First, an admission: Until recently I had never, ever taken one of our many hop-on hop-off bus tours.
That’s despite the fact Viator offers them in tons of great locations, like Rome, Paris, New York, London, Barcelona, Florence, Washington DC, etc. But I’ve always looked down my nose at them, thinking they were way too “touristy” for me, and that I could find lots of other ways to get to know a new city without rubbing shoulders with the hoi polloi or getting sunburned on an open-topped bus.
(Editor’s note: strictly speaking, hoi polloi means “the masses” so “the hoi polloi” is a bit redundant. But I’m the Editor and Rod is the Chairman. Say no more.)
Anyway, a few days in New York recently cured me of that elitist view, and now I’m a fully-fledged convert. An evangelist, even. And just so you don’t cling to the same viewpoint, I want to share my new-found awareness, and I’ve put together these five pretty good, possibly even compelling reasons, to take one of these tours next time you have the chance.
1. The Cure for Jet Lag
When you travel you have to do a little, or maybe a lot, of adjusting to ensure you don’t sleep through the best part of the day. Sitting on the top deck of a sightseeing bus is about the best possible thing you can do to defeat jet lag, because it allows the sun to tell your brain it needs to adjust the hour hand on your body clock. I’m not sure how it does that, but believe me, it does. Lesson one: spend your first available time in a new city on a hop-on, hop-off bus, not under the fluorescent lights at the museum!
2. Discover Which Way is Up
Or, more specifically, where is the Lower East Side? The Left Bank? Trafalgar Square? The White House? The Magnificent Mile? Where can I get dry cleaning and breakfast close to the hotel without paying crazy prices? Reason two: these and a million other questions can best be answered from atop your sightseeing bus, not from the subway, a taxi, or a limo!
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