itineraries

The Perfect 3-Day Itinerary for Taipei (Updated 2020 Travel Guide)

January 18, 2020 by Bino 2 Comments

Taipei has long been an attractive travel destination for travelers from neighboring countries. While it has never really established itself in the backpackers’ trail, the city attracts plenty of midrange and high-end tourists looking to sample the local street food, shop in the night markets, soak in the hot springs and interact with the highly hospitable locals. Personally, Taipei is a feel-good place. I don’t go there expecting to see some mind-boggling sights. Like Tokyo, I go there time and time again for the wonderful ambiance.

If you are heading down south, also check out this Kaohsiung and Tainan itinerary.

Here is a well-balanced itinerary for Taipei that you can do in 3-days. It offers a fine mix between sights, eating and shopping and also has a few off-the-beaten path attractions thrown in.

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The Perfect 3-Day Itinerary For San Francisco (2019)

July 25, 2019 by Bino 3 Comments

This is a long overdue guide to one of my favorite cities in the world. For a place that has less than one million people, San Francisco has definitely pushed above its weight in terms of contributions to the world. From Levi’s and Gap to UBER and Airbnb, the city has always managed to keep itself in the cutting edge. For the casual visitor, the number of things to do seems to be disproportional to the city’s land area and it’s often hard to decide how to plan a visit to San Francisco especially when it’s the first time.

This itinerary groups together attractions and places that are near or connected to each other for a more organized trip to the city by the bay. It offers a great mix between scenic spots, eating, shopping and with a few hipster areas thrown in. Without further ado, here’s a 3-day itinerary that you can follow for San Francisco.

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The Perfect 2-Day Itinerary for Hanoi, Vietnam

June 15, 2017 by Bino 1 Comment

Vietnam’s capital may be known more than anything for its chaotic and motorbike-filled streets but I have to say that Hanoi remains to be one of my favorite Southeast Asian capitals. There is something about the city that always puts it at the back of my mind as a destination I’d want to visit again. It may be the excellent food or the fascinating history or simply the pulsating and distinctively Vietnamese energy. Whatever it is, each visit to Hanoi always leaves me with new finds and restaurants that I won’t hesitate recommending to friends.

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Itineraries – Why You Should Ditch Them on Your Next Trip

February 19, 2014 by Bino 3 Comments

It used to be the case that I would prepare an itinerary every single time I went for a trip. Thanks to Excel, I would diligently put in the dates, places and the things that I would be doing by the hour. It was quite handy (not to mention overkill), especially for my travel buddies who would always ask to see an itinerary prior to our departure.

When I started blogging, it soon dawned on me how important itineraries were to most people. I have received countless emails asking me to send itineraries for this place and that. There were even times I received requests for itineraries on places I’ve never written about in I Wander! I’ve been happy to oblige whenever I could. But because of the sheer amount of requests, and thinking that it would make my articles more user friendly, I started including itineraries in my entries.

traveling is a bit like watching movies – the more advance peeks you have, the less exciting the movie becomes when you actually get to see it
Photo by Raymond Shobe in Flickr | CC 2.0

Frankly speaking, I don’t use itineraries anymore whenever I travel and I haven’t been doing so for probably the last 3 years. When my friends go for a trip to the same places I’ve been to recently and ask me for one, I usually have nothing to show them.

I’ve not enjoyed my trips as much as when I started ditching my itineraries. While these sheets of paper may make the trip more organized (especially if the objective is to tick a checklist of sights), basing one’s schedule on an itinerary can sometimes feel, for the lack of a better term, robotic. There are certain merits to leaving itineraries behind the next time you travel. These are just some of them:

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