Step it up

By Robert Snarski

Whether you’re planning on an extended trip or a quick getaway this year, you should consider a trip that requires a certain amount of movement. “Cruise ships, all-inclusive resorts and four-star hotels are great but some of the best vacations rely on those two most crucial tools in your vacation toolbox: your two feet,” says Beth Paulson, a retired attorney and self-proclaimed “wannabe travel writer” from San Jose, California. “My husband and I realized several years ago that the things we would do on vacation, like taking in a show or eating a generic meal, were really no different than the things we could do at home. We usually did resort vacations and cruises, so we took them off of our list.”

After Paulson was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, her doctor recommended she get more exercise. “He suggested we find new places to explore, so we started planning walking trips,” she says. “That’s easy to do in California. There’s a lot to see.”

Paulson says she and her husband would head to San Francisco and take literary tours or hop on a quick flight to Los Angeles and walk around Hollywood and Beverly Hills or take a side trip to the Southern California beaches. “It was kind of an eye-opener for us, to be honest,” Paulson says. “We raised three kids in California and we haven’t seen much of the state. For years, we were literally 90 minutes away from Big Sur and we never made the trip.”

Change the mindset

Whether you’ve reached a certain age or looking for something new to do, you should rethink how you vacation, says Thomas Downey, a New Yorkbased financial planner and part-time tour guide. “I started giving tours on the weekends a few years ago after my kids were all out of the house and I wanted something to do,” says Downey. “I was amazed at the number of people who came to New York City and wanted nothing to do with walking. They wanted to cab everywhere or take a tour bus. But to truly appreciate New York, well, any city really, you have to walk it. You have to mix with the locals and the tourists and go in and out of the shops and restaurants. When you see the Empire State Building from a bus or the Statue of Liberty from a boat, what good is that? You might as well see it on TV.”

While Downey says younger travelers usually appreciate the do-it-on-foot mindset, he says he’s seeing an upswing in older visitors who want nothing to do with sitting on a bus, opting instead for a pedestrian experience that serves their curiosity and their wellness. “Do you know how many steps you can get when you walk around New York City? We’re talking thousands,” Downey says. “I’ll get emails from people who have taken our tours and they tell me how wonderful it was to be physically exhausted when they got back to their hotel room that night, how they felt like they truly interacted with the city and how they try to keep up with the steps they put on in New York, now that they’re back home.”

10,000 and counting

Aaron Thompson can relate. On a recent work-related trip to Washington, D.C., Thompson says he logged 21,000 steps on a day off without even thinking about it. “I wear a Fitbit every day and try to walk 10,000 steps,” says the 34-year-old graphic designer. “I do a lot of freelance work and I’m traveling from office to office so I can do a lot of walking. Even then, I’m still at 8,000 steps, maybe 9,000. When I saw that 21,000 number on my phone in D.C., I felt like I just ran a marathon.”

Thompson says he’s built on the momentum from his trip by exploring new neighborhoods with his wife every Saturday. “We both grew up Naperville, Illinois, and now we live in the West Loop in a four-flat, so the city of Chicago is still pretty new to us,” he says. “We’ll get geared up in the morning and take the train or Uber to a neighborhood we don’t know much about, and kill a few hours walking around, checking things out.”

And the Saturday journeys have inspired the Thompsons to take different types of vacations. “There’s not a lot of money to go to Europe or anything but we’d usually vacation in Florida, on the beach. This year, we’re planning on a trip to Austin, Texas, which we hear is an awesome city for walking and eating, and we have a wedding in Philadelphia in the fall. I’m already getting all geeked out with Google Maps, checking out all the spots we should hit in both cities,” Thompson says. “The idea of sitting on a beach in Sarasota for five days seems so boring to me now. I’m sure I’d enjoy a day or two but when you look at the free time you have in a year, even a lifetime, you want to take as much advantage of it as you can.”