Are Tourist Traps Worth it?

Are Tourist Traps Worth It?

We’re back on the road and settling into our East Coast stretch after leaving Texas over a month ago. Right now, we’re spending some time in Florida, and along the way, we’ve been thinking a lot about one big question… are tourist traps actually worth it?

At the same time, Misty just released her third book and her first fiction title, which makes this season of travel feel a little extra special.

In this episode, we talk about what we consider a “tourist trap” and why the answer isn’t as simple as yes or no. Some of these places are popular for a reason. But when you’re traveling full-time, especially with kids, the crowds, long lines, and higher prices can quickly take the fun out of it.

We share how timing and planning can completely change the experience. Visiting during off-peak hours, doing a little research ahead of time, and knowing what to expect can make all the difference.

Using Silver Springs State Park as an example, we talk through how even well-known spots can still be enjoyable when approached the right way.

We also share why we like to balance those bigger, well-known stops with quieter, local experiences that often end up being the most memorable parts of a trip.

We’re not anti-tourist… we’re just learning how to travel in a way that feels slower, more intentional, and a whole lot more enjoyable.

Transcript

 We are the Essary family and we're exploring America one destination at a time. Today on TravelEssary, we are going to ask ourselves the question, are tourist traps worth it? Let's chat.

 Well, welcome and thank you for joining us on this episode as we talk about our Taurus traps worth it. But before we get into that, we do want to say thank you to everyone who is listening. Thank you for tuning in. If you haven't listened to any of our other podcasts, go back and listen to 'em it's full of information

and then check out all of our social media platforms and we are on. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Patreon. Come us out at TravelEssary and it's all one word. And then there is a lot that has happened since the last time we've given kind of a short. Little life update. Yeah, things have been quite busy for us lately.

We went two whole weeks without releasing anything because I was working on getting my third book published, and it is finally done, and I'm so happy. So happy. This was by far the most challenging one because it's a little different than the others two that I have published. But yeah, this one is my first.

Fiction book that I have published, and it is going to be part of a series. So I am already starting book two in the series and I'm super thrilled. It's only been released for what, a week now? For about a week? About a week, and have my first five star review, which I'm super happy about because it's not a friend or family.

It's a complete stranger, and . It's going so well on Kindle Unlimited. I am thrilled with the response that it's gotten, and I just hope that it continues to pick up, especially once I release these other books. But that's why we kind of took a hiatus for a little bit because I was so busy.

Pretty much morning. Till I lay my head in the pillow at night. And even then some, my brain was still spinning, but I was just working on this nonstop. Well, and there was also a lot of other things that were happening in the background while she was working on that. Uh, we did a lot of traveling. A lot.

We've, we've put a lot of miles. Behind us and one of the biggest updates is, I know we kind of hinted at this last time because we were in Arkansas and we were, were out of Texas. We were officially, officially out of Texas, a long ways away from Texas now, but. We are not even in the surrounding states from Texas.

We have actually started our East coast trip. Yes. Right now we are coming at you in sunny Florida where it is beautiful, beautiful and gorgeous. And we've been out of Texas for a month now. A month. A little over a month. A little over a month. So we've already covered, um, my goodness. All the different states we've been to, uh, of course

in Texas, went to Arkansas, drove through Tennessee. Well, Mississippi. So you have a state that I don't, and I have a state that you don't because I didn't go through Tennessee and I did go through Oklahoma. So, 'cause we traveled different ways. So I went through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama. Yes.

'cause you came in from the west side And I came in from the south side. Mm-hmm. , So. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and now Florida. Florida. And yes, we're gonna go back through, Georgia on our way up the east coast, going into the Carolinas and up even further. North than that, the furthest north that any of us have been.

We are all gonna go as a family together. So super excited about that. That is coming up later in this year, so make sure that you stay attuned to all of our podcasts and all of our social medias about everything that is going on, because man, there is a lot to cover and unfortunately we will not cover it all in this season.

Mm-hmm. But we will cover it. In the next season for sure. Yeah. At least during this year for sure. Yes. Um, right now we have not been to any states that are new for us every, so we visited so far. We have been in vacationed and or traveled through right before, but here, very soon we will be traveling in places that kids and I have never been.

