Exploring your own city or country
I might have gotten this from my mom... It was a craze, probably a decade ago, for every Indian honeymooner to go to Singapore and my mom usually asks them, 'Have you been to Shimoga?' and the usual answer was 'no'..........
As I've mentioned in my About page, one thing that I try to practice and propagate is Exploring your Backyard and Slow Travel. The thing is for someone out there, what's normal for us, would be exotic. Several Indians, dream of a photograph near Eiffel Tower while several Europeans dream of the colors, festivity and sand of Rajasthan! Why not, we just put ourselves in the other person's shoes and try to explore what's close to us than the opposite side of the globe.
There are few things that make local travel easy. One among it is the Annual memberships. Though there are annual memberships of individual sites (Louvre Museum Pass, Friends of Kew or Autoworld pass), personally I believe that it would make sense only if you reside at a walkable distance from the site. What I like the multi site ones. Here are some that I and my friends have used...
While very few sites are under Royal Trust like Banqueting House or individual sites like Buckingham Palace or Kew Gardens, almost every other site in England is either EH or NT! Prices begin from £34.50 for youngsters upto 25 yrs of age to £120 for 2 adults & children. An annual pass of English Heritage and National Trust would be just perfect to explore almost everywhere in UK.
4. Discovery Pass, Canada & National Parks Pass, USA: Though this is something I haven't tried personally, a few friends have been using these. In 2017, Canada 150 years was celebrated and this annual pass was given free of charge for 1 year!!! These cover the entry to all the national parks in USA and Canada. Being a huge country with diverse aspects of places of interest, Domestic Tourism is a huge thing in USA!
Here's are some more similar, annual passes in other countries:
Dutch Museum Card, Netherlands
Museum Association, UK
Museum Pass for Germany, France and Switzerland
Russian Passcity for Moscow & St.Petersberg
Which city do you live in? Have you explored the possible annual memberships available in your city/country? Have you explored your backyard???
Totally agree with you that we should all spend more time in our own backyard! I've been in San francisco for 8 years and still have not been to alcatrez! I would also love to visit stonehenge. These passes sound like an amazing way to save money.
ReplyDeleteAnnual passes are such a good idea if you live in the area! I thought about getting the U.S. national parks pass in 2018 and making it a goal to visit as many as I could, but it just didn't work out. I am planning on moving out west later this year though, so it'll be a lot easier for me to visit all the national parks once I'm out there. I also plan to get a season ski pass next winter since the slopes will be so easily accessible to me!
ReplyDeleteThis article makes me rethink our travels. We are always planning our overseas trips and never really think about spending more time in our own backyard. I will have to research more but I think the only pass that I know of here in Australia is a National Trust pass. It would be interesting to see if I could come up with something else. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWe love annual passes. We live in the US and have National Park pass and our State Park pass. We used to have a Museum Pass that allowed us to visit not just Science Museum in the US, but also in different countries. It's really a good choice for when you explore your own back yard.
ReplyDeleteYou have lived and traveled to so many interesting places, Bhushavali. The experience must have been great. The best part was the annual pass to all the national parks in the States and Canada. I am sure you made great use of it.
ReplyDeleteWow! I did not realize that there are a lot of museums in Belgium. I guess I was able to visit only around 5. Will try to check more about it since we're visiting again on the later part of this year.
ReplyDeleteI am as well, a big supporter of slow travel. That's why I dedicated half of my blog to Finland. For other countries, I love coming back to the places I have been to, instead of trying to cover all the globe.
ReplyDeleteI made it a point for 2019 that I would explore my own backyard more this year and I started the year doing an interstate road trip so I totally see where you're coming from! You've got a great list going there though. I am amazed by the number of museums Belgium has! How do they fit 130 in such a small country! Such a great idea about annual passes. When my daughter was young we had an annual zoo pass that allowed us to visit a few zoos around Australia. Well worth the price.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the cool gifts for travelers and art lovers! You get a good discount and privileges for museum shows :D
ReplyDeletePurchasing annual memberships passes for museums looks interesting option for art lovers. Though I have came across some theme parks annual passes here in Dubai but never gone for it but now I must look into this. Discovery Pass, Canada and National Parks USA looks tempting and I would surely go for it when I visit Americas next time.
ReplyDeleteI guess annual passes are a good idea if you live in the area or if you travel extremely slow :) I too like to travel slowly and give more time to explore a place but unfortunately, that's not always possible. However, I would love to check out these passes, especially the last one for all the national parks in the US and Canada.
ReplyDeleteI am living in chennai currently but my hometown is neyveli.
ReplyDeleteIt's so true! Many people plan holidays in foreign countries and haven't truly explored their own town/city. Not that one shouldn't plan something that big but there's surely a lot of potential in interesting places closeby.
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