Sitting alone in a bustling airport watching the time tick by on a 14 hour layover is an experience many of us road warriors can relate to. Luckily, an iPad with Netflix can save the day in some cases, but you still wind up sacrificing hours of your life with nothing to show for it. Here at PC Housing, we’re taking a stand against layover boredom and staying indoors on your day off! Get out there and explore…as long as you know where you’re going, right?
No one likes to wander aimlessly in an unfamiliar city, and worse, wander all by your lonesome. Sure, your mobile device might have the latest travel app’s but, honestly, haven’t you been spending a little too much time on that thing anyways? So, what is one to do? CNN suggests hiring a personal tour guide to kill some valuable downtime when out and about in the world with nowhere to go. Sounds crazy, maybe a little weird at first, but when you break it down it starts to make sense.
And around this corner...
“I’m actually a fan of checking things out on my own, but only having a few hours in a city and not knowing your way around is a good formula for getting lost and missing your flight” said Lauren Fairbanks, a partner at the marketing firm Stunt & Gimmick’s.
Even with a GPS we all know how easy it is to manage to find yourself taking a wrong turn and up a creek…or dark, shady alley. Having a local guide eliminates this possibility since they basically know the city like the back of their hand and will be able to navigate quickly and efficiently, cutting out precious time lost.
“I got a lot of insider information that I wouldn’t have gotten had I toured the site myself. My guide had a lot of great stories and history to impart…The other great thing was that from our conversation, the guide got a good sense of my personality and recommended making an unplanned stop on our way back, where I got to watch and learn how tequila was distilled.”
Seriously, the BEST tequila
Ummm, yes please. Despite the fact that Ms. Fairbanks is claiming that “getting a sense of her personality” meant heading straight to a tequila factory, you get the idea. Oftentimes, while wandering aimlessly you may walk right by what could have potentially been the highlight of a trip, and would never know it.
The only downside to spending an afternoon with your own private metropolis docent is exactly that, spending! Some private tours can cost as much as $70 an hour, but when out on the road where the boss is likely covering the majority of your expenses, it’s really not going to take too much of a chunk out of your pockets to turn that business trip into a REAL trip.
Images: Sevilla, ColumbiaMissourian