Right. That we have not been as a family. Yes. And I'm so excited about that. But you know, even as many times as we. Been in Florida, we're experiencing parts of Florida we've never experienced before, which I cannot wait to tell you guys about. We have an episode coming up this season that's gonna be all about the unknown, the lesser known places of Florida, and how fantastic it is.

Something beyond the theme parks and the beaches, right? Get past Orlando Tampa. And Miami and the theme parks, they're, oh my goodness. There's so stuff that we didn't even know about and we've been here a lot. Like I've always loved Florida. It's always been my favorite place to visit, but now that we're here for two full months, I love it even more.

It's gonna be hard to leave. , Yes, I wanna go up the East Coast and all these places I've never been, but Florida has just been. So wonderful. But yeah, so that is where we are right now. What's been going on with us. We are continuing to create our content. I do apologize for the little pause, but it was very much needed so I could get some of this work done and get my book out, which if you wanna check that out, I will put the.

Down in the show notes and the name, and of course, by Misty Essary. All you have to do is search it on Amazon, on Kindle Unlimited and hopefully soon on Audible. So we're working through all of that and we'll keep you guys updated. But to. Today we wanna talk about the tourist traps, and I thank us being here in Florida.

This is the perfect time to talk about this. Florida is definitely one that is saturated with tourist traps. Yes, absolutely. Okay, so. We're gonna take this. I mean, you know us, we're, we're always on the fence. Our tourist trap's worth it. Yes they are. And no, they're not. I was about to say, no, they're not.

Yes they are. And no, they're not. And we're gonna talk about. Why? Yes. And why no. I think the first thing that we need to do is kind of help identify what is a tourist trap? What is a tourist trap? Because some people are like, oh, that's a tourist trap whenever It's not really a tourist trap. So to me, personally, what I consider a tourist trap is something that is heavily advertised.

Mm-hmm. And inundated with people that are not from that area, non-locals. So to me, that is the tourist trap. It is extremely, extremely advertised and it is full of non-locals. Or those things that, it's just kind of a niche.

I mean, we went to a tourist trap yesterday. Well, okay, don't get into that . Not yet. Not yet. We're gonna talk about that. So , kind of that niche that they really lean into. Mm-hmm. That is all about trying to sell non-locals some type of good experience. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So the first thing, our tourist trap's worth it.

Yes. When you go at the right time, but no. When you go at the wrong time. So by right and wrong time, this could mean several different things. One of the main things is the season that you go in. Absolutely. So we'll take yesterday what we did. For instance, we went to Silver Spring State Park here in Florida, , which is absolutely beautiful.

The most beautiful state park I've ever been in the most well maintained. State park that I have ever been to. There's been a lot of state parks that we have gone to that kind of let nature just take over and they don't lean into the history or , any kind of adventures or events that are happening there.

But it was a absolutely gorgeous park.

Yeah, it was an absolutely beautiful park. However, it is pretty heavily advertised. If you go on Google and you're like, what can I do in this area? Things to do in this area, that is the first things that pops up because they have. All kinds of tours. They have glass, bottom boat tours, kayak tours, hiking tours, nature tours.

They have all these things. They even have gift shops and stuff. Mm-hmm. In the state park, which I've never been to a state park quite like that. They had like restaurants and gift shops and all these places. It, it really felt like I was walking into a zoo or a theme park at Definitely first. Definitely, definitely felt like a zoo.

Yeah, when you first walked in and then it, you know, got more rustic, I guess, as you went through it. Yeah, but we went in the beginning of spring, which I felt was a great time to go because it wasn't insanely packed yet. I imagine in the summer when all the kids were outta school and all the families are camping and doing all of their.

Summer activities at places really, really crowded. I also very specifically picked a time of day, which I did not think would be that crowded, and I did my research and I highly suggest that if you're going to do any type of big, major touristy, anything that you research, what time of the year and what time of the day have the least amount of crowds.

because if you go when it's insanely crowded, it is far, far less enjoyable. You are dodging people, you're waiting in lines. I'm not gonna say you have an unpleasant experience, but the experience, it's not the same. It's not the same when it's super crowded.

And , here's the worst part of it all is, , we're trying to tell you not to go during their peak seasons or, , to find a place that has the least amount of people there. Right? You're still gonna enjoy it with the white, right weather and everything else, but it doesn't matter.

Know anywhere you go that. You know, those peak season or those, the things that the tour that tourist traps get you because they're so crowded is the time that everyone else is off. Mm-hmm. Spring break, holiday breaks, summertime, those are the big times that weekends. Holiday weekends. Yes. I mean, we have one coming up that's gonna be huge.

Mm-hmm. Um, and we're not gonna go anywhere. Yeah. People are gonna go on vacation, they're gonna get out, they wanna do things and you know. If that's the time that you have, unfortunately you have to deal with it, but we're telling you that how to avoid the big crowds is not always going to the tourist traps.

I think if that is the only time that you have to go do things with your family, then you should not do the tourist, big tourist trap destinations because there are. Other things you can do. So many others that are far less advertised and far less crowded, that can actually be way more enjoyable. But if you are able to do it on an off time of the day or off time of the year, off time of the week, then then I think they're worth it at those times.

Absolutely. You get more of your money's worth when you go and it's not. In a peak time of the day or peak season, like we can definitely tell you just because we've been there from our personal experience, Disney World, we can tell you when to go. Is it always gonna be crowded? Are people always going to be there?

Yes. They don't really have like a true lull season where the park is mostly empty. There's gonna be people get that go all the time because the entire world goes to Disney World. But there are certain times that you can go, that you can enjoy a whole bunch of other things besides just the main theme park of Magic Kingdom, that you don't have to mess with crowds or that you know it's not gonna be jammed packed because it has a certain theme or season going on.

And we're not just talking about theme parks and you know. Any kind of park in general, even if there is a scenic thing that you want, I'm thinking like Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon things that, those are big touristy destinations. . They're heavily advertised and they're always packed.

And I was reading an article the other day of the people, they were somewhere in the Grand Canyon. It's one of the most popular views. And they said there was like a 30 to 45 minute wait in line for this one spot, one picture for people to get the perfect picture. And if you want to avoid things like that, go at the right time.

No, you don't wanna go. And it's like cold and snowy and. I mean, I, again, not one to be miserable, but even if you pick the time of the day, if you go there like at sunrise, or if you're going there in the mornings or much later in the afternoons, , then you are far more likely to see less.

Crowding. If you go in the late mornings to the early afternoon, that's when everything is the most crowded. I don't care what you're doing, where you're going, that's when everything is the most crowded because that's when people are up in at 'em, especially when you have families that they have kids and they're sleeping in and then they have to take 'em home.

They have this very short window of the day where the kids are even halfway cooperative and you have to do what you can in this short time span. And so if you go. Early morning, late afternoon, early evening. I think those are the best times , to get out before the crowds do. The other thing that I will say is sometimes you don't get an opportunity to pick , the day and the time that you get to go.

I'm gonna be very specific about this. The United States of America, 250th birthday, July 4th Uhhuh. It is gonna be so packed. Yeah. In the Washington DC, New York, Pennsylvania, w. Virginia, West Virginia, all those places are gonna be jammed packed, and that's where we're gonna be, and that is where we're going.

But we're gonna do our absolute best not to get caught up with some of the tourist things that are happening. Mm-hmm. And so not being it does take pre-planning it, it does in forethought. You know, you have to have some forethought that goes into it so that you can research. , When is the peak times for this event or this scenic view or whatever, when is the most crowded time so that whenever I go, I can get the best for my experience?

And then also , there are things that you want to see on your vacation, and you have a short little time in a short little window. Of getting to see those, you know, like we plan to go to Washington DC this year and we only have a very short window that we're gonna be able to get in and out.

And so there's certain things that we wanna see and so we don't wanna spend all of our time. Here's the biggest thing. We don't wanna spend all of our time, we. In lines. Yeah. I feel like, like I said, you're not really getting your money's worth if you're doing something that costs money, and then I feel like you're wasting your day if you're only getting to do, you know, two things because you spent the entire time in a line.

