Want the best vacation? Prepare to talk to strangers.

It happens all the time. It happens at the barbershop. It happens at the park. It happened when my boss and I traveled down to Thackerville for the recent TravelOK Days events that took place across the state.

“Where do you work?”

“Oh, I work for Oklahoma Today, we’re the official state travel and tourism magazine.”

“Wow, I wish I had your job!”

Everybody thinks they’d like to work for a travel magazine. Everyone thinks our jobs are nothing but hotel room stays and fancy meals and road trips, but they don’t see my coworkers with their heads pressed against their desks, a low, rumbling moan of frustration emanating from their mouths as they try desperately to find the right words to put some small corner of the Oklahoma experience into print.

It's no mystery: the people who know a city best are the ones who live there. Photo by Pixabay

But that’s every job, right? The grass is always greener and all that. There are upsides and downsides to every vocation. Besides, I think what people are really envious of isn’t the work of writing, editing, and publishing a travel magazine, it’s the knowledge that comes with it.

Want to know about great Italian restaurants in Oklahoma? Managing Editor Karlie Ybarra is keeping track. Interested in a one-of-a-kind vacation rental in a treehouse or an arcade or a luxury cabin? Photo Editor Megan Rossman knows a ton of them.

But it’s not like we are born knowing this stuff. It’s not even in the welcome packet we gave to our new Research Editor Ben Luschen. The key to your very best vacation is experience is one of the toughest: you gotta talk to people.

Despite our general awkwardness in social situations, the one trick we’ve all mastered is the ability to embarrass ourselves by asking for help from complete strangers. Maybe they’re in the lobby of the bed and breakfast we’re writing about or sitting on the stool next to ours at the diner we’re exploring for a possible story. The best resource for making the most of your vacation are the people who know the area best: the residents.

Which isn’t to downgrade the Oklahoma Today archives or TravelOK.com, both of which we frequently use as resources, but the truth is, most of our information comes from walking around and talking to strangers. (Hint: Do not offer them candy. It carries a stigma.) As the saying goes, a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.

Greg Elwell picks the bison's brain for restaurant recommendations at the Thackerville Travel Center. Photo by Nathan Gunter

That’s also not to say you shouldn’t do any planning when you travel. Even we don’t drop into unknown cities without a place to stay and a general idea of what to do when we get there, but if you plan every single moment, you rob yourself of the ability to discover something new.

If you’re too shy to ask a stranger on the street or to strike up a conversation with someone in the next booth over, start with waiters and waitresses or the staff at your hotel/motel/Holiday Inn. These folks are an untapped vein of great information. They’ll know if that burger place you’ve been eying really has the best fries in the state or if the museum you’re considering visiting is worth the time. But I promise you, it only takes one good experience to change the way you approach travel. When you finally tap into the vast knowledge base of locals, a new world opens up to you, even if that world is just an hour down the road.

Written By

Greg Elwell

Greg Elwell served as research editor and web editor of Oklahoma Today from 2018-2023. He also has worked for newspapers, medical research organizations, and government institutions.