3 tips to visit a place when you're a guest

3 tips to keep in mind to be able to visit a place when you're someone's guest

Leggi in italiano

“What are we doing today?”

“I don’t know… let’s go in the town centre and then we see what to do”.

This is the conversation that should have made us foresee how our visit of Chiavenna would have been. Never to leave without a plan! Even though you’re someone's guest.

Before leaving for a place, I’m used to study my destination and to organize what I want to see, the experiences to try, food I’d like to taste (within the limits imposed by celiac disease. This brings another step in my organization, but this is not the place where to talk about it), leaving a margin of change of plan if necessary (and usually it’s like that). I considered my travel in Chiavenna as a family holiday: we’re leaving all together from Apulia to see my brother. I naively thought that I could put together the advice of a person who has lived there for some months, my brother, and a little bit of adventure to discover out-of-the-way alleys and hidden and suggestive corners. So, I organized the “gluten free” matter and I’d have left to fate the rest. Besides, it’s said to leave space to the unexpected, isn’t it? Yes, but not to rely on it in every way!

 

Chiavenna is a little town that stays quietly among the mountains of Valchiavenna, in Lombardy. The rocky giants surround it as if they want to protect it, but in a way that they could be compared to overwhelming parents. So close to the inhabited centre, your eye meets immediately their wall. The only escape is upwards, towards the snowy peaks, unless they’re covered with a hat of clouds. Many people, used to leave the gaze run along the skyline, told me that they felt threatened by these impending mounts.

The first fate’s decision was to make us meet the local market. None of us knew that Saturday was market day  and when you’ve not any plan, you get involved in what you find and we got involved by the place where you can find local products par excellence. We can’t ask for anything better to have a taste of local cheese: Casera, Alpe Spluga and Crotto. Even though I don’t enjoy very much local markets because of the crowd of that of my town, this one put me at ease and invited me to go through the stands, to look around with curiosity and to see which products are the more requested in this area of Italy. In a winter month, obviously, wool socks and warm clothing almost have the sole, together with food.

“Where do we go now?”

“Let’s go for a walk in the town centre…”

We left behind Chiavenna train station to turn into via Dolzino. We walked along the central street: picturesque, nice shops, beautiful squares… ok, but fundamentally we didn’t know exactly neither where we’re going nor where we wanted to go.

 

I’ll be honest: Chiavenna is a little town and it’s interesting to visit its centre, but also the neighborhood is rich in natural and unnatural treasures. I exaggerated a little bit the story (perhaps) just for entertainment, but if it’s true that any travel teaches something, this one taught me that travelling to visit someone who lives in another town is a bit different from travelling autonomously. In this case the aim of the travel is to spend some time with your host and, consequently, exploring the surroundings fades into the backgrounds. I admit that it might be difficult to balance the will of being with a person and the instinct to explore the area. So, here I am to give you 3 tips to be kept in mind, in order to visit a place when you're someone's guest.

What you must never skip: planning

 

I hear you saying: “Thanks, Ilaria! I couldn’t told you that!” And no, I say. I can’t count the times I’ve heard and read that planning is over evaluated, that you never know what to expect in the place, that having a nice plan clips the wings of adventure…(just continue with the list). I’m not a freak of planning, on the contrary, those who know me can confirm that I’m quite a chaotic person with her head in the clouds; but if there’s something that makes me upset, it’s being in an unknown place and not knowing where to begin to explore it; going around with the illusion that fate will make me meet a great adventure (tell me how many times it really happened to you), maybe loosing the spectacular of a fall little far from the town centre or the visit of the building, the symbol of the town (this happened, instead). So, knowing me, I’ve learned for myself that I ALWAYS need a travel plan, obviously flexible enough to allow fate to make me live that fantastic adventure round the corner.

 

Don’t rely on those who live in the visited place

 

It sounds bad at first, but there’s nothing wrong in this affirmation. Those who  live and work in the place that you’re visiting, knowing about your arrival, surely will do everything possible to be available during your stay, but you’ve not to forget that in any case they have their life to continue and their duties to honor. So, it’s important to plan the travel especially for those moments when your host won’t be able to stay with you. Besides, not everyone knows the place where he lives (incredible, but true), so, it may happen that you’ll give some advice or will make discover something new to your host. As you can see, there was nothing offensive in the affirmation above, but just common sense and understanding for those who want to spend some time with you, even though they’re not on holiday.                 

 

Consider your priorities: your host

 

You’re travelling for a main reason: going and seeing someone who lives in another area. Obviously, everyone will consider that you would like to visit the place where you’ll stay for some days, but remember that this is secondary.

So, plan to visit what you would like to see especially when your host will be busy, dedicating yourself to him when he would have done with his work, for example. Doing so, he won’t worry that you might get bored while he’s not with you and you’ll visit the place, until you get together.

 

Now, tell me: do you have some other tips to share in order to balance the instinct to explore a new place and to stay with a person you’re visiting?