll put a link to my favorite spots in Greensboro to that Greensboro guide if you're ever around. It is not robust, but it is super helpful. Okay, I am so grateful for all of you listening. Until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that you. don't. I'm Kendra. I'll see you next week.

You ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life? Because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming Ourselves. Listen to Becoming. you wherever you get your podcasts.