No Plans, Just Presence: Let Go of the Itinerary

By Zahra Sachikonye, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

‘What’s on your bucket list for Hong Kong?’ Nothing. ‘Any must-see spots?’ No. I’ve finished my year abroad and I still don’t have a list (Please don’t click off the article yet, I’m not crazy). When I landed in Hong Kong, I had no idea what I was walking into, and that might’ve been the best thing I did for myself and for the places I visited.

My honest answer when people asked what I was looking forward to doing, seeing or experiencing during my time abroad was ‘Nothing’. Bucket lists, Pinterest boards, goals, visionboards, colour-coded itineraries, check-lists. None of it. In a world that constantly shouts ‘YOLO’ and tells us to ‘make the most’ of every experience, it is not the norm to simply show up with no plan. No expectations or performance.

I thought this was just my personality evolving, or maybe that there was something wrong with me. Was I  maybe too lazy to research and plan things out? Was I being careless? Now I realise this way of living is a practice that can be more ethical, more relational and more transformative than we might expect.

Sit still

I suppose what I am advocating for is a more mindful approach to tourism. During my time abroad I took my favourite university module of all time, ‘Transformative Learning and Experiential Integration’ (highly recommend by the way!) which I could write multiple blog posts about. One thing I learnt about was the ‘tourist gaze’. This is a way of seeing that reduces new places to ‘spectacles’, curated for our consumption. By letting go of plans, I was interrupting this gaze. I was never rushing to photograph landmarks, I was aware of my role as a guest in someone else’s everyday life.

Listen

During a solo trip to the Philippines, I befriended a girl who was a seasoned traveller and had done the Southeast Asia route multiple times. I asked for advice for travelling, and expected to hear a long list of ‘must-see’ and ‘must-do’. Instead, she told me to arrive with no plan. This was so validating since this is what I always did. She said her best experiences happened when she arrived in a place and took advice from people local to the area or new friends. I can confirm that sometimes plans are limiting, and keep you from having experiences you didn’t even know existed.

So…

Sit still. Listen. Allow yourself to be changed. You might be surprised what happens when you shift your focus from planning to presence.