For example, if you come to Orlando, you will probably get a hotel down by Disney, spend 4-5 days with your family at amusement parks, walk around I-Drive, go to the shopping outlets, city walk and if you are really adventurous, spend a day in downtown Orlando or head North to see the manatees at the Springs… While spending thousands of dollars.
As a resident, maybe on the weekends we might go to citywalk a few times a year, the springs one weekend with our kids, downtown… Only for work, a magic game, the farmers market or the club and Disney… Only if we have family coming to visit from out of town.
I give this example because our life as a tourist has been a little different than most. We venture into a city to check out the major sites, yes… But we rarely pay the entrance fee and just look from the outside to see what the hype is about. Then, we walk around and experience the city.
We have noticed they all have a lot in common…the shopping, the restaurants, the tourist booths and convenience stores… Most even have the same name. We have discovered that every city has at least 4 pizzerias and Zaras on their major strip.
But, If you take all of that away, you are left with the architecture, the people, the roads and the environment surrounding.
This outlook has made our trip a little different than others. Because we have not seen just one or two cities on this trip, each one either stands out as something special or tends to blend with the rest.
If you are looking for a city to roam without spending money on the sites, or cities that stand out from the rest, here are our favorites:
Vienna, Austria
Triste, Italy
Venice, Italy
Siena, Italy
Alkmaar, Netherlands
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Frankfurt, Germany
Munich, Germany
Dieppe, France
And of course.. Rome, Italy
Now, buy a ticket and go explore!
More from Europe
Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had increasingly honest conversations about what they actually want from their lives. The leap feels bigger from outside than from inside.
Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation. The version that fits your family is the right one.
By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Familiar foods, bedtime routines, and predictable family dynamics provide stability even when the location changes. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
That people are fundamentally similar across cultures in what they want for their families. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort to get. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when the outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life. The explaining becomes less necessary as the results become visible.
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