Go On, Get Curious: Creative Acts for Curious Travelers

Are you travel-curious? Are you ready to make your day trips and international excursions more creative? Strike up some Good Music for Active Work and start exploring! Or you can get to work on the first step of planning to explore. Or start small by just asking questions. This will help you get down to the business of creating a unique and special travel experience.

If I’ve learned one thing through my years of travel it’s to not let a lack of knowledge or experience prevent you from exploring. Plans don’t need to be grandiose or elaborate, they can be quirky and offbeat or quiet and reserved. It’s amazing the discoveries you’ll make when you open your eyes and your mind to the possibilities right there in front of you.

Disclaimer: I’ve never been one who loves to plan the logistical details of a trip – the route, lodging, the rest stops, etc. There are apps for that (e.g. Roadside America). There are locals for that (e.g. the hotel’s front desk clerk on the night watch, when you arrive late). There are cherished loved ones for that (e.g. that would be my partner, who is wonderful in so many ways, but especially because he loves to plan our adventures). There are even folks you can hire for that (e.g. AAA of course).

Create Your Perfect Trip. With Trip Canvas You Can: (AAA website)

“Customize your travel preferences – so you only see the types of trips that interest you.
Compile inspiration – like hotels, experiences and restaurants. And, view your selections in a convenient map view.
Explore pre-planned vacation packages – or build a trip your way. The choice is yours!
Book Everything – with ease, including flights, hotels, and activities. Or, get assistance from a AAA Travel Agent.”

“You always take me to the nicest places,” I like to tell my partner, tongue in cheek.

The truth is, we’re willing to check out the hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurant a few blocks over from the tourist district. So-called ’boutique’ hotels are our thing — and don’t think that always means something fancy. Think ‘off-brand’ or one-off residences with eclectic, eccentric owners. Hours and hours have been spent in tiny (sometimes free) museums that guidebooks estimate will entertain visitors for 30 min. – 1 hour.

So, how can you approach your travel with creativity? How can you be open and receptive? Sarah Stein Greenberg, Executive Director of Stanford’s d.school studies how to learn and suggest a ‘Design Thinking’ approach to… well, life! I recently read her book “Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways.”

How do you learn best, think best, create best? So many people don’t ever take the time to reflect. They don’t get to discover the answers to questions like these:

Do you learn well in a group?
Do you learn better on your own?
Do you learn better under time pressure?
Do you actually need spaciousness to learn?

Consider how your approach to travel, exploration, and adventure could be influenced by knowing yourself better, reflecting about what interests you. Sometimes you have to follow a whim, based on what grabs your attention unexpectedly. Openness, observation, and reflection are powerful practices for living a creative life.

Here’s an example to consider: I was on a work trip, riding a rented bike around Boston, enjoying the gardens, boulevards, historic buildings, and sculptures. I jumped onto the sidewalk to avoid a patch of heavy traffic and skidded to a quick stop when a long, narrow, brick-lined ally crossed my path. Something had been triggered in my brain – a whisper of a thought. “If Craig were here we’d take the ally.”

It was late afternoon, traffic was getting worse by the minute, and I’d discovered a shortcut.

So, I took the less congested route. The other perk was that I’d be able to snoop around — it’s a thing I do — and check out what are essentially the backyards of Boston’s brownstones. I found welcoming garage entrances, third floor balconies decorated with hanging baskets of flowers, and expensive-looking patio furniture. I was cruising along when I rode past a small, short, odd-looking door.

A collection of signs declared that I’d stumbled across a puppet lending library, that lending hours were quite limited, and that if you were there outside of ‘open hours’ you should ring the bell anyway — someone just might be there to let you in and show you around. I was there on a Monday and the signs declared that they would be open on Tuesday, so I planned a return trip the next day.

Did I mention that the entrance to this curiosity was down an unassuming ally? Did I mention that I never would have discovered it if I hadn’t been curious enough to explore? Curiosity for the win! If you’d like to check it out, here’s where to find it: “The Puppet Free Library is located, by the kindness of Emmanuel Church, in the basement of 15 Newbury Street but is entered by the back door. This is in public alley 437, between Newbury and Commonwealth streets, in the block between Arlington and Berkely,” (Amalgamated Puppet Libraries)

Have I peaked your curiosity? What exactly is a puppet lending library anyway? Have a look!

I rang the bell. I waited. I was unsure of what would happen next.

A very kind woman emerged from a different (regular-sized) door a bit down the ally. She greeted me with a smile, and asked if I’d like to see the puppets. I followed her a few doors down, again, uncertain. We entered an unmarked, ally door. There was nothing but an empty hallway, so we went deeper into the building, passing through another door identified only by a handwritten sign…

To discover: vibrant, festive characters and colorful curiosities.

“The Puppet Lending Libraries are stocked with parade puppets and banners, twenty-foot tall Big City and Mother Earth puppets, twelve-foot dancing cats, enormous flowers, puppet horses for children to ride, and a wide variety of dragons. All these elements are loaned out to enliven school and community events, neighborhood parades, celebrations, and demonstrations in the cities of New York and Boston.”
Amalgamated Puppet Libraries

My favorite declaration of the library came in the form of an invitation: “If you have accumulated enough giant puppets that you find yourself lending them out, join the Amalgamated Puppet Libraries!”

What’s the lesson? Follow your curiosity, always, to see where it will take you. A sampling of the activities from ‘Creative Acts for Curious Minds’ include the following, for creative inspiration:

Practicing Metaphors (20)
Making Morning Coffee (38)
Talkers and Listeners (9)
Tether (48)
Fresh Eyes Sketching (35)
The Derive (3)

I was able to entice my nonfiction book club to read the book and try out some of the activities. You’re likely to find many opportunities for adventure even in your own town.

One book club member remarked, about a Columbus, OH event called ‘The Big Table’: “Many of the acts in the book invite you to engage in deep conversations with others. This is a great opportunity to engage with the Columbus community. Join Besa and The Columbus Foundation for an evening meant to inspire conversation and interaction with those in the Columbus community! Besa is teaming up with Land-Grant for the Big Table (or, rather, a collection of several tables), to take over their beer garden for an evening of food, drinks, and great conversation.” (Dawn Norris, Art Teacher and Columbus Creative)

If you’re genuinely interested in Design Thinking, check out the following, from Greenberg:

Design’s Superpower = to navigate ambiguity of (a) problem finding: learn from others, synthesize information, move from concrete to abstract and (b) problem solving: rapidly experiment, communicate deliberately, build and craft intentionally. Don’t rush to closure, to fix the first problem you find.

You can watch an interview here: