When looking at a destination; What Do You Look For?

If you've decided you want to see a place, and ever find yourself planning your visit on Google; if you ever do that, and even run out of things to do...

What types of businesses, do you look for?

It could be anything, retail, service, anything.

Is there any type of business you find when looking that you wasn't looking for, but thought would be fun?/Something to do?

I look for guitar shops, if I run out of things to see and I've booked a trip, I'm looking for those, maybe buy something as a memento of the place.
I'm also looking for places to eat.

I always find these things, with some destinations fairing better than others for these finds, and I always find a Spa?
Found one looking at Springfield, OR, USA on google when working out what to do there for 2 weeks (I deduced 1 week was enough and see America a bit and check out something else random while in that country next to Milwaukee in the end), for Springfield, OR, next to Eugene, OR, a few hours from Portland, OR (like 2 or 3 hours on a Greyhound close).
Things I found in Oregon that I thought about (that's family friendly, because they have a lot of strip clubs there)...
..
Those guitar shops and luthiers even.
Spa
Tool shop (I work in Construction in the UK, so, why not an American grade, US style hard hat, to take home/ship home from America to me in London)...
I then found attractions which were unique to the place and I still want to visit, but as far as shopping went, maybe go clothes shopping where the locals went and sport that style be it camo or urban or whatever the locals are wearing to fill up a suitcase of mementos, because 'Merica! but yeah.

Of course, places to eat for me was going to be the treat as the American menu of everything, every US fast food joint in England we now have and every one we didn't, every local / regional place to eat too (Dari Mart)...

(That's the bucket list trip).

Whitby, England.
I'm not a man of many means who has to get a B1/B2 visa who's a temp worker at best, America is not looking affordable to me anymore, however, I know what I have to do and America never said no, never; they said, no, you have to come back 'to the embassy in London' with this this and that having this this and that before I can go to America again; so I know what I have to do, to see America, and one will lead to the other, like, having a full time job will afford me the funds, but back then I was studying funded by a student loan, so, I still know what I've got to do, for America).
However, we're in a pandemic and UK's hinting at/planning to ease restrictions on travel for non essential further than local.

Whitby....

Whitby...

It's so far away from me in England, and off the beaten track a bit that, I'm looking to spend some time up there, maybe 3 nights, because even an over night stay won't justify the long journey, for me, so I can use it as an opportunity to actually see the place while I'm up there, enjoy the place.
So I see the attractions I want to see... That's 1 day (if that)...
I see attractions that I don't interest me/float my boat, but they'd be there.
...
So I'm looking at things to do, again, in a place I want to go, so far, like Springfield, OR.

I found 1 guitar shop.
That's 1 more than I'm guaranteed, so it's perfect.
I also found a Spa in a place near Whitby.

When I find a Spa, and think 'well that could be coo', I've ran out of things to do.

As for things to eat, Whitby, boasts Fish and Chips, so, at least one meal, Fish and Chips.

Thankfully and ironically, it's the UK/England so, I'm not even leaving my country for this one, and they have a big Tesco there I'm told and that'll help me with my club card points; I mean, I'm able to survive from my Tescos (and whatnot) down here in Croydon, I'm sure I could meal deal it in Whitby if find a room that hasn't got self catering, if I do, oven pizza maybe.

What do you search for when looking for things to do in a destination?
What have you found?

[ Edit: Edited on 3 Apr 2021, 16:26 GMT by Trebor Illusion ]

>Whitby... It's so far away from me in England,

Oh come on! Whitby's only 250 miles from London! And it's hardly 'off-the-beaten-track': it's always heaving with visitors in the spring/summer/early autumn months and is completely rammed for the Goth and Steampunk weekends.

And there are loads of places to eat in Whitby. You won't be limited to fish & chips or Tesco!

>What do you search for when looking for things to do in a destination?

Historical and archaeological sites and sights. If the place is in or near the countryside or coast I look for good walks. I also check restaurants, bars, pubs, supermarkets and markets near to where I'm staying.

>What have you found?

A multitude of wonderful historical & archaeological sites & sights, many excellent walks, lots of good food...and many, many nice people. I've been to 39 countries so far and not one has disappointed me.

"When looking at a destination; What Do You Look For?"

-

Weather, cost and safety.

I can fill in the rest with research.

I look and see if I have been there before. No means yes. I want to see every country in the world. The nice virus from Wuhan has made a mess of my plans.....

Quoting leics2

>Whitby... It's so far away from me in England,

Oh come on! Whitby's only 250 miles from London! And it's hardly 'off-the-beaten-track':

It's easier to get to Berlin or Paris or Amsterdam etc, than Whitby, until someone starts an express train from London or an express train from Teeside Airport (MME) from Whitby, Whitby is harder to get to than New York City.. Could fly to JFK in 7 hours some 3, 000 miles away; you're lucky to make Whitby in 8 hours and that's 250 miles away you say. It's off the beaten track.

Quoting Trebor Illusion

It's easier to get to Berlin or Paris or Amsterdam etc, than Whitby, until someone starts an express train from London or an express train from Teeside Airport (MME) from Whitby, Whitby is harder to get to than New York City.. Could fly to JFK in 7 hours some 3, 000 miles away; you're lucky to make Whitby in 8 hours and that's 250 miles away you say. It's off the beaten track.

That's a very London-centric view. For me it's a case of hopping in the car for a couple of hours. You just live in a place that's poorly connected for Whitby.

It's also tosh. NY is 7hrs flight time yes, but you're conveniently ignoring the overhead - try comparing door to door time for a genuine comparison.

New York, Paris, etc, are irrelevant anyway - right now you probably can't get to them for months.

You're also missing the point that Whitby is different in nature to those others. Yes they have fast travel connections for the city types, but when you get there you're just in another city. Meh. There's a lot to see beyond cities, and the fact that they don't have quick links that are only economic when a billion people are traveling that route also means that there aren't a billion people there.

[ Edit: fix typo ]

To be honest, I'm not sure what your point is? If you want to go to Whitby why are you complaining that it isn't a quick journey?

Not everyone lives in London. Whitby is no more difficult to get to than many, many other places in the UK...and, if you have no car, it's very considerably easier to get to than the many, many places which have neither train nor long-distance bus services.

>you're lucky to make Whitby in 8 hours

You're wrong about that.

London Kings Cross > Whitby by train takes from 5h 5m, which includes 2 changes of train. That's 5h5m from centre to centre.

London KC > York by train takes from 1h 56m + York > Whitby by bus takes less than 2 hours. Even if you have to wait for a bus that's less than 5 hours.

Even allowing time for you to travel from where you live in London to KC I really can't see how you can say 'you're lucky to make Whitby in 8 hours'?

>Could fly to JFK in 7 hours some 3, 000 miles away;

London to NYC takes roughly 7 hours flight plus a) an absolute minimum 1hr for check-in/security/getting to gate c) 20-30 minutes to de-plane on arrival d) an absolute minimum of an hour to get to and through border control/Customs (more usually a couple of hours) plustravel time to and from the airports (at least 45 mins to get from either NYC airport into Manhattan). I know: I've done it numerous times.

[ Edit: Edited on 8 Apr 2021, 07:34 GMT by leics2 ]

Whitby:

Quoting DAOonVT

Whitby:

Oh you've ruined it now, it won't be a surprise for Trebor any more!