Some of the best trips are the ones you don’t need to go on.

I’m referring to the unplanned, spontaneous kinds. The ones with no worry about reservations or itineraries, no concern for what you’ll see or do. They are the trips that just happen, not out of necessity, but just because you can.

Don’t get me wrong: I love planning trips. Oftentimes, anticipation is one of the best parts of travel. However, along with the preparation and forethought can come unnecessary expectations of the place you’re visiting, the people you hope to meet or the ones with whom you’re traveling (including yourself!).

Sometimes the unexpected trip is better: You just show up and take whatever comes your way.

My family and I did this a few weeks ago. We knew we had to be in Ellensburg, Washington on a Saturday for my oldest son’s performance at the State Finals for high school musicians. That was the “necessary” trip. However, we stayed overnight and took off Sunday morning to hike a nearby trail (Untanum Creek Canyon) I had once heard about.

The only planning consisted of making the decision the night before to go there and then asking for directions the next morning. The rest was a spontaneous, totally “unnecessary” trip on a gorgeous day that included crossing over a suspension bridge, under some railroad tracks (pictured above), hiking along a creek past beaver dams and seeing a herd of bighorn sheep on the walls of the canyon that surrounded us.

Would the day have been any different had we planned it out and made it an intentional destination? Who knows? But by not thinking much about it before we got there, it added to the surprise factor of the day. It made our explorations feel like more of a discovery despite the dozen other people on the trail who clearly planned out their adventure more than we did (the backpacks were a good indicator…).

I’ve recently been reading Paul Theroix’s book, The Tao of Travel. It contains quotes from his own travel books and insights from many other traveler writers over the years. One quote of his I read last night applies here:

“Travel is at its most rewarding when it ceases to be about your reaching a destination and becomes indistinguishable from living your life.”

When you incorporate little surprise trips within your daily life, both are enhanced. Sure, you have to carve out the time for even the short trip. But too often I find I use lack of time as an excuse to do nothing.

Instead, this recent family hike reminded me of how much room there is in this world: room in my schedule if I make it so, room in the places around me to explore and room in my life for growth and possibility.

When I consider it this way, maybe these small, spontaneous adventures aren’t so unnecessary after all…

I like reading the newspaper. Sure, I can access all the news and more I want online, but I digest it differently in paper. When I scan the news online, I tend to focus on the headlines, the attention-getting news. When I read the paper, I settle in for the less obvious.

Take for instance this small article in the Travel section of the Sunday Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.com/html/travel/2020865912_bestbaguettexml.html

It’s easy to pass over, but it caught my attention for three reasons:

First, it’s about bread. Despite how much I know about the downsides of white flour and too many carbs in my diet, I still retain an affection for something as simple as a baguette. So when the article describes the BEST baguette, I have to take note.

Second, it occurs in Paris. Normally, that would mean little to me. But later this year, I will be there on a trip with my family so I’m more attuned to mentions of The City of Lights than normal.

Third, it sparks an idea.

Why not hunt down this best baguette in Paris when I’m there? Turn it into a quest of the doughy kind. Find the bakery, conquer the baguette and cast my own judgment on its quality.

It sounds kind of silly. But I find mini-quests of this nature to add much to a trip. There’s no logic here, just the fun of finding someplace you’ve heard about, a culinary scavenger hunt. It’s like geocaching without the GPS and the treasure in this case is something you can eat. What’s not to like?

The funny thing is, if I had read about this bakery in a guidebook or on a travel website, I would likely ignore it. Anyone can read about it there. But finding it in the paper somehow makes it my discovery. That may not seem rational, but when you think about it, most of our decisions don’t hold up well to the scrutiny of objective logic.

I’ll add it to my list of other Parisian quests: the ultimate shot of a gargoyle, an unlikely quiet moment in St. Chapelle, the bridge where lovers clasp padlocks and throw the keys into the river, several markets and yeah, all those touristy things like museums and a certain iron tower in the middle of town.

Quests don’t have to be big or necessarily meaningful in and of themselves. I tend to think of them as an excuse, a reason to venture into neighborhoods I wouldn’t likely go and to find something that matters – even minutely – to me or my family.

You can go big: a quest, for example, to find your birth parents or visit an ancestral home. Or you can pursue collections or hobbies. Or, in this case, you can seek out a certain place or type of food. The value of the quest isn’t in the destination or even the journey as you’d normally think. No, to me, the value of the quest is in having a quest.

It may be just as simple as that…or as uncomplicated as a loaf of French bread.

In our review of stories and how to tell them with images, I want to share one last often overlooked point. We frequently focus on the “what,” “who” and “where” of our trips: what we see/do/eat, who we meet or travel with and where we go. Rarely, however, do we capture the “how”and the “why.”

I’ll save the “why” for later, but let me leave you with one final image from Bar Harbor, Maine that captures the “how.”

I won’t take time now to explore the pros and cons of vacationing on a cruise ship since there are strong points to be made on each side. This particular trip was one where my parents, to celebrate some significant birthdays and anniversaries, took my family and my brother’s family on a cruise from Boston up to Montreal. Our first stop was Bar Harbor.

I chose this image to illustrate that it captures in part the story of how we got to Maine. But it incorporates enough of the setting to locate it clearly, at least for those of us who were there.

On your next trip, try and record in photos some of the “how” of the trip, from packing and leaving your house to the forms of transportation you used to some of the rooms where you stayed. They may not seem like interesting subjects to some, but they can form a useful narrative for you when you look back on your trip. Moreover, when seen in sequence (as we discussed in the post on focusing on the details), they tell a story of movement and the daily necessities of travel.

