Why visit less-popular destinations?

I've visited Kansas City and Albuquerque for pleasure in recent months. A lot of individuals appear confused. Why would you choose to go to that place?

Sometimes, I prefer these destinations. Travel to “ordinary” cities and towns within the United States provides cultural insight into America. Every state and city has its own culture, past, and traditions. I usually visit these places too short a time to grasp a genuine sense of them, but I catch hints of it. In Albuquerque, you see the influence of native peoples in the area, something often invisible in Southern California. In downtown Kansas City, you see the optimism and confidence in the art déco architecture and the jazz history. I’m reassured knowing punk rock, immigrants, and Thai restaurants are everywhere, not just on the coasts.

They are often cost-effective, too. I can book an inexpensive flight and a local Hyatt for a 3-4 day trip for very little using my travel credit card strategies.

Areas rarely traveled are less congested. I was one of maybe 5 people at the top of Sandia Peak at 10,000 feet overlooking New Mexico in two directions. Contrast that with the lines, crowds and costs to visit the top of the Space Needle in Seattle or the Empire State Building in New York. You should visit both places once, if you can, but Sandia Peak was free and memorable.

You sometimes get to have more authentic experiences, too. They built the economy of the French Quarter of New Orleans around tourism. 90% of those in your midst are visitors. The shops on Bourbon Street have changed over time to cater to visitor wants. Downtown Kansas City gets visitors, too, of course, but many around you are Missourians who live and work in KC. You have a better chance of talking to or meeting a local.

Learning experiences are a little different, too. I visited a Kansas City museum housing the artifacts from the Arabia, a steamboat that sank in the Missouri River in 1856. A lot of the objects in the ship were bound for general stores along the Missouri River. The vast inventory of imported goods was surprising. Coffee beans from South America, buttons, pens, and perfume from France, dishes from England, machinery from Austria. I learned in Albuquerque the Zuni speak a language unrelated to any other known language in the world, despite being one of 19 Pueblo tribes. Learning like this nudges my perspective, so I see other experiences in a new light.

Traveling to less-common places outside the United States matters, too. I met many people who tried to cultivate an experience of India full of what they wanted India to be - an exotic land of yogis and ancient wisdom. They avoided places like Bangalore, where software engineers in jeans and t-shirts talk on their iPhones. I try to see places from as many angles as possible.