It can be tempting to spread yourself too thin when you travel, wanting to pack every moment of waking life with experiencing what there is to offer. This was typically my approach when I'd travel to Europe; seeing everything I could and often leaving feeling I'd missed something, or worse, hadn't really enjoyed what I was seeing because I spent the whole time rushing around. After three weeks staying in the same hotel in Paris, I realized that I could have stayed in that city an entire month and not seen and done everything I wanted. However, if you're taking the trip across Europe, or you have a one-day stopover in some city, there are ways to make sure you tailor the day to your liking, and enjoy what time you have there. Lonely Planet recently published a list of questions to serve as a guideline for planning your day if you're short on time.

"Know Thyself" is not just a great piece of advice from Socrates, but it's also a good rule of thumb when traveling. I'm not a morning person. Therefore, I try not to plan anything too early or I end up wandering around in a fog for the first few hours. (A good espresso might help.) As Jane Atkin writes for LP, "Factor in your morning personality. If you’re a ’Hey, you’re missing the best part of the day!’ early bird, you’re going to have a bit more time up your sleeve, but if you’re a natural night owl, it may take a little more of that precious time to get going." In addition, you want to take stock of your interests before hand. If you're a history buff, it might be a good idea to find a significant historical landmark and really spend some time there, rather than trying to visit five or six with little actual depth at any. If you're a shopper or a culture-holic, check out the more metropolitan locations where you can interact more. If you're a name-dropper, ask around to find a great out-of-the-way location that you can stop at after a quick drive-by of the more well-known places that you can read more about in a book.

Account for incidentals. Weather, travel time, crowds, cost; all of these factors can affect the little time you have to make the most of your day. Atkin writes, "Do some seasonal research beforehand so you can have a rough idea of what to expect and have a couple of Plan Bs in your back pocket." Rainy days mean indoor markets, tours of grand palaces, or perhaps cooking or painting lessons from local experts. Likewise with crowds, you might need to get up early, or push back a lunch hour, to avoid the masses and get through more quickly. Overall, be flexible and do a little research to make the most of what little time you might have, even if it means getting up a little early. I will say standing in line for 30 min. beneath the Eiffel Tower at 7:00 AM beat waiting in line for four hours. No espresso needed that morning. The view was spectacular.

Waking up in a foreign city is a fantastic feeling, like a blank mental canvas waiting to be filled. Even if your time is short, with a little planning and a little introspection it's possible to close the day with a feeling that you've really experienced what the city had to offer, and leave with the knowledge that you've filled that canvas.