What is it that makes wandering through a foreign city so magical? After all it really isn’t that exciting to be lost. Feet stomping pavement, cobblestones, and perhaps the occasional gravel path on it’s surface yields naught but tired legs and sore feet. But there really is something special about a day spent exploring an unknown cityscape. No pre-fixed route, map, no tourist destination in mind. Just mindless meanderings down main thoroughfares, side streets, and maybe a few back alleys. An aimless journey marked by only but a few waypo ints; a park bench, an outdoor café, and more than likely a bar stool or three.

I learned about the concept of “flaneuring” from famed travel writer and vagabonder Rolf Potts. Originally a French word, in modern times it can be distilled down to the basic concept of wandering with intention – or said a different way – to be intentionally aimless. I love this word as a way to vocalize a concept I was doing unintentionally. It also can provide a sort of framework to what is otherwise a directionless meander. The beauty here is there is no right answer. Do you follow the distant sounds of of a large gathering of people or live music just barely audible from a few blocks over? Do you chase the allure of large swathes of greenery in hopes of finding every neighborhood park the city has hidden from an outsiders prying eyes? Or perhaps it’s your nose you follow. Every city has those hidden gems, those bastions of culinary expertise that care naught for YELP reviews or optimizing their SEO. No, the true culinary conquistador doesn’t take to Google to map the world. They trust their feet and the finely attuned sense of smell to guide them to the culinary promised land.

No matter the day’s particular persuasion – a search for open space, for unknown flavors, or the discovery of a neighborhood parade for a holiday you didn’t know existed – many of my favorite days spent abroad are the unplanned ones. The ones where I awake with no plans, no goals, and no real destination.

No inspiration other than a mindless, yet heartful, desire to wander, discover, and observe.