Global Yodel: PHOTOS: Day Trips Put Cities In Context

When we travel, we often focus solely on our destination. The sights. The museums. The bars.

But sometimes we get the best perspective of a location by leaving it. By venturing beyond the city limits we get a different view of a destination’s past: the people who founded it, the rock it was carved from, the events that shaped its values and culture.

Even the best history museums can’t replicate driving 15 minutes from a developing country’s capital to a village that was part of another country just a generation ago. All the books about the resiliency of a city’s people pale compared to hiking the desolate mountains their ancestors crossed centuries before. And the stories your friends you meet along the way tell about their childhoods become richer when you smell the dinner cooking in their native villages.

Savvy travelers know the most authentic way to experience a destination is by replicating the life of the locals. And while it’s important to know where they go to eat and drink and be and do, it’s also valuable to find out where they go to escape.

Here at Global Yodel, we’ve rounded up eight photos that show us where residents of destinations around the world go when they need a little perspective.

– Helen Anne Travis

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• Dog Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge, Washington side

  Photographer a href=”http://globalyodel.com/yodel/dog-mountian/” target=”_hplink”Amanda Leigh Smith/a treks 45-minutes from Portland to the Dog Mountain hiking trail for the panoramic views of the Columbia River and Cascade Mountains. “It’s one of my favorite places outside of Portland to go.”

• Lao Wei, Taiwan

  Just an hour from the dense Taipei City, you are reminded that Taiwan is a
  tropical island with geological wonders that make you feel like you’re
  on the moon, said Taipei resident a href=”http://globalyodel.com/yodel/strange-planet/” target=”_hplink”Sean Marc Lee/a.

• The Boatel on Jamaica Bay in Far Rockaway

  The Boatel, an artist-run hotel built from discarded boats on the docks of Marina 59, is defined by contrasts says Brooklyn resident a href=”http://globalyodel.com/yodel/the-boatel/” target=”_hplink”Tristan Wheelock/a. Just 10 miles from JFK, the planes fly directly overhead causing a “weird mix of nature and urbanism.”

• Suomenlinna Sea Fortress Island, Finland

  To escape the drizzle of Helsinki, a href=”http://globalyodel.com/yodel/between-summer-and-snow/” target=”_hplink”Wilma Hurskainen/a takes the 15-minute ferry ride to the island of Suomenlinna. Here there’s still drizzle, but there’s also a historical sea fortress built in the 18th century to fortify the Swedish Empire.

• Zemun, Serbia

  Belgrade, Serbia resident a href=”http://globalyodel.com/yodel/danube-riverbank/” target=”_hplink”Matt Lutton/a says the city is “still quaking” after the
  breakup of Yugoslavia. For reprieve he travels 15 minutes to a stretch
  of the Danube riverbank in the municipality of Zemun.

• Ben Dubh, in Luss, Scotland

  a href=”http://globalyodel.com/yodel/loch-lomand/” target=”_hplink”Richard Gaston/a lives near Glasgow, Scotland. He loves his country’s diverse landscape. “You can be looking at a beautiful remote loch and in half an hour’s drive, you can be in a vibrant city full of people.”

• Hanging Rock, Australia

• Hanging Rock, Australia

  In high school photographer a href=”http://globalyodel.com/yodel/picnic-at-hanging-rock/” target=”_hplink”Megan Cullen/a read the book emPicnic at Hanging Rock/em. When she moved to Melbourne the lava formations where her top day trip destination. They sit just an hour’s drive from the city.

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Global Yodel: PHOTOS: Day Trips Put Cities In Context