23 unusual travel ideas for your next trip

Looking for unusual travel ideas? In times when it only counts how many countries you have visited or who takes the most beautiful beach photo, the idea of experimental travelling is more current than ever. It is another form of discovery.

Unusual travel ideas

Foreign countries and places are no longer discovered for sightseeing, but according to a pattern that one chooses beforehand. Not only does it take you off the beaten track, you can also see the sides of a place you would not have seen otherwise. Interesting people, authentic residential areas or breathtaking details of another culture are the reward.

Have you ever stayed in a convent before? You don´t have to be religious, to stay in one of the many convents or monastaries in Europe. You can find nice rooms embedded into impressive sceneries. Try an unusual stay in a monastry in cities like Rome, Budapest or Prague.

Unusual destinations can be found not only in Europe or the world. The concept also applies to things that can be done at home, but which are geographically oriented. As a single traveller, couple or group: there is something for everyone.

A brief introduction into the idea, you can find here.

Here is a book about it*:

Here are 23 unusual travel ideas that can give your next trip the crucial twist and turn it into something truly unforgettable.

On the road:

1. Anachronistic travel

Use a way of transport that is old-fashioned or superfluous, e. g. a litter, a high wheel, a galley, a fiaker, a trolley, a zeppelin and so on.
Second, on your journey, follow an outdated guide.

2. Aesthetic Journey

Turn a normal holiday into an aesthetic journey by photographing or painting the view from each of your hotel windows. You often discover unexpected things here.

3. Bureaucratic travel

Visit places that are known for their administrative function for the locals (and not for their tourist value). These include waiting rooms, social services, town hall, police station. Use the equipment and resources such as photocopiers, brochures, magazines and taste the gastronomic pleasures offered in the cafeteria, coffee machines, sandwich shop, etc…

4. Dodeca trip

“Dodeca: Ancient Greek for 12.
This itinerary is about the number 12, examples: Take the 12:12 train and get off at the 12th station. Walk or swim along the 12th degree of latitude. Sleep in any hotel in room number 12 and start a world tour with only £/$12 in your pocket. Travel along highways and country roads bearing the number 12.

5. Double name trips

Visit places whose names repeat themselves. For example Sing-Sing, Bora-Bora, Baden-Baden.

6. Exploring final stops

Take a bus, subway or suburban train whose line leads to the suburbs. Go to the terminus. Find accommodation for the night and explore the suburbs.

7. Exploration of the opposite

Travel with a camera, but don’t take pictures of the famous sights and tourist attractions. Instead, stand with your back to the sights and take pictures of the view you are offered.

8. Travel in partnership

Plan a weekend with your partner. Drive separate roads to your designated destination. Try to find yourselves.

9. Expedition to the K2 (or B5 or C7)

Discover the area in a city located on a classic, non-digital city map in field K2 (or B5 or C7, etc.). Enjoy all cultural attractions and gastronomic offers.

10. Airport exploration

Spend some time of your holiday in an airport. But without getting on a plane. Enjoy the comfortable lounges, various washrooms, shops and restaurants. Observe the dance of the passengers before their departure and the alternating departure displays.

11. Time out in a different way

Take a year or six months off to travel. Only buy cheap last-minute trips these months. Take for example a week here, 10 – 15 days there, half pension or full pension. The only condition is that you plan your route, e. g. online by connecting your reduced flights and holidays.

12. Night trip

Visit a place at night. Set it up so you arrive at nightfall. Explore the place at night and return home with the rising sun.

13. Name siblings

Travel to places in your home country that have names in other countries. For example, Ellesmere in England (has a name sibling in Barbados), or Berlin in Germany (a name sibling in the USA).

14. Opus Travel

Take a journey inspired by the title of a book, a piece of music or a movie. For example: One Night in Bangkok Round Ireland with a Fridge Miss Saigon A Year in Provence.

15. The Journey of a Slow Return

Choose a destination that is quite far away from where you live. Take the fastest route or the fastest means of transport to get there. Choose the slowest way back for your journey home.

16. Journey of Defect

Create your holiday with a lack of as many things as possible. Start your journey with not enough time or not enough money. Choose a destination for which there are no recommendations and where you don’t understand the language.

17. Changing travel

Leave the house by foot, go right at the first crossroads, then turn left, then right again and so on until something blocks your way – a house, a piece of no-man’s-land, the sea.

18. Journey from A to Z

Select a city. Find the first and last street in the alphabetical street index and draw a line between the two streets on a city map. Discover the city by following this line.

19. Trip Poker

Trip Poker is a game for 4 people. All you need is a regular dice. The prize is a trip with the other players. Three rounds are played. The players roll the dice one after the other. The winner of a round is the player with the highest score.

The winner of the first round may choose the destination. The destination must be within a radius of the number of points multiplied by 100km from the player’s place of residence.

The winner of the second round may choose the date or weekend on which the trip will take place. The weekend must take place in the month that is as far away as the eyes are on the winner’s dice.

The number of the third winner determines the type of accommodation. It stands for the following accommodations:

1. Hotel 2. camping 3. in the car 4. in a house of someone 5. under the stars 6. no accommodation and no sleep!

20. Random destination

Find the name of your city in the index of a world atlas (or insert it in the right place). Roll the dice and count the number of points on the lines down. The place where your finger lands is your destination.

For example, if you live in Melbourne, Australia:

One takes you to Melbourne, USA
Two takes you to Mele Cap, Italy
Three takes you to Melekess, Russia
Four takes you to Melenki, Russia
Five takes you to Mélèzes, Canada
Six takes you to Melfi, Chad

Experimental travel doesn’t only work in the distance. I’ll show you here how it works at home:

At home:

21. Gastronomic trips for your home

This gastronomic adventure consists in creating dishes using ingredients bearing the name of cities or regions. E.g. Brussels sprouts, Frankfurt, etc.

22. Insider Journey

Discover a place by following the recommendations of the locals. Do exactly what they tell you to do. Try to discover your hometown like you’re a stranger.

23. Literary journey

Take a literary journey without leaving your chair. Start with an author from your home country, then read a book by an author from a neighbouring country. Continue in this way until you have circumnavigated the earth.

Source: https://www.latourex.org/latourex_en. html

Have fun on your experimental journey and discovering in a new way!

Yours