We’ve all read or seen The Beach and dreamt of travelling to a secret, as-yet-undiscovered location. But without a crazy map-drawing Scotsman to point you in the right direction, how do you find such a place?

A guidebook does of course have its uses, but Lonely Planet guides and the like have become both a blessing and a curse to travellers the world over. If it’s in the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide you can pretty much guarantee it’s ok. But you can also pretty much guarantee it will be rammed and on its way to being passé before you’ve even arrived.

So what’s the alternative to the trusty guidebook? After all, most of us have jobs and homes to get back to at some point, so although the prospect of journeying into the unknown might appeal, it’s also not all that practical.

Here are a few ideas to help you stay off the beaten track:

1. Don’t be lazy… Whenever you have a spare moment during the months or weeks leading up to your next trip (or even if you haven’t yet got a holiday in the diary) surf the net, and be sure to read the travel sections in the Sunday papers
2. Read books – and not just travel guides. Far fewer people read the more lengthy books written by travel writers. So pop down to your local bookshop and hunt out the meatier travel books (and don’t just go the night before you travel – give yourself a decent amount of quality reading time)
3. Don’t make travel plans that are too rigid: you might hear about another guesthouse / village / island while you’re staying in the hotel you’d planned to stay at for a week, so wouldn’t it be great to just jet off there? Try to stick to relaxed hotels that aren’t completely booked up, so you can be a bit flexible about how long you stay, and don’t plan out every day of your trip in detail
4. Be open to meeting new people, and especially locals. Try out the restaurants and bars that are full of friendly locals, even if it isn’t listed in your guide book and getting there means walking that little bit further. Provided you speak some of the local language (and sometimes even if you don’t – a smile can go a long way and it’s amazing how much you can understand from a picture scribbled on a napkin) you’ll be sure to hear about some undiscovered gem just around the corner. But shhh – don’t shout about it in the hotel bar when you get back!
5. Read any travel guides or books that others have left in the hotel or hostel where you’re staying – their former owners may have left scribbled recommendations next to the printed list of ‘must-see’ places where everyone else will be headed tomorrow
6. Stay in touch with people you meet whenever you’re traveling – not only will you make lots of new friends, you’ll also hear first-hand about all the cool places they go to next and you’ll have a local to show you around when you’re in their neck of the woods.

Labels: avoid the tourist trail, local travel secrets