It’s hard to resist them. You search for ideas about a new city and one of the first things that pops up is a list. “Top 10 Things to See in Lisbon.” “Must-Visit Spots in Tokyo.” “48 Hours in Rome: A Perfect Itinerary.” These lists are everywhere, easy to skim, easy to save, and they give you a comforting feeling that you’re getting the best out of your time.
But here’s what often happens.
You follow the list. You visit the places. You take the pictures. And at some point, usually earlier than expected, it all starts to blur together. There’s nothing technically wrong with where you went. These spots are on every blog for a reason. But you can’t remember much of how you felt at any of them.
They were fine. But they weren’t yours.
That’s because these lists, while useful for orientation, are made for nobody in particular. They compress a whole city into a checklist. They treat travel like a quiz: score as many points as you can in the time you’ve got. But travel doesn’t really work that way.
You don’t remember a place just because you stood in front of a landmark. You remember it because something about the moment clicked. It matched your energy, or surprised you in the right way, or gave you space when you needed it. None of that comes from checking off a list.
I’ve done those list-based days. I once tried to follow one exactly, hour by hour, thinking it would help me get the most out of the city. I saw a lot, sure. But by dinner I couldn’t even recall which museum had been first and which square I’d seen last. There was no rhythm, no breathing room, no story to the day. Just movement.
The thing is, those lists are based on volume, not fit. They assume that more equals better. They rank experiences by popularity, not by relevance to who you are as a traveler.
That’s where a different kind of approach matters.
Marv doesn’t give you a top ten. It gives you a person, someone who gets to know what kind of time you’re hoping to have, even if you’re not sure yet. Someone who can say, “Let’s skip that one today” without making it feel like you’re missing something. Someone who knows that one meaningful moment can do more than ten rushed ones.
Sometimes the best part of a city isn’t the one on the list. It’s the one that speaks to where you are in your life right now, or where you are in your head that morning. And sometimes, the only way to find that is by having someone beside you who’s paying attention, to the city and to you.
Lists are tidy. But life isn’t.
And neither is travel, if you’re doing it right.