Right. Or waiting, waiting for something, or having to be at a specific spot for a reservation. Yeah. And you can't miss it. It's an non-refundable and , you're there 30 minutes before , maybe if you're a solo traveler, or even if you're a couple and you have all the time in the world on your hands and you don't mind waiting, that's not a big deal.

But for most of the people that listen to this podcast, you have a family and it is hard as a family and with Littles to stand there, or even as a big group, there's always gonna be someone in a big group of more than three or four people who. Is hungry or gets to go to the bathroom. Yes. Or they're just cranky 'cause they didn't get enough sleep.

And it's harder the bigger the group you have. So that reminds me real quick. Yesterday we were, , we went on the glass bottom boat And we were loading into ours, but someone came, , he had just purchased his food. , He came in and they checked out of the, one of the restaurants and he got hungry in line and he went to go get.

Food. You can't take your food on the boats. Mm-hmm. And so , they actually had to wait another 45 minutes to get on, I think the third boat later. 'cause by God he was hungry. Because he was hungry. He couldn't stand in line. I think it was like 10 minutes we stood in line. Yeah. But it was also one of those things that.

If this was peak season and all those boat tours were already filled. Oh, he wouldn't have been able to ride anything. Yeah. Either he has to put his food to the side or he doesn't go on a tour that day. Right. And if that's his only day to do that, he misses out on it because Right. Some, anyways, that was just a really funny thing that happened.

I was, I was really dumbfounded whenever I was like, what is, why did you go do that dude? Like it's a 30 minute tour. You couldn't wait. 30 minutes to go get your food. Like even my 2-year-old was managing just fine. It was crazy. It's funny, but there's always that one person there is, there's always that one person, and so if you don't want to spend your time doing the least amount of things, then you have to really pre-plan those tourist traps out.

I feel like if you do your planning correctly and you go at the correct times, then I do believe they're worth it because. Like we said, we went to one yesterday and we had a amazing experience. We loved it. And there's also , those times where, especially if you're there for two or three days or a week and you have a very short timeframe, , in my opinion, there are certain things that it doesn't matter the law.

It doesn't matter what you have to wait. I don't agree with that. It's worth seen. I don't agree with that. , I believe there's some No, I don't agree , with that. It's very few and far between because I have a 2-year-old and there is nothing I'm going to put above his comfort, his safe. D his, whatever it is.

If it comes between standing in line and doing this one thing that I may only get to do one time or dealing with a meltdown from my 2-year-old, I will always choose to go and make sure my 2-year-old is taken care of. Now, there will be in a time in our lives where that won't be an issue, but as a parent of a young toddler, I understand there is nothing that is always worth it because if you're miserable when you get.

There and you're miserable the whole time you're experiencing it, it's not going to be a good experience. So I don't agree with that because I feel like if you go at the right times and when things, you know line up and you have a wonderful experience, then that is what makes it worth it. I totally agree with you, but , for some of our listeners, there might be the one time they get to go on their dream vacation.

And this is what, this is the one thing that they want to do, and they're, then I suggest you plan it at a time, plan it, plan it at a time where it's not crowded and it's not crazy expensive. But if it's your only time to do this one thing and it only happens once in your lifetime, then in my opinion, enjoy it to its absolute fullest.

I'm just, I have a different opinion than that. We can agree to disagree on that one. Well, let me, lemme throw a scenario at you. No, no, no. You're gonna go on 10 stories too high. No, just this one. You get to meet your star. Jesus. Yes, I'm gonna meet Jesus regardless. I don't know., I believe there are just a very few, and, I'm talking about very few, like one or two things that I'd be like, look, we're standing in this line, and no matter what happens, happens. Yeah, I don't have that mindset at all.

The one thing in this world that I want to do is we're doing it and I'm doing it with my children, and to me that is the experience, the experiences. Outside of that, those are just things. And if I'm not happy and my kids aren't happy, to me, they're not worth it. That's coming. As a mom, maybe that's the difference between a mom view and a dad view.

So it depends on who's listening to this of , how they view that. But there is another scenario and when Taurus traps are worth it, . If you do a touristy thing on your vacation or your trip, but you pair it with a lot of nont touristy destinations or experiences, then it can be worth it.

But if you're doing tourist trap after tourist trap, after tourist trap, and you're trying to squeeze all of these big, insane experiences in a short amount of time. It's not worth it. It's not worth it for so many reasons. And , a lot of 'em we have covered in other podcasts, but , you're going to wear yourself out. Yeah. You're gonna wear yourself out. You're not gonna be able to do near as much stuff, near as much. It's not gonna be enjoy as enjoyable as you, you dream it to be. And , coming from people who travel a lot and do things like this,, I can tell you, especially with children of any age, even our teenagers, when we do big thing after big thing, after big thing day after day after day, we start getting exhausted.

Did we start getting underwhelmed? Those experiences are not as. Meaningful. I, I guess not as meaningful, not as magical or fascinating as they should have been. And then we don't ever want to hit those places ever again. But whenever we take and do, say, like what we did yesterday, we took one big tour experience, and then we did the minor things.

Also that day, I didn't spend the entire day in that one big tourist experience. We went and did other things as well, and it gave us time to breathe. It gave us time to slow down. It gave us time to get out of the crowds, out of the chaos. And I feel like when you're constantly surrounded by crowds and cues and you know, all this big, big stuff thrown in your face all the time, that it becomes overwhelming.

 . So yeah, I just think that tour straps to me take so much more planning to enjoy than regular. Regular, I don't wanna say regular than other, smaller or, , different adventures and experiences. We kind of teach this and we live it , to the best of our ability.

But whenever you can enjoy the culture that you're around and do what , the local people do there, , it's a little bit more enjoyable because the reason that the locals are there is because they enjoy it. Mm-hmm. It's not a tourist trip yeah, we are by no means like anti tourist destinations. No, not at all. We love a lot of our tourist destinations. We love Disney World.

We love the tourist destination we went to yesterday. There are things that the little tourist traps we love to go and do, but we're just very cautious of how we plan to have those experiences because we have done those experiences at times where they were miserable. And nothing makes me more sad when people go to places like that.

Like places that should be awesome and meaningful and just a fantastic experience. They're like, we had a terrible time. And then whenever I hear why they had a terrible time is because there was not enough. Forethought that went into it. There wasn't enough, , exploration of the best times to go and things like that.

And so all the things they tell me is, it was hot, it was crowded, it was expensive. It was this, it was that. I'm like, okay. But did you do any type of research before you decided to go and have this experience? Because I, I think that's. A big part of any kind of travel is research, and if you're one of those last minute people, , you're gonna have as good as time as the effort you put into planning it.

Mm. I guess that'd be a good way of doing it. Well, yeah. I mean, for most people you do have those people that . They have great personalities and they're super happy, upbeat people and nothing gets to them, and they're gonna go do this experience and that's great. You wanna do it at the drop of a hat in the crowded season and love every minute of it.

It's probably because you don't have any kids going with you. But, but fantastic. Go do that. If you can do that. But if you're not that kind of a person or you are going with children, and by children I mean anyone under the age of 25, then maybe you need to put a little bit of planning into that process.

So that is our thoughts when it comes to tourist traps. We're not anti tourist traps. We're just anti crowded tourist traps. Anti crowded or anti. Too much. Too much. Too much. There are so many amazing experiences, and I've said this before, I'm pretty sure on this.

Podcast somewhere, but Jeremy and I were just talking about it the other day. Some of our favorite experiences are the ones where we just kind of meander into the unknown when we accidentally stumble upon a hidden gem, something that's not advertised, it's not out there, and we stumble upon it due to certain circumstances that happened that day.

And then we have a fantastic time and create beautiful memories there so much more than we do in the big touristy areas. So I, I don't believe you should inundate your vacation and your travels just with a big tourist trap like. Don't think like an influencer, and you gotta go to all these big well named places and well named things, you know, enjoy , the hidden gems and the local things as well.
 are all tourist traps bad? No, I don't know how many times we've actually said that.  Some of 'em are really good. Some of them are definitely, definitely not worth it. And then some of them are absolutely worth it.

And we believe that if you just plan to the best of your ability and. Take into consideration the group that you're going with, that you are, you're gonna have a amazing, wonderful time, but do your absolute best not to get trapped,