seeing places goes as far that the actual journey (getting from A to B) is the highlight.
It's not about the destination, it's about the journey!!!
Your way of traveling sounds a lot like how I prefer it, especially when travelling with a group. I took my family through South Africa past year, and me having been there previously, I pretty much became the guide and "tour" organiser for that time.
I also enjoy a more spontaneous way of travel:
DoDo:
a good map is always a necessity.
I love maps. Poring over them, hunting for names that make a (un)conscious connection, that awaken an intrigue to see what's there? - to set forth on that whim and find there is generally nothing, or sometimes the rare Columbus: discovering something unique by accident without knowledge in advance.
In 2005 during what I've termed the Chill-Out Tour (after my stressful MSc period) that's what we did in our first days in Germany - and we found Geilenkirchen (not that great) and Marburg (bloody fantastic) and the Edersee (great for hiking). Then we stopped and, well, headed for Prague. Because we felt like it.
Misty gauze on Edersee
The dam holding the Edersee was one of those successfully hit by the "Dambusters" in 1943. So I went to the "Edersee" and "Operation Chastise" pages. But I found that the Wiki articles were wrong in their account of victims in the floods caused (an error which, shame shame, goes back to a BBC article), now corrected. *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
