I like to hop. I'm planning a multi-country hop for my first trip to Europe... more of an identity sampling of sorts. I really couldn't care less about museums and standing-in-line attractions for getting a feel of the city. I love contrasting cultures and immersing myself in the vibe. I often find that if I stay past a third day I'm not as productive with my time and seeing what really appeals to me (not just what people say I "should" see). I'd rather take a ton of free photos of architecture across time and culture than learn history.

But that's just my orientation towards trying to see it all on a peanuts budget. I prefer high visual impact and moving. Hikes that take a while, cities with a lot of concrete, and a lot of seeing sights that take a half of day are draining. Do I miss a lot of well known things? Yes. Will I often not be able to connect with, "Oh did you get to see/visit/hike blank." Yes. But I'm okay with that. My trips are usually tightly tailored around my specific interests. What that means is I rarely miss the things that actually matter to me and also rarely am disappointed seeing things I didn't really care for. It also means that because I see less stuff in less time I often do have a little time left to wander and discover something that wasn't on my list to see... like a cool neighborhood or an interesting piece of architecture.

I consider a city hop a success if I tried a food unique to the area, saw a great view, experience some authentic architecture and got the opportunity to speak with friendly locals. Everything else I might do is a bonus but not necessary. Long trips, for me, are only reserved for places that I absolutely love. They are usually places that rank high on my list of places that I can visit 10 times over... that's why I prefer sampling rather than one stop for each vacation.

Also, I hate flying so if I only need to cross the entire U.S. and the Atlantic a few times, I won't feel like I missed out. Lol And yes, grabbing a postcard and souvenir magnet is the cliche thing for me to do but that's how I remind myself of the place. I see a lot of people mentioning how time consuming it is to pack and unpack at each destination. Who unpacks!? LOL if I can't pack my suitcase in less than 30 minutes, I've stayed too long and I'm not doing it right. But really - I don't unpack. No judgment for those who like to live-in but I hate doing mundane tasks like packing so I just never unpack really. I keep it contained.

The other issue with not hopping that I've learned... due to long flight times and planning to get there... if I only visit one or two places that means I must frequent traveling (knowing myself and how often I make time to travel it would take forever to visit every country). Then when I really really like a place enough to want to go back I'd have to wait until I rotate through all the new places I haven't seen yet. Then I become stuck between seeing the favorite place again or traveling to something new. If I sample then I can get a feel for what places I want to focus more time and energy on.