How much do you research about a destination prior to travelling there?
I work, I save, I travel. As a result, between my trips, I have plenty of time to read about a place and to get to know it from a theoretical perspective. My idea of recreation is to do geeky things like reading history, looking at maps, memorizing train timings and redrawing archeological sketches. No wonder that, as soon as I saw an opportunity to travel to Turkey, I excitedly jumped into a full-fledged research mode.
↑ 3 travel guidebooks, 3 books on history, 3 “fun” novels, 1 book on archeology, and a Turkish language course. I have nearly finished reading all of this, bring on the next round!
Study, conceptualize, research
I am fully aware that not many folks are obsessed with familiarising themselves with theoretical frameworks before starting a project; any project for that matter. There are several pro’s and con’s to this approach but the biggest advantage I find is the fact that it makes travel more “efficient”.
“But you are missing the surprises and the joys of discovering a place!” says a travel buddy who is big on going-with-the-flow and slow-travel.
I agree.
But, since I only get to travel for a few weeks at a time, I’d rather spend my travel time on actual travelling and seeing places, everything else done in advance. 
Turkey
This spring I’m going away for seven weeks, traveling to Turkey, India and Nepal. Turkey is one of the countries I was always fascinated with. In addition to some probable genetic connections to this land, I am very excited to checkout the arena where several empires battled their fates. I am even learning the language, look:
“Evet, biraz Türkçe biliyorum. Topkapı Sarayı nerede?”
(Yes, I know a little Turkish. Where is the Topkapı palace?)
Where do I wanna go? Besides Istanbul which straddles two continents, I want to hike in the Mars-like topography of Cappadocia and checkout Aegean ruins along the Mediterranean coast. I have little over a month to plan this trip and to learn to carry a conversation in Turkish for two minutes. After Turkey, I go to India and Nepal where, unfortunately, there is no language learning involved. 
Thanks for reading!
Priyank
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I have to say, I admire your dedication/obsession with research before traveling. My last trip to Guatemala actually was one of the less-researched ones; I have been so busy with work and school that the days just passed by, until one day I realized, oh shoot, I am heading to Guatemala soon, and I should read about it. Honestly, I felt under-researched that the week before, I somehow had serious fears about safety and whatnot pertaining to Guatemala City. That being said, as you already know, I had fun, and perhaps turned out to be one of the best trips I have had in a while.
On the other hand, for my Germany trip, I felt like I have dug more than the usual dirt online, partly because I felt that the guidebook did a crappy job of doing research, making it seem like there’s nothing worth seeing in the area, when there’s actually plenty to see. I ended up doing research and finding stuff from other sources online.
Hi Jeruen,
Online is a great source to refer to although sifting through all the commercial junk can be daunting. There are tons of travelogues and resource websites, and often travel agency websites will offer tours so you know which places are going to be crowded. lol…
Priyank you contemptible no good git. You rotten old egg, you! Here is my thought, give the other method of dropping in without reading a thought and then compare both. Let’s see which one you end up liking. No biases allowed.
Hello Odzer, looks like you are in the mood for using a lot of adjectives this evening!
The day I go on a three month trip or a very last minute holiday, I promise not to research. But I don’t get why one wouldn’t read about a place before going there, atleast one book?
Whoa! That’s some serious preparation. Do you conduct guided tours? If yes, would love to join
I guess you’d find some familiar words while learning Turkish. There’s that Sarayı (as in ही घटकेची सुटे सराई
) and kirmiji (came across it while reading ‘My name is Red’ = ‘Benim Adım Kırmızı’).
Hi Nandan,
I don’t do guided tours, haha that would be funny and I will be quite bored if travel were to become a “job”.
Yeah, I encountered several words of Persian origin that are present in both Turkish and Marathi. Besides that, the sounds are very easy to learn and the sentence structure is Subject – Object – Verb which is more similar to Indian languages than English. But at the end of the day, Turkish is not an Indo-European language.
wow..!! turkey…this is on my bucket list….ur right, its best to do a lot of research and then have fun when ur at the destination….and there’s always something one discovers inspite of all the research beforehand!!
happy journey!!!
Thanks Sushmita, absolutely right, there are always surprise experiences.
More exotic travel? That’s great, lucky you!
Feng likes to do a lot of research before we go somewhere; I don’t. I like surprised and I’m always afraid to be disappointed if something is said “great”. That said, I always work on learning the language before I go, or refreshing my language skills.
Hi Zhu,
Oh I am just going to India, not quite exotic for me… haha. Turkey is exotic, yes.
Well I definitely don’t buy books.
What is Google there for?
But yes, I do memorize maps (sometimes print them out), take prints of travel plans, how to go from one place to another and important places to visit.
I somehow do not find the idea of stranded in the middle of nowhere and robbed very exciting. So yes, it has to be well planned for me.
Hello Amit,
Well you can’t really make a connection between getting stranded or robbed and researching about a place because unexpected things will certainly happen. Granted researching will help in making alternate plans but it’s definitely not a substitute for street smarts, isn’t it?
Just like you, I also heavily rely on internet resources, but Toronto has a great library system, so that helps.
Hey Priyank,
Turkey in spring is very beautiful. Did it last spring though for a very short time – nine days to be specific and just Istanbul and Cappadocia………It was wonderful. We fell in love with the place and we guys from “Hindistan” (as India is called)were welcomed everywhere. I am sure you will enjoy that place.
Have fun…………..Anil
Hi Anil,
Great to know that! I am so looking forward to this trip.