And if you think about it, you’ll find that the “how” of travel may be as meaningful to your trip as any other factor.

Here’s the rest of the series: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

I’ve kept you guessing through this series that looked at how photos can tell stories as much (or sometimes better) than words. We saw how people in the image can add to the narrative, how sometimes you don’t need people in your shots, how black and white images tell a different story than color and how focusing on the details makes for more interesting tales. All along, I asked you to guess where the place was. So here’s the answer (in photos, of course!):

If you look closely, you can see the unlit sign for Bar Harbor Real Ale. Now they could serve this beverage anywhere, but what better place than in the town where it is brewed?

If you’ve ever been to Bar Harbor, Maine (and neighboring Acadia National Park where the picture of the little girl and the coast were taken), you’ll likely recognize this strip of the main drag of the town.

If you haven’t, while the town itself can be rather touristy, Acadia is beautiful and definitely worth a visit.

I will show you one more image next time from this trip, but hopefully this gives you a brief overview of how photos can tell different kinds of stories on a trip – even one to Maine!

To be continued…

Check out Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 if you haven’t already.

I like the advice in this Wall Street Journal article on how to take better travel photos. The two biggest recommendations?

1. Focus on the details.
2. Take time to learn to be a better photographer.

The article provides some great tips on both points. And if you want some additional tips on taking better travel photos anywhere (not just in Machu Picchu), check out this article from the Tips and Tools section.

For now, however, let’s examine the first point and how focusing on the details in your travel photos can help you tell a better story.

Back to our mystery location, here are some detailed shots that help tell the story of the place. The main thing to note is that on their own, as single images, they may be somewhat interesting, but when you put all the details together, that’s when a real story of the place emerges. On your next trip, look for the little things that mean something to you. Realize that when you put them together, those details do add up, often showing a more powerful story than any single image can.

This first image reminds me that the location is either by the water or someone there has an interesting collection…

Here I used black & white because the image was pretty dull in color. You can see the continuation of the nautical theme.

This final image shows the end result of the previous two photos. It reflects both the importance of lobster to this place and also the meal my family feasted on while there. That makes it personal to me but also representative of the place to others.

These are just some of the many details I could show from this location. The first photo in the series is another example. But when you see all three of them together, and increasingly in slideshows and on our phones and Facebook pages we’re seeing collections of images rather than single shots, they tell a fuller story than any one picture could. Figure out where this is yet?

To be continued…

Check out Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 if you haven’t already.

We’ve seen how some photos tell better stories with people in them and some work without people.

Now let’s explore what we touched on last time: The different story that a black & white image tells.

Here are two other photos from the same place. By now, if you don’t recognize this place, you probably won’t, but I’ll still keep you guessing!

This first image provides context. It tells its own story about the sea or at least one element of that.

This next image is a shot my son Sumner took:

If you look closely, you can see that these were taken from roughly the same location. But they tell different stories. They share, however, the same feel achieved through the conversion of each to black & white.

Images work well in black & white when there is strong contrast and interesting shapes and textures. Also, quite frankly, these were shot on a cold, wet morning and there wasn’t much color in the scene anyway. So they tell a better story and make for better photos when done in black & white.

It’s easy these days to convert a digital image to black & white or sepia on your camera or phone or in most photo software programs. So next time you see a scene with a lot of character and strong tonal differences, consider taking it or later making it in black & white. You’ll find that it increases your options for telling visual stories and can make an otherwise blah photo into something quite beautiful.

If you haven’t already seen them, check out these other images and let me know if you’ve figured out where this place is:

Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

To be continued…

The photograph we looked at last time told a story of the simple childhood joy of jumping from rock to rock without falling into the water. What made it a memorable image was the little girl in the photo.

Having people (preferably not posed in rigid stances with fake smiles) in your photographs almost always makes the images more interesting. They add a human element, provide a focal point and often, can lend a sense of scale. Their expressions, gestures or positions can tell the story all by themselves. The surrounding scene, in those cases, serves merely as a contextual backdrop.

Having said that, take a look at this image shot not that far from either the first photo in this series or the second:

Hmmm. No people. What’s up with that?

First, of all, the ocean (which should give you a further clue as to where this might be) was pretty boisterous on the day we were there. And when the waves came thrashing into this small rocky inlet, they sent up quite a spew of foam and spray. No one there that day wanted a salty shower.

Second, sometimes having no people in the photo tells a story in itself. You can see the stairs and railing, so you, the viewer, know that this spot was intended for human visitation. Yet no one is there? It makes you wonder, perhaps, why that is.

Third, the reason I like this photo without people in it is that it makes it more of a study in shape, texture and color. This image still works in black and white due to the leading lines and the rocks. See what you think:

I like the black and white, but it tells yet another story. It has a different feel than the color. I love black and white images in general, but with this one, I like how the bright green sea moss contrasts with the color of the water and the rocks. It feels a bit more inviting and less less intimidating than the black and white version, even without people. At least that’s how I read it. But what about you?

With your own images, remember this: When you’re trying to communicate with your photos, human subjects in the frame can help. But sometimes, you can tell a better, or at least a different, story when you leave people out and let the scene speak for itself.

Any guesses where this was taken? If you’ve followed this series so far, you’ll know that there’s a fountain in a town, next to a park with a lake (actually, many lakes) that also, per today’s photo, is by the sea. Where in the world…?