If you have a week to go anywhere, it’s tempting to hit as many places as possible.

Check, check, check. Off the bucket list.

It looks great on paper. But what happens to and in your head?

If you’re anything like me, you easily get overwhelmed. You need to spend at least 2 or 3 days in a new place to start making sense of things.

And then the best part comes after that. You feel more present.

So if I have a week, I will choose one place I’m really interested in and then just spend that week there.

Walk through the touristy areas, do some touristy things, of course.

Walk through the residential neighborhoods, get a glimpse of what the life is like.

Spend hours sitting at a cafe and reading a book or simply watching people. Without feeling rushed.

Spend a few days doing planned things and a few days doing whatever comes to mind first.

One week is good enough to both see the city and then realize how much there’s more to see. And hopefully come back someday, to do it all over again.