Three Significant Reasons to Get up Early While Travelling

Welcome to Focus on the Journey and our first specialty post! In this post, we’ll be discussing the importance of getting up early, while travelling. Over the years we’ve changed our way of thinking when it comes to planning our trips. We used to sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, relax, then decide what to do that day, sound familiar? Well, this can work in some cases depending on the type of trip you’re hoping for, but once we started getting up early, we started to see the benefits pretty quickly! Here are our Three Significant Reasons to get up early while travelling.

1. Better overall Experiences:

Our first reason to get up early while travelling is to get a better overall experience in the places you’ve chosen. Travelling can get expensive, so when you choose your destination and take the time to plan your trip, you want to enjoy your time and get the most out of each day. We try and achieve a balance between relaxation and experiences. Several years ago, we took a trip to Japan and because of our jet lag, we woke up the first several days very early, so decided to take advantage of this extra time and get a jump start on our day. We were pleasantly surprised by how much we could accomplish this early in the morning. Once we got over the jet lag, we were already hooked and there was no going back!

Getting up early made the difference between, walking through the magical Arashiyama Bamboo Grove in Kyoto, Japan with a handful of people, making our experience tranquil and relaxing, to walking through it mid-day shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of other people stopping to take pictures and selfies. By mid-day we were sitting in a restaurant having our lunch, thankful we had already seen the main sites in this area. It also made the difference between sitting in the quiet little seaside village of Vernazza, Italy with a coffee watching the village wake up and seeing a little boy fishing with his grandfather in the inner harbour, (having one of those unforgettable moments), to trying to dodge the crowds of people on our way back up to the train station. It’s those quiet, laid-back times that help you really experience new places. So now we start every day off early and at the most touristy places first, then work our way through some less crowed areas. During late morning or early afternoon, is when we book an activity or tour, then for lunch we choose a place a little off the beaten path and people watch. Around mid to late-afternoon, we usually head back to our accommodations for a swim, rest, shower and get ready for the evening. So, when everyone else is out sight-seeing we have finished our exploring and are relaxing. One of the factors that makes some places so overcrowded during the main part of the day, is the big cruise ships that usually dock between 10:00am to 4:00pm, allowing anywhere from 2,500 to 7,000 people to filter into the towns. This makes a big difference, especially in some of the smaller places. Summed up, less crowds, less stress, more time to relax and truly experience the places you’ve chosen to travel too!

2. Better Photos Opportunities:

My second reason to get up early while travelling is the opportunity for better photos. My favourite thing to do while travelling is to pick a morning in each of the towns we visit, to get up early and just wander around a chosen area to take photos. Sometimes it’s a certain landmark, like the Spanish Steps in Rome, or to explore a neighbourhood like Alfama, in Lisbon or for a sunrise viewing like in Venice from the Ponte dell’Accademia. Visiting these places early in the morning gives you the opportunity to photograph them with less crowds, places can get so overcrowded during the day you can hardly see what you’re trying to photograph. The other reason morning photos are better is the natural light. The lighting in the morning is softer and you can watch the different stages of light as the sun rises. Mid-day light is so much brighter and can be harsh when considering photography. Sunsets have beautiful lighting as well, depending on what you’re taking a photo of, that can work too, but there are usually still less crowds in the morning. If mid-day is your only option for photos, try using the shade to your advantage. Summed up, less chance of crowds in your photos and better overall light.

3. Better Temperatures:

Our third reason to get up early while travelling is to beat the higher temperatures, this mainly applies to the warmer months, but a good thing to take into consideration when planning your day. Whether you’re exploring a city or going for a hike, the temperature can play a big part in the enjoyment of your day. For example, spending the day exploring Rome, in the summer heat, can get quite unbearable, but if you get up early, and choose a few touristy spots to check out each morning you’re there, then do the Vatican or Colosseum tours in the afternoon, where you’re either indoors or at least covered from the sun, it makes a big difference. We also found that the popular hiking trails start to fill up by around 10:00am and continue until later in the afternoon. So, if you go early, you not only beat the heat you also beat the crowds! Some of the hikes that we’ve done have been challenging, with lots of up and down steep hills, rocky, roots, on the side of cliffs and doing this mid-day can get even more challenging with the added heat! Why do we do these hikes you ask? Well usually it’s for the views, the feeling of accomplishment and of course the photo opportunities! Starting your hike off early lets you enjoy some tranquility, cooler temperatures and in some cases a beautiful sunrise. When we were in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, one of the hikes that we did was around Braies Lake, we got there early and were able to take some beautiful photos of the boathouse with the lake, the rowboats all in a line out on the water and of the amazing reflections of the mountains, all before our hike. Mid-day, there are people on the beach, esp. near the boathouse, people on the dock, and in the boats all over the lake, as well as on the hiking trail, and the lighting isn’t as soft. After the photos, we did the short hike around the lake, (practically alone), and then we were back at our accommodation for our included breakfast, giving us lots of time to do another less touristy hike and beautiful mountain drive, during the main part of the day. Summed up, cooler temperatures so you’ll beat the heat, more enjoyable experience and better chance you’ll achieve your goals!

Thank you for your interest in Focus on the Journey with Wild Meadow Studio! If you’ve had a good experience while exploring in the early morning, let us know about it, or if you have any good tips to beat the crowds, we would love to hear from you! Please comment, ask questions, give advice, like, follow, pin, share with friends, anything goes, let’s talk Travel!

Thank you,

From Wild Meadow Studio,
A Travel and Photography Blog
Where we “Focus on the Journey”

By: Beth de Verteuil