Well, this is my first post, so I wanted to state a basic personal philosophy about traveling and share it with you. I always love beggining to plan any of my trips, either a short or a long one. The excitement starts at the very first moment after having decided where to go next. The trip itself starts when I open the first web page (usually wikipedia, haha) to know more about that place. Reading about it gets me in the mood and always encourages me to read even more. And the fun is not reading only about the typical icons and seightseeing tours, but reading about the place itself, it's economy, history, people, events, and of course tourist atractions, so you start to feel the place's vibe.
But here is when I come to state my point in this post. Seightseeing is like a pyramid for me. I'll explain myself. If you go to Paris, the top thing you have to see is the Eiffel Tower, eveybody knows that. If you know a little more, there's also Notre Dame, Champs-Élysées and Montmartre, basic things. If you have seen the Moulin Rouge movie you know about that place too. And someone told you once about that nice restaurant in the Latin Quarter. And you remember that boring history class when the teacher spoke about one of those Louis kings that you found interesting. And, going deeper and deeper, if you read about the cemeteries you'll know that Jim Morrison of the Doors is buried somewhere in the city and you say "hey, I really liked his music". And it goes so on and on. The pyramid grows taller and taller the more you know about that place.
I hope you understand my point. In a few words, the more you read and research about one place, the more things to see you'll have and the more you'll be able to take of your trip. You can go as deep as you want, it's your choice in the end. But trust me, it's so much fun reading a lot about places and then experimenting them yourself. I encourage you to take one travel guide with you on your next trip and read the history, culture and general data about the place you'll go. Surf the web and see what's going on in the destination. Get yourself interested in local current events. You'll be more than a robot tourist now and you'll take more with you than the typical Eiffel Tower post card.
Here, some links of basic webpages where you can do some research before starting a trip